An incrementally deployable network architecture to support both data-centric and host-centric services

Most Internet traffic is associated with applications where users are interested in the data and not in the source where the data resides. On the other hand, the current Internet architecture is host-centric rather than data-centric, and it is not practical to deploy a pure data-centric architecture overnight. This motivates an incrementally deployable network architecture that can efficiently support both data-centric and host-centric services. In this article we describe such an architecture called DCNA for the Internet. DCNA is based on the inclusion of a shim layer between the application layer and the transport layer along with appropriate interfaces to connect these layers. In addition to being data-centric and incrementally deployable, DCNA can also effectively support mobility and multi-homing.