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Internet Emulator
John3 writes "InternetNewsM is reporting that PlanetLab is getting closer to reality. According to this article, a consortium of universities (including Princeton) is launching a test-bed platform based on Red Hat Linux. This project is different than Internet2 or some of the other "alternate Internet" networks being developed, and seems to offer the most benefit to distributed computing projects rather than generic WAN/Internet communications."
So, are they looking at an infastructure/physical situation test, a protocol test, or perhaps both?
While I'd expect the test system to make at least some use of existing infastructure, but perhaps they'll find something to replace the current TCP/IP protocol, or something more towards IPV6.
It will be interesting to see the evolution of the internet in such as way. The content has changed but much of the mechanism behind it is still rooted in legacy. I wonder if this is intended to be a full switchover or just an upgrade.
Oh, and I wonder if private entities (such as myself) can also participate to test it out...?
Interestingly enough, I typed "The Internet" into Google so I get the Google cache in case it got Slashdotted, but look what comes out at the top. Weird huh? :)
My journal has hot
You typed The Internet rather than "The Internet", which yields somewhat different results.
"If you're thinking what I'm thinking, you're right." -
I agree with other posters that the article seems high in fluff and low in content (understandable, since anything else would be a technical paper, not an article). But the things that stood out for me when I read the article were the part mentioned in the parent ("go to the core of the Internet and make radical changes"), and this:
"This is about pooling resources and to build out the infrastructure, but in the end this about lowering the barrier to entry to developing on the Internet," Peterson said.
"Lowering the barrier?" My goodness, my 12-year-old daughter could be designing Flash-enabled websites if she weren't so busy on AIM. What "barrier" are they talking about? I'd almost suggest we need higher "barriers" to keep out the "wELCOM tO MY wEBSIGHTE" kiddies.
Now read that last sentence again.
Maybe I'm letting paranoia run loose, but there are more than a few folks in industry that would also like to keep those kiddies off the 'net, raise the bar, have an Internet that is "more useful everyday," as Bill would say. The net effect, though, is to remove the internet gadflies that make the 'net such a democratizing medium.
The web's success isn't due to the Microsofts and the AOLs -- it's the little guys like me and you who rub the fat cats the wrong way.
With "high-tech companies... key to the project's success" (and Intel and HP specifically mentioned), I'm afraid their goal is to make the 'net better for those high-tech companies... and to leave the rest of the masses out of the "New Internet".
But maybe I'm just being paranoid.
Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.
Where I work (CS Dept at University of Wisconsin), one of the professors (Paul Barford) is setting up the Wisconsin Advanced Internet Laboratory.
The website is located at http://wail.cs.wisc.edu
Right now the project is still getting started (We in the Computer Systems Lab just finished building them 75 P4 2.4Ghz machines with gigabit cards soley for the purpose of packet generation, as far as I understand) but it should be really interesting when it gets done. Basically, it's a simulation of the internet all in one room. It's a cool room to be in...lots of wires and cisco crap everywhere. Almost as cool as the main CS server room...
//FIXME: Bad