New Hurdles Face the Internet’s Next-Generation Network
Only govt., academia and industry teamwork will produce the robust 21st Century cyberinfranscructure (CI) system that’s needed, National Science Foundation Dir. Arden Bement told the Internet2 spring meeting Tues. Collaboration and contemplation are the keys to CI, said Bement, casting the achievement as one of the century’s key investments for science and engineering: “It is as critical as the electrical grid, the interstate highway system and other traditional infrastructures.”
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The U.S. is reaching a point in which bold R&D is flagging for lack of sophisticated cyber-tools -- a trend Bement called “simply unacceptable.” He said NSF’s goal is simple: 100% of the research and education community should have access to a comprehensive suite of computer-communication resources. The biggest roadblock, he said, is funding: “When faced with a grand challenge like developing a new cyberinfrastructure, the tendency is to throw money at it, drowning the endeavor in resources,” while assuming results will appear spontaneously, Bement said. He called this approach wasteful, even if money and resources are plentiful. But govt. entities that fund Internet-related R&D aren’t flush, he warned. NSF’s budget is tight and expected to shrink, he said, urging stakeholders to “invest and manage wisely to wring the best results from our limited stockpile of seed.”
A recent report to Bement from the NSF’s Cyberinfrastructure Initial Working Group (CIIWG) stressed the need for unified, boundary-crossing efforts to compensate for lack of cash. The task force cited CI’s dual role as an object of research as well as an enabler of research, Bement said. Continued CI development requires active engagement of scientific communities that use CI alongside computer science and engineering researchers inventing the CI technologies of the future, he said. Bement spotlighted the criticality of middleware and system security to CI’s next generation. He said the possibilities are endless, but those who share the CI responsibility “must listen to the community and to industry” and build upon existing partnerships while establishing new ones.
Power of Community
Internet2 Pres. Doug Van Houweling built on Bement’s communitarian theme. The group’s constituents -- 206 university members, 60-plus corporations, govt. research agencies, state education networks and others -- must keep bringing interests and investments together in new ways and emphasize international collaboration, given diminished U.S. leadership, he said. In the past year, the Internet2 crew has done a lot of contemplation: “We've begun to understand that real progress in Internet technology and its use is in doubt. What we're accomplishing here together is not just about connectivity but also about performance, security and reliability,” Van Howeling said. At all levels, new applications require capabilities unlikely to emerge through evolution, he said. In essence, all members must continue to treat the Internet and its development as “a commons to which we all most contribute” -- an outlook that will sustain the initiative’s ability to help build for the future, he said.
It now takes more work to interweave higher education and corporate communities, Van Houweling said. Internet2 has succeeded at that, he said, but “we have to invest on both sides more intensely.” Researchers and university communities are more important than ever due to the decline of other resources, he said. Even so, academic resources also are stretched more than ever as more countries compete to become high-tech leaders, Van Houweling said: “[The] leadership in Internet technology that this country enjoyed 7 or 8 years ago has much diminished.” Higher education, in particular, can’t sit by because “there is no other sector in which the Internet and its applications have become more integral,” he said.
The Internet2 community must see that the utility of the system it’s developing depends on technology choices stakeholders are making and on legal and regulatory frameworks being debated -- not only by U.S. policymakers but by govts. worldwide, he said.
The group continues its spring meeting in Arlington, Va., today (Wed.) with a progress report on National LambdaRail -- a joint project between universities and the private sector to provide a national scale infrastructure for research and experimentation in networking technologies and applications. Other sessions include updates on security tools, advanced networking, the Abilene Backbone Network and the Hybrid Optical and Packet Infrastructure project.