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Who Will Fix the Internet? No One, Apparently

Posted by Soulskill on from the internet's-over-folks-pack-your-things dept.

blackbearnh writes "It seems like everyone focuses on the latest and greatest killer Internet applications, but the underlying infrastructure that all of them run on is showing its age. That's the claim made by a recent article in the Christian Science Monitor. IPv4 is relatively ancient, and even stalled improvements like IPv6 aren't significant enough to matter, according to some researchers. With no one 'in charge' of the Internet, it's almost impossible to get any sweeping technical improvements made, especially since there's no financial incentive on the part of the ISPs and telecoms to invest in basic infrastructure. CalTech Professor John Doyle puts it this way: 'To the extent I've been working in this field for the last 10 years, I've been mostly working on band-aids. I'm really trying to get out of that business and try to help the people, the few people, who are really trying to think more fundamentally about what needs to be done.'"

5 of 370 comments (clear)

  1. Re:The Whole Point if the Internet... by gbjbaanb · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I suppose IANA could start handing out IPv6 addresses only from now on, that'd shake the industry up quickly enough; and if ICANN announced that they would turn off IPv4 on its DNS roots, it'd have the same effect.

  2. Re:Hmm by chill · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The article author thinks IPv6 is just a band-aid, though he admits it would fix the address shortage. He is talking, vaguely, about an architectural upgrade but doesn't really say *what*. He only says "more research is needed", which I translate to "give me more funding".

    Do you have any insight as to what he's talking about, other than "get off your ass on IPv6"?

    --
    Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
  3. Proactive...not by Stenchwarrior · · Score: 5, Interesting

    There will be no proactive solution; this sort of thing will only be improved upon in increments as things break. John Doyle mentions "Band-Aids" but that's exactly how it needs to evolve....like any other living organism.

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  4. The only thing "on hold" is the USA, not IPv6 by FreeUser · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The Internet is improving everyday as better routers, faster servers, new better cables/antennas are deployed, the last mile connection options are also multiplying. IPv6 is put on hold as there is no real need for it at the moment.

    IPv6 is NOT on hold. Most of Asia are already using IPv6. If you use Apple there's a good chance you're using IPv6 without even realising it. The EU is mandating moves to IPv6 in the coming years, and I imagine most countries are doing something similar.

    The US may have its head in the sand, but that doesn't mean everyone else does.

    --
    The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy
    1. Re:The only thing "on hold" is the USA, not IPv6 by tsotha · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The US doesn't have its "head in the sand". The US government and corporations are simply in the position of having large blocks of IPv4 addresses, so there's far less urgency. Of course China is using IPv6 - they came along too late to get many v4 addresses, and v6 already existed when they started building out infrastructure. The US market is relatively mature, as well, so you're not going to see the kind of demand growth you have in other places. We could last for decades on NATs.