Community CommunicationsInfrastructure

Brian K. Reid, DirectorNetwork Systems Laboratory

Digital Equipment Corporation

Palo Alto, California USA

http://www.research.digital.com/nsl/

TM

Technology and History

Technology and history are inseparable.

Consistently 3 kinds of technology have most affected history:– Violence and war– Communication and transport– Food production

To change the world

To change the world, you change what people do

To change what people do, you must either– Make the old way harder (force)– Make the new way easier (seduction)– Make the new way habitual (education)

Examples:technology changing the world

Negative numbers allowed business credit, margins, loans, deficit spending

Stirrup allowed mounted soldiers Roman roads allowed the maintenance of empires Telegraph allowed large corporations Railroads allowed central production Electronic banking virtualized money ATM Machines totally changed the travel and casino

industry.

My premise:

The technology known as Internetworking is going to change the world more than any of these.

Most people don’t understand Internetworking.

Most people who think they understand Internetworking, and who make a living as Internet consultants, don’t understand Internetworking.

This is because they think it is a technology.

Vocabulary

“Telecommunications” is about how to get information from one place to another.

“Networking” is about having some control over the source, destination, and manner of communication.

“Internetworking” is about coping with boundaries, enemies, idiots, monopolists, ownership, laws, governments, and other nuisances. Focus is on:– Lust for power and control– Quest for allocation of blame– Minimization of cost (economic and political)

alas, The Internet does not exist. Never has.

The thing that we call The Internet is just the joining together of other networks.

Each exist for the benefit of its owners.

Right now those owners want to be plugged in, and are willing to pay for it.

The Internet will exist only as long as they keep being willing to pay for it.

But The Internet is

The thing that we call The Internet is not a noun,

It is not something that people have built

Rather, it is a set of agreements about what people want to do.

Freedom of the press extends only to those who own one.

HISTORY 1: OLD ARPANET DAYS

The Network

HISTORY 2: LAST DAYS OF NSFNET

“Backbone”

HISTORY 3:NAP CONCEPT DEBUT

NAP NAP

NAP

Today’s Internet

NSP NSP NSP

NSPNSPNSP

big global transit provider 3

big global transit provider 2big global transit provider 1

Internet ExchangeIX IX

RegionalExchangePoint

RXP

RXP

RXP

How to engineer anything

Get an idea

Try it out. Build a prototype. Live with it for a while.

Find out if anybody besides you likes it, and, if they do, are they willing to pay for it.– This is called “market research” and engineers

hate it because they are not usually very good at it.

Figure out how to make it, package it, ship it, install it, ship it, get melted cheese out of it, upgrade it, etc.

Get customers. They will tell you that you did it all wrong. Listen to them and try again.

Quiz for 4th-grade daughter

Elizabeth, this envelope contains a number. If you pick a number, and multiply your number by the one that is in this envelope, the answer will be the same as your number.What number is in the envelope? 2?

Dad, that’s a dumb question. It has to be 1.

Why?

um,...

Quiz for you

I am holding a concept in this envelope. It enables users of most computer networks in the world to communicate with each other. What is it?

Why I call this “the Internet”

If it acts like 1, then it’s 1

If it connects to the Internet, then it is the Internet

Everything will connect somewhere to the Internet

Three trendsand an axiom

Deregulation of power and telecommunication, with all that it implies.

More faster computers, cheaper better computers, ubiquitous computers. Computers under every rock.

Everything connected to everything. Internetworking on a scale never seen before.

Locality matters. Internet technology is being used to do things that are intrinsically local. Globality is good, but locality is crucial.

Part I: the impact of deregulation

Deregulation Multiple players

Policy boundaries Smaller chunks

Replacementrealistic

Entry cost of competition lower

Must pay attention to policy boundaries

Cost equations different

Part II: shared vs. dedicated infrastructure

Telco

Cable

ISP

Power

Netcasting

Internet via cable

Dialup Internet

Cable via ADSL

Internet via power

Shared vs. dedicated infrastructure

Telco

Cable

ISP

Power

Informationutility

operator

Telco1

Telco2

Cable1

Cable2

Cable3

ISP1

ISP2

Telco3

New1

Policyboundary

Shared vs. dedicated infrastructure

Telco

Cable

ISP

Power

Informationutility

operator

Telco1

Telco2

Cable1

Cable2

Church

ISP1

ISP2

Telco3

New1

Policyboundary

Data meter

Locality matters

Internet technology is being used to do distinctly non-global things.

Certain phenomena, like very high speed, are intrinsically local by the laws of physics

Public non-global networks are important. Examples:– Cable-TV-like systems– Local-angle merchandising, news distribution– Access to schools, hospitals, libraries, city hall

Shared infrastructure

Historically, governments have enabled shared infrastructure:– Septic tanks --> sewage treatment– Private generators --> electric companies– Railroads --> public roads– Vigilantes --> police force

Motivation for sharing comes from several sources:– economic: roads, libraries– political: police force, sewers– social: town halls, events, etc.

Notes about shared infrastructure

Railroads were dedicated infrastructure. The Southern Pacific Railway owned right of way, tracks, freight cars, engines, and stations.

Some early highways were privately owned.

Public highways are shared infrastructure.

Delivery companies do not own roads, they own trucks. Cities and states and counties own roads.

It is possible to have monopolies anyhow, e.g. only 1 taxi company

Telco1

Telco2

Cable1

Library

Cable3

ISP1

ISP2

Paper1

SchoolsData meter

Home or

business

Utilityowned

Business owned

An information utility

Community networking?

The Internet is a collection of networks

A big collection.

Some are commercial, some are not.

My home has a network. Maybe yours does too.

My home network connects to the Internet, and is therefore part of it.

What about community networks? How many are there? Who owns them? What do they do?

They are part of the Internet because they connect to it.

So how do we make acommunity network?

ISP1

ISP2

So how do we make acommunity network?

ISP1

ISP2

So how do we make acommunity network?

ISP1

ISP2

A good community network has:

Low-cost communication with local resources (schools, libraries, government, freenets, etc.)

High-speed connection to ISPs selling global access.

Any customer can run a local information service.

Must pay an ISP for long-distance data transport for a global information service.

So how do we make acommunity network?

ISP1

ISP2

So how do we make acommunity network?

ISP1

ISP2

So how do we make acommunity network?

ISP1

ISP2

So how do we make acommunity network?

ISP1

ISP2

Cable

MPAC Cable

So how do we make acommunity network?

ISP1

ISP2

Cable

MPAC Jordan

Wayne

Garth

Cable

Telco2

So how do we make acommunity network?

ISP1

ISP2

Cable

MPAC Jordan

Wayne

Garth

Cable

Telco2

So how do we make acommunity network?

ISP1

ISP2

Cable

MPAC Jordan

Wayne

Garth

Cable

Telco2

So how do we make acommunity network?

ISP1

ISP2

Cable

MPAC Jordan

Wayne

Garth

Cable

Telco2

Community NetworkInfrastructure

Good fences make good neighbors

The fundamental principle of the Internet: by sharing infrastructure, we all get better communication.

Where there is sharing, there are boundaries

Where boundaries exist, all parties must agree on the location and nature of the boundaries.

Experience in Internet operation has created consensus of where is a good place to draw boundaries.

Better communication enables new communication concepts.

Mending Wall

What I was walling in or walling out,And to whom I was like to give offense.Something there is that doesn't love a wall,That wants it down.' I could say 'Elves' to him,But it's not elves exactly, and I'd ratherHe said it for himself. I see him thereBringing a stone grasped firmly by the topIn each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.He moves in darkness as it seems to meNot of woods only and the shade of trees.He will not go behind his father's saying,And he likes having thought of it so wellHe says again, "Good fences make good neighbors."

Copy of presentation?

http://reid.org/brian/11jun98.html