[1214] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: Network World "The Vision of a national research net needs rethin
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Eliot)
Mon Aug 26 04:33:13 1991
Date: Mon, 26 Aug 91 01:31:08 -0700
From: lear@turbo.bio.net (Eliot)
To: jsq@tic.com
Cc: com-priv@uu.psi.com, lear@turbo.bio.net
Just *how* will NREN lead to commercialization? Don't get me wrong -
I'm all for the government spending money on networking. But...
Would someone please explain to me how a regional can keep commercial
traffic on commercial backbones (ie: off gov't sponsored networks)
while still maintaining a link to NSFNET? I'd prefer to see solutions
that utilize technology that exists today. I am particularly
interested in solutions that properly handle failures.
Here are some technical solutions I've considered. I *really* want to
hear more.
Solution #1:
No source routes allowed into government sponsored networks. No
default routes may be used in a regional with such a configuration.
Multiple distinct routing processes - one that uses the government
backbone to get (most) everywhere, and one that includes only
commercial routes.
Solution #2:
Segregate commercial and non-commercial sites. Run separate routing
processes on the different sides of the regional. Allow only
commercial routes to commercial side.
Solution #3:
Make a deal with ANS & ANS Core.
Solution 1 breaks the IP model of full connectivity, and would not
allow commercial sites to talk to educational sites, even in support
of research. In order for that to happen, someone has to flavor the
routes. That can only be done with a huge table. Perhaps MERIT might
be interested in such a task ;-) If you try to use default, you lose
because if the commercial network fails a commercial site will end up
using the government wire.
Solution 2 allows for a one way sharing of infrastructure, where
educational and research institutions are allowed to join the
commercial side. Two interesting points about this model: first, it
requires that all regionals adopt it - otherwise advertisements become
extremely ``interesting''; second, its logical conclusion is the end
of the R&E backbone, assuming that the commercial backbone keeps pace
with the R&E backbone.[****] [Actually, I'm not sold that this one
will work for a regional such as BARRNET. Comments?]
That leaves solution #3. That's OK so long as we understand that ANS
is in a prefered position in the market.
[****] There's a big wildcard here - the government can give advantage
to any group simply by throwing money at them.
Alternatively, I'll settle for a good economical argument or two (even
if they do come from the same person ;-).
