InternetEvolution,GovernanceandtheDigitalObject.pptVIP

Internet Evolution, Governanceand the Digital Object Architecture Workshop on SCORM Sequencing and Navigation Gaithersburg, Maryland February 23, 2005 Three Initial Networks About 30 – 35 years ago, DARPA funded the creation of three seminal packet networks – ARPANET, Packet Radio, Packet Satellite The Internet came about from a desire to link the three of them Ethernet occurred in parallel, led by Xerox Parc researchers, and other network types followed The resulting architecture was independent of the number and type of networks or who ran them. Key Decisions The Internet would be a global information system An open-architecture would be used to combine different networks based on open and well-known interfaces, protocols objects. A new communications-oriented host protocol (TCP/IP) would be created to replace the original ARPANET host protocol (NCP) The concept of global addressing and IP addresses would be introduced to identify individual machines anywhere on the global Internet Comments on the Key Decisions The architecture is robust in the presence of many different network types and many outages Gateways provided IP routing and Network “Impedance Matching” TCP accommodated end-end protocols different packet sizes, duplicates, error detection, losses due to tunnels, mountains, jamming, etc. Separate network administrations were permitted, which allowed the Net to grow DNS not technically critical, but helped users Understanding the Big Picture Many things were done well from the outset; with 20/20 hindsight, some could have been done better The context was critical Mostly mainframes, few time-sharing systems No PCs, workstations, LANs One dominant carrier in the US Government facility initially What is important at the time may be only apparent with hindsight; but also what seems important at the time may not turn out to be so important later on Key Management Structures Internet Configuration Control Board (ICCB) Internet Activities Board (IAB) Interne