Patterns in Network Architecture

Chapter 10. Backing Out of a Blind Alley

Its not as if there is some killer technology at the protocol or network level that we somehow failed to include. We need to take all the technologies we already know and fit them together differently. This is not about building a technology innovation that changes the world but about architecture….

—Dave Clark, MIT, 2005

Introduction

The Preface noted seven fundamental questions uncovered in the early forays into networking. Interestingly, these questions were lost in the ensuing conflict over protocols and remain unanswered 30 years later. What happened? As the 20^th century drew to a close, the excitement over the Internet had begun to wane, with prominent Internet researchers finally beginning to ...