Keynote address at the WCIT 2014 The Evolution of the Internet Robert Kahn, co-father of the Internet

1. Evolution of the Internet
(Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow)
By
Robert E. Kahn
President & CEO, CNRI
WCIT 2014
Guadalajara, Mexico
September 30, 2014

2. How the Internet got Started
• An effort about interoperability of computers
and networks
• Driven by U.S. Government funding and
implemented primarily at research sites
• International from the very beginning
• Illuminating question at a National Academy
talk during the mid 1990s.

3. Etam W.Va Earth Station

4. Packet Radio Van

5. The BBN IMP Team

6. Non-technical aspects of the Internet
• The social structures that kept it going
– Internet Configuration Control Board (ICCB)
– Internet Activities Board (IAB)
– Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
– Internet Society (ISOC)
– Internet Corporation for Assigned Names &
Numbers (ICANN)
– World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)
– Internet Governance Forum (IGF)

7. Need for Common Understandings
• Internet - Global Information System
• Internet Governance – many players,
coordinated collaboration
• What about the following? - All part of the
Internet
– Internet of Things?
– Cloud Computing?
– Software Defined Networks?
– Network Functional Virtualization?
– Big Data? Sensor Nets Iptv? VoIP?

8. Clarifying some Myths
• Wireless was not a recent add-on. It was there
from the beginning
• End-End is not a basic principle of the Internet. Its
only desirable to support client-server models
such as the Web
• The Domain Name System (DNS) is not an
intrinsic part of the Internet. Its an important
application that maps names to IP addresses.
• Security was not an afterthought. It was hard to
achieve consensus in the 1970s and still is

9. Some Assumptions about the Future
• More Network capacity
• Higher user access speeds
• Many more wireless devices & other “things”
• Better security
• Apps of all kinds – many unimaginable today
• Focus on Information Access & Management
• Interoperability of heterogeneous information
systems will be critical to achieve

10. Information Access & Management
• From packets, routers, IP addresses – which
accommodated movement of bits
• To Digital Objects, identifiers, metadata and a
digital object interface protocol
• Important role of identifier resolution systems
• Key Issues are:
– Persistence, authentication, identity management
– System security & Interoperability
– Overall Framework described in ITU-T
Recommendation X.1255

11. Application Areas
• Current Examples:
– Publishing Industry
– Entertainment Industry
– Government Information
– Products on the market
• Potential Examples
– Research Information – facilitate sharing
– Health Care – assure access with security
– Smart Cities – access plans of buildings, utilities,
construction codes
– Distributed Simulation – linked DOs

12. Identifiers are Key
• Each digital entity in the Future Internet has an
associated ID
– People, systems, information, other defined resources
– Anonymous entities may be disadvantaged
• Reliable Resolution of IDs to “state information”
• Protocols that depend primarily on IDs
• Interoperable Repositories that implement the protocols
(thus hiding the storage mechanisms)
• Registries that produce IDs from client-driven metadata
searches
• Integrated Registries/Repositories
• Distributed management of the ID records

13. Administration & Management of the
Identifier Resolution System
• Many existing identifier/resolution systems
• Focus here is on the “Handle System”, developed
by CNRI and administered by CNRI during the
past 20 years
• Currently has many thousands of local handle
services and probably billions of identifiers
• Moving from a single administrator of the Global
Handle Registry to a multiple administrator
system
• Oversight provided by the DONA Foundation
established in early 2014 in Geneva

14. DONA Foundation
• Currently, four administrators are designated
– CNRI, GWDG, ITU, and Coalition for Handle Services –
China (ETIRI, CDI and CHC)
– Additional administrators to be added in coming years
• Main responsibility is oversight of the GHR
• Most of DONA activities will involve outreach,
assistance in developing pilot projects, and
fostering interoperability experiments with
heterogeneous information systems
• Web site is currently undergoing development
– See http://www.dona.net

15. Conclusions
• Significant changes in the Internet are underway in the
management of information
• Social aspects of managing change have been and will
continue to be essential elements
• Digital Objects (or more generally digital entities) of all
kinds will become the lingua franca of information
management
• Identifiers are the linchpin
• Stable management of identifiers will be critical;
Interoperability of identifier resolution systems will be key
• Applications of this technology are sure to develop to
provide new capabilities for archiving, security and other
desired funtions.