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20.03.2006
When Robert E. Kahn and Vinton Cerf created the TCP/IP protocol, they laid the foundation for today's Internet. Guru Parulkar, a 20-year veteran in the networking industry, is program director at the National Science Foundation 's computer and network systems division, where he is working on the GENI Initiative, a research testbed for the future Internet. Kahn and Cerf are also playing a role in the Internet's future: Kahn is chairman, CEO and president of the Corporation for National Research Initiatives, and Cerf is chief Internet evangelist at Google Inc. Computerworld's Robert L. Mitchell asked each of them to comment on the Internet's past, present and future.

Is the Internet today better than it was five years ago?

CERF: The Internet is larger than it was five years ago by a factor of at least five. It continues to function reliably, and the underlying systems have higher absolute capacity. It continues to expand to support new applications, including real-time interactive games, voice, collaborative tools and peer-to-peer applications.

New content is surging into the network, and search tools have become much more sophisticated. The network continues to support new applications that seem to be invented daily. Wireless access has proliferated, and mobile phones are increasingly Internet- enabled. Geolocation services are becoming more visible.

In the Internet, intelligence resides at the edge. In today's telecommunications networks, it resides in the network. As the two worlds converge, can these models continue to coexist?

PARULKAR: In the original Internet model, the network is [not] just a packet transport mechanism. There is a lot of intelligence inside the network, in the form of servers and devices. In the future, we have to think about balance. How much intelligence? Clearly, there is this recognition that we have to revisit this architectural principle.