The league of SuperNets

The author proposes a major effort to transform the Internet into a league of SuperNets. Doing so offers the promise of revolutionary new business opportunities, and could save the emerging Web services technology area from a snarl of reliability and security problems. We can slash the costs of operating big networks, roll out new kinds of applications with real-time properties, and start to build other kinds of applications for purposes like controlling the restructured electrical power grid or managing military assets on a battlefield. Unfortunately, however, the proposal departs drastically from the way that the Internet is currently evolving. The technical side of the issue is likely to be the easy part; the problem centers on the politics of the Internet sector and the community that controls its future. Yet, the payoff could be so great that I want to argue for a community response. If we all get behind a common vision, we can make it a reality.