...from: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/weekinreview/15markoff.html?th&emc=th

Do We Need a New Internet?

By JOHN MARKOFF Published: February 14, 2009 Two decades ago a 23-year-old Cornell University graduate student brought the Internet to its knees with a simple software program that skipped from computer to computer at blinding speed, thoroughly clogging the then-tiny network in the space of a few hours. The program was intended to be a digital “Kilroy Was Here.” Just a bit of cybernetic fungus that would unobtrusively wander the net. However, a programming error turned it into a harbinger heralding the arrival of a darker cyberspace, more of a mirror for all of the chaos and conflict of the physical world than a utopian refuge from it.

[...]

...from:

http://cleanslate.stanford.edu/about_cleanslate.php

About Clean Slate Mission Our mission is to "reinvent the internet" so Future Internet can:

• overcome fundamental architectural limitations (e.g. lack of security and mobility support) of today's Internet • incorporate new technologies (e.g. sensor networks, optical networks) • enable new class of applications and services (e.g. content dissemination, sensorized physical world, large scale virtual world environments) • continue to be a platform for innovations and thus be an engine for economic growth and prosperity for the society.

We know our mission is ambitious - that is what makes it worthy of our group of very talented students, staff, and faculty.

Our Approach • We think of the Internet in very broad terms: it is not just about the TCP/IP protocol stack and switches and routers. It is the collection of systems that make the heart of the Internet: the services, computation and storage - those concentrated in dedicated centers, and those globally distributed. It is also the diversity of ways that we will connect to, and interact with, the Internet - via mobile and personal communication, with virtual presence and virtual worlds, reaching all parts of the globe. Together, these form the online infrastructure that society will continue to depend on. • We are taking an interdisciplinary approach with students, staff, and faculty from Departments of Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, and Management Science and Engineering and from Business School and Law School. Stanford's depth and breadth of expertise combined with its collaborative culture makes the interdisciplinary program possible. • We are also partnering with the industry to benefit from its insights, technologies, and resources. Stanford's long history of successful collaboration with the industry and its location and role in the Silicon Valley makes the industry collaboration at this scale possible. • We are reducing barrier to exploring a (radical) idea by creating a mechanism to seed exploratory projects. • We are also undertaking larger collaborative flagship projects to address broader research themes and associated challenges that require development of new architectures, technologies and systems and their deployment in a test bed network. For these projects, we are exploring special partnerships with the industry. • We are selectively collaborating with researchers outside Stanford and also contributing to national initiatives such as NSF's GENI initiative including FIND that we share a common vision with. • We are making it an enjoyable and fun experience for the participants in the program.

Our Team We have assembled a great team with members that have a strong track record of contributions in all aspects of the Internet:

• From theory to system development to deployment to technology commercialization • From physical layer technologies to network architectures and protocols to distributed systems and services to applications • Security and robustness of networks and systems • Economics and policy issues pertaining to current and future Internet

You can learn more about the team by looking at People section of the website. We are always interested in new members including undergraduate and graduate students who have a passion to make the world a better place using innovations especially in networking and systems. If you are interested, look at Contact section of the website.

...from: http://yuba.stanford.edu/trainwreck/

The Future of TCP: Train-wreck or Evolution?

April 1, 2008 Stanford University, Stanford, CA

Sponsored by:

The Stanford Clean Slate Internet Program Cisco Systems The Stanford Computer Forum

Home Program Committee Important Dates Agenda Registration Logistics ParticipantsContact

Workshop Description:

Spurred on by a widespread belief that TCP is showing its age and needs replacing - and a deeper understanding of the dynamics of congestion control - the research community has brought forward many new congestion control algorithms. There has been lots of debate about the relative merits and demerits of the new schemes; and a standardization effort is under way in the IETF.

But before the next congestion control mechanism is deployed, it will need to be deployed widely in operating systems and - in some cases - in switches and routers too. This will be a long road, requiring the buy-in of many people: Researchers, product developers and business leaders too. Our own experience of proposing new congestion control algorithms has been met with the challenge: "Show me the compelling need for a new congestion control mechanisms?", and "What will really happen to the Internet (and my business) if we keep TCP just the way it is?"

As a community, we need examples that are simple to understand, and demonstrate a compelling need for change. We call them the "Train wreck scenarios". Examples might show that distribution of video over wireless in the home will come to a halt without new algorithms. Or that P2P traffic will bring the whole network crashing down. Or that huge, high-performance data-centers need new algorithms. Whatever your favorite example, we believe that if we are collectively armed with a handful of mutually agreed examples, it will be much easier to make a business case for change. Or put another way, if we can't articulate compelling examples to industry leaders, then is the cost and risk of change worth it?

The goal of the workshop is to identify a handful of really compelling demonstrations of the impending train-wreck. The outcome will be a set of canonical examples that we will use to persuade industry of the need for change.

You can choose the way you present your demonstration: You could bring equipment and show a live-demo; you could show simulations or animations; or you could produce a video showing a real or synthetic demo. Whatever method you choose, the goal is to create a case that will persuade a mildly-technical but influential business leader of the need for change.

We will invite a panel of judges to give prizes for the most compelling examples in two categories: (1) The Overall Most Compelling Example, which will be judged on a combination of the technical merits and the presentation of the scenario, and (2) The Most Technically Compelling Example, which will be judged on its technical merit alone, without consideration of the way it is presented.

The whole purpose of the workshop it to focus on the problem, not the solutions. We are most definitely not interested in your favorite scheme, or ours. So we need some ground-rules.

No-one is allowed to mention a specific mechanism, algorithm or proposal at any time during the workshop: Not in their talk, not in a panel, and not in questions to the speakers.

The only mechanisms that will be allowed mention are: TCP (in its standard and deployed flavors), and idealized alternatives for purposes of demonstration. For example, comparing TCP with an oracle that provides instantaneous optimal rates to each flow.

We will video the entire workshop and all the demonstrations, and make it publicly available on the Internet. We will make any proceedings and talks available too. The goal is to open up the demonstrations for public scrutiny and feedback after the event.

The event is hosted by the Stanford Clean Slate Program and local arrangements will be made by the Stanford Computer Forum, Nick McKeown and Nandita Dukkipati. The workshop has received offers of support and funding from Cisco Systems and Microsoft.

Last updated March 30, 2008