Addressing reality: An architectural response to demands on the evolving Internet

A system as complex as the Internet can only be designed effectively if it is based on a core set of design principles, or tenets, that identify points in the architecture where there must be common understanding and agreement. The tenets of the original Internet architecture [6] arose as a response to the technical, governmental, and societal environment of internetworking’s earliest days, but have remained central to the Internet as it has evolved. In light of the increasing integration of the Internet into the social, economic, and political aspects of our lives, it is worth revisiting the underlying tenets of what is becoming a central element of the world’s infrastructure. This paper examines three key tenets that we believe should guide the evolution of the Internet in its next generation and beyond. They are: design for change, controlled transparency, and the centrality of the tussle space. [8] Our purpose is not to present these ideas as new, but rather to propose that they should be elevated to central tenets of the evolving architecture of the Internet, and explore the ramifications of doing so. The paper first examines the tenets somewhat abstractly, and then in more detail by studying their relation to several design choices needed for a complete architecture. We conclude with a discussion of the relationship between the network architecture and the applications it serves