Lessons from the past for the future Internet

We believe the clamour to throw away our well managed stable and reliable time division multiplexing (TDM) in favour of collision based networks, meaning code division multiplexing in the case of wireless and unmanaged packets in the case of wireline, is a serious mistake. Before we finally throw away a network that works so well, we are researching the use of TDM for wireline and wireless Internet traffic as means of providing next generation Internet. We examine the experience of convergence and migration as occurred from 2G to 3G wireless and identify some of the lessons learned with the hope of avoiding the associated pitfalls when defining the needs of next generation Internet. We also note that treating conversational voice as just another digital bit stream that can be mixed and communicated with others, disregards some of the human psychological requirements of conversational voice. We conclude that in defining the architecture for next generation Internet, a managed TDM system, may offer advantages over the unmanaged packet system we are rapidly moving towards, today.