An information-centric version of the Internet would include several fundamental changes: For starters, data packets would be labeled according to the information they contain rather than an IP address. Ideally, this change would give Internet users more direct control over their personal information, allowing them to restrict access to their data and monitor how and when it is accessed. "Such control is achieved by tying the security of the content to the identification of it," says Dirk Trossen, a senior researcher at the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory's Networks and Operating Systems group.
The ICN model also proposes that users retrieve information from locations closest to them, a process much more efficient than the current approach of routing information requests throughout the Internet. If an Internet user in the U.S. is looking for the latest BBC news, for example, this information is likely to exist in cache memory in computers within the U.S., Trossen explains. The ability to access this data domestically, rather than routing the same content from computers in the U.K., reduces traffic over a larger expanse of network.
Hot PURSUIT
Trossen is the lead researcher on an ICN project called Publish Subscribe Internet Technology (PURSUIT), which espouses a variation on the "publish-and-subscribe" model already popular with Internet users who sign up for RSS feeds and e-mail distribution lists, to name a few. In principle, a network built using the PURSUIT model would ensure that users receive only content in which they have explicitly expressed an interest. This specificity would go far toward cutting down on spam and computer viruses as well as speeding up network traffic.
The three-year, $6.7-million PURSUIT Internet improvement project—essentially a continuation of the work begun in the Publish–Subscribe Internet Routing Paradigm (PSIRP) Project from January 2008 to June 2010—wraps up in February. Based in Europe, it includes eight research organizations across Finland, Germany, Greece and the U.K. (pdf). After February Trossen and his colleagues plan to demonstrate a prototype PURSUIT network known as Blackadder to technology companies and other researchers who might be interested in continuing and/or funding this work.
One of these demos is designed to show the PURSUIT network's resilience in delivering data to subscribers even if part of the network becomes disconnected. A second demo illustrates PURSUIT's ability to adjust the delivery of streaming video based on a particular country's constraints on what it considers objectionable content. "Since the various pieces of data are individually identified, they are automatically retrieved from the nearest cache storage where they are available," Trossen says. "You can then replace any offending content piece with an alternative clip while leaving the rest of the content intact."
Trossen and his team want to expand their Blackadder PURSUIT-based network beyond its current 40 nodes so that it includes hundreds of devices sending and receiving data. Only at this scale and beyond can the researchers determine how well their publish-and-subscribe model will hold up and whether the idea merits further investment.
Whether PURSUIT, PARC's CCNx or one of the various other ICN projects under development operate in conjunction with each other or independently remains to be seen. It is likely, however, that one or more of them is necessary to ensure the Internet can evolve to meet the ever-increasing demands placed on it.
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6 Comments
Add CommentWhat a deal for Google! The approach being described here is a content addressable storage device (data network). This has been a research topic for several decades now - I'm retired and no longer follow such follies so can't provide any status. There are enormous difficulties - any performance improvements would come at an enormous cost. Also, one basic problem might be that it would remove from the user the ability to select those sites that the user trusts to provide reliable information. Are you really linked to egghead.com or is it mysneakysite.com? You just wanted to find the content you were looking for, right?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"Some projects aim to boost network speeds or reroute data to meet the growing demands of bandwidth-hogging multimedia content."
OMG - what a surprise! Loading commercial high bandwidth applications on the internet free of charge produces negative impact on system response time - who'd have thought? I told you so...
Obviously a hybrid approach is the solution.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThere are times you would want the data coming from a certain address (like online banking) and there are times you don't care and just want to get it as fast as possible (like a certain YouTube video).
Of course you would want to be sure you are getting the real original video file but I am sure that problem could be solved using a digital signature.
You don't see any other problems then, like which websites satisfying the search content will be accessed? Search for "ipod", for example, and see how many sites meet the search criteria. Should the most popular site always be selected for access? What will other sites do for advertising, since they would never be selected? Should the content address resolution round-robin among all sites that meet the content selection criteria, regardless of any other site characteristics? These are certainly not the only likely problems that would require solution...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI would imagine the system to be *fairer* than it is today since delivery is based on the actual information on the network - if I want a Susan Boyle video and my neighbour happens to have already downloaded it, why shouldn't I have it from there rather than going directly to YouTube (probably via a CDN anyway)?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIn the ipod example you give, a google search reveals the most "popular" answers first - that's why companies spend so much to move themselves up the results tables. So, the question really should be "What do other sites do now for advertising?"
Unless the content name also includes the source server name so that the source can be identified as a trusted server by the client user, there's no way to know that the file you're downloading is the video it's purported to be. Including source server name would seem to defeat the objectives of named content networking.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisToday, Google searches returns result lists in order of site popularity, but many sources are available for the user to select from and browse through, determining which best satisfies actual user needs.
As I understand, in a purely content addressable environment a list of "Susan Boyle video" search results would not be returned, allowing you to select among them, only the nearest router's cache copy of some file registered as "Susan Boyle video" would be transferred.
Sorry I'm late to the conversation. Not a single mention of the government censorship of internet content? I( would find this far more worrisome then the source of the content.
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