Announce the technical factors of the success of the Internet

Although the success of the Internet is undeniable, the success of the Internet should not be considered for granted. Some of the factor of Internet success comes from the Internet architecture that is designed at the birth stage of the Internet, and the other part appears with the development of the Internet.

The Internet was born from the United States. After fifty years of development, it has now become a global network with approximately 4. billion users all over the world and integrates with the operation of modern society and economy. Although in order to reduce the digital gap, the availability of the Internet and the acceptability of the charges still need to be improved, it is undisputed that the Internet is one of the most successful infrastructure systems in history.

At the 2021 Internet Governance Forum (IGF), APNIC (Asia -Pacific Internet Information Center) and LACNIC (Latin America and the Caribbean Internet Information Center) jointly released the "Research Report on the Technical Factors of the success of the Internet". The report pointed out that although the success of the Internet is undeniable, the success of the Internet should not be considered for granted. The assessment of the success of the Internet should be objective, not idealized. Some of the factor of Internet success comes from the Internet architecture that is designed at the birth stage of the Internet, and the other part appears with the development of the Internet.

The report shows that the success of the Internet is inseparable from the original three guiding ideology and the three design principles based on guiding ideology. The current success of the Internet is reflected in the four dimensions, namely: scalability, Flexibility, adaptability and resiliation. How to continue to develop the Internet without affecting its scalability, flexibility, adaptability and resistance is the guarantee of the continuous success of the Internet.

Figure 1 The four dimensions of Internet success

Guiding ideas and design principles

The report first emphasizes the three important guidance ideas of the Internet -Openness, Simple, and Decentralization -believe that it has shaped the Internet technology, organization and operation development of the Internet, and the success of the Internet It is important. The adoption of these three guidance concepts stems from conscious decisions from early Internet developers. Specifically, the Internet develops and operates in an open environment, adopts simple solutions, and is decentralized, without owners. These guidance ideas have led many important design choices and operation practice. Although they are not always complied with in practice, they have provided important guidance for the design and overall development of the Internet.

Figure 2 Three guidance ideas and three design principles

The report also puts forward the three principles of the interconnected network-layering principles, "network of networks" principles and "end-to-end" principles. These principles are based on the above -mentioned guidance, and in turn, these ideas are strongly reflected. The report further pointed out that providing various underlying network technologies that provide Internet access and traffic transmission, allowing protocols that constitute the interior of the Internet and between networks that constitute the Internet, and allow a single network to form an interconnection model of business relationships with other networks. The openness of applications, as well as the operating practice in the service provider network, is developed based on these three design principles.

Under the principle of layering, the application of the application from the underlying network allows some parts of the Internet to change without affecting other parts. The Internet protocol (IP) is separated from various layers as a stable building block. At the same time, this principle promotes the implementation of the latter two principles.

The principle of "network interconnection", that is, each network can operate independently of other networks, as long as they use universal Internet protocols to transmit traffic. This allows the existing network to the Internet when deploying a new network.

According to the "end -to -end" principle, Intelligence is located in the terminal device on the edge of the network, not in the core of the network core. Therefore, applications can be developed and installed on various Internet devices without having to change all networks.

The four technical dimensions of the Internet success

The report believes that the technical success of the Internet can be objectively decomposed into four dimensions, and pointed out that the success of the Internet is inseparable from its guiding ideology and design principles. The Internet has successfully met the growing needs of new users and new uses. It can flexibly use new underlying network technology, adapt to new applications, and have resistance to resistance and change. The report provides evidence of expansion, flexibility, adaptability, and resistance of the Internet, and discusses the Internet technology attributes that constitute the four successful dimensions.

1. Support the expansion of Internet growth

Over the past three decades, the number of users on the Internet has continued to grow rapidly, from 2.6 million users in 1990 to about 4. billion people close to half of the world. Even though the network connection rate in some areas has reached 100%, the number of devices accessing the network still increased in index level. According to statistics from Cisco, in 2003, the world's average of only 0.08 equipment was included in the network, 1.84 in 2010, and 2.2 units in 2015. By 2018, the number became 2.4 units. In addition to individuals and family equipment, industrial machinery will also become part of the Internet in the future, which will also greatly increase the number of devices. In the future, the significant growth of Internet users will occur in Africa and Asia -Pacific. In 2019, only 31%and 51%of the two regions will use the Internet. With the continuation of investment and the resolution of access barriers, the Internet penetration rate of the Internet will increase, and the Internet will continue to expand. At the same time, the increase in the number of users has brought about the growth of traffic. The annual fixed network data traffic of each person increased from 19GB in 2010 to 198.3GB in 2019. The mobile network data traffic increased from 0.6GB to 57.1 in the same time period to 57.1. GB. So far, user traffic is still growing, showing the amazing expansion capacity of the Internet.

For scalability, the most important thing is the principle of layering, which allows networks and applications to modify or replace independently. This also proves the benefits of designing the Internet around the simple ideological design. The change of a certain layer will not affect other layers. At the same time, because of the "network interconnection" principle and open thoughts, anyone can invest in the network. The "end -to -end" principle allows applications and services to grow independently, and the investment satisfaction needs of content providers can make the device intelligent.

2. Flexibility of network technology

The "network interconnection" principle enables the network of different technologies to develop and operate independently. From the beginning, the flexible protocol kit of the Internet supported a series of underlying physical network technology. As the Internet gradually matures, the new underlying network technology has also increased, from too much of the Internet of Things (IoT) networks (IoT) networks from too high -speed, mobile, and low power consumption. These networks can be connected directly or indirectly to exchange traffic.

IP is a very flexible protocol that can run on any basic network. Therefore, the Internet can run on most existing physical communication networks, including traditional copper telephone networks, coaxial cable TV networks, cellular mobile networks, various wireless networks and satellite networks. The Internet protocol allows these networks to carry IP traffic, and the carrying IP traffic has gradually become the main purpose of most networks. Due to its good adaptability, IP is dominated by the preferred technologies that carry most types of traffic (including voice, videos and general data transmission).

In addition, the flexibility of the Internet adapting to the new network technology began at the principle of layering. It separated the end path of IP traffic from the underlying network technology. The "network interconnection" principle pointed out that each network is independent, as long as it runs IP protocols, you can use your own technology. Between these networks, BGP (Border Gategory Agreement) is used as technology to exchange traffic to exchange traffic, including peer interconnection and transfer. As the number of users in various regions increases, the number of networks will increase accordingly.

3. Adaptability to new applications

With the development of early Internet, users began to send messages, and emails were born. Now, the Internet is no longer just a means to obtain computing power and send documents, but has become a way to communicate and socialize. The development of TCP/IP and more and more low -cheap devices have prompted academic and industry to begin using the Internet. Since the birth of the Internet, the two most important application platforms have promoted the popularity of the Internet. One is the Wanwei.com, which appeared in the early 1990s, and the other was a mobile app store that began in the late 2000. The openness of the Internet ensures that users can use them at will.

Apple introduces smartphones to users. In 2008, Apple App Store had a fundamental impact on the opening of third -party applications and promoted the popularization of mobile network connections. Other companies have also developed their own smartphones and app stores, especially Google's Android operating system and Google App Store. Application has become the main way for many people to access the Internet. These applications effectively act as the entrance of the website, combining mobility and intelligence. In the first quarter of 2021, the downloads of Google App Store and Apple App Store exceeded 35 billion times.

It turns out that the universal nature of the core Internet agreement has successfully supported different applications. IP provides a universal service for services, leaving more high -level functions to applications and protocols in the terminal system, such as security, congestion control or other forms of coordination. This model creates a public network that can access other programs and services and develop new products.

The openness of the Internet means that anyone can innovate and develop new applications, and these new applications do not need to make any changes to the network. Instead, user devices need to change to be more intelligent, so the types and power of the device are steadily increasing. The openness of the standard process means that you can adjust the agreement or develop new agreements to adapt to new applications.

4. Support the expansion of Internet growth

The growth of the Internet has benefited from its flexibility and adaptability. Over time, the Internet is also proven to be resistant to destruction: Faced with various internal changes and external challenges, the Internet can continue to run and ensure sufficient services. The increase in the number of users and traffic in the Internet, as well as the emergence of new networks and applications, indirectly confirms that the Internet is resistant to destruction. Although the Internet faces technical challenges in the future, individuals, enterprises, governments, and other subjects will continue to transfer important social and economic activities to online, and the availability and reliability of the Internet will be taken for granted. Over the years, people have expressed reasonable concerns about the possible collapse of the Internet, including uncontrolled congestion, collapse of the domain route system, and security threats. By 1990, with the exhaustion of IPv4 address space, people predicted that the routing system would collapse. These are very real threats, which also promotes the development of CIDR (no -category domain route) technology and RIR (regional Internet registration agency) system.

The anti -destruction of the Internet not only stems from basic technical characteristics, such as the distributed characteristics of the Internet -based protocol, but also from the long -term operating practices and methods formed by network operators. At the same time, anti -destruction also includes some moves that break the design principles to cope with challenges, which will not fundamentally change the nature of the Internet. Even in the face of these unexpected compromises, the inherent resistance of the Internet enables it to continue to run.

It turns out that the strong growth and major changes in the Internet's demand for traffic models and application requirements are resistant. The simplicity of its core protocol, the anti -destruction structure of the Internet, and decentralized characteristics have played an important role in the realization of the destruction. Under the principle of "network interconnection", each completely autonomous operating entity assumes the responsibility of maintaining their respective networks. The decentralization of this responsibility promotes the realization of resistance in the following aspects: the diversity of equipment, the diversity of the operation method, and the topological diversity of the topology of the planning and decision -making and decision -making.

Prospect

The report pointed out that the success of the Internet has made it the most important system in the world to connect people and people, connecting shared information. The design principle of the Internet allows anyone to easily connect the system to the Internet and use it to distribute any type of content.

Of course, the success of the Internet is facing technical challenges. Although some people have proposed fundamental changes to the Internet, any radical changes in the Internet should be evaluated based on their ability to maintain success. The conclusion of the report is that the sustainable development of the Internet on the current basis can cope with potential challenges, while continuing to succeed in each dimension. The new technical protocol replaces or supplements the existing agreement, new network technology is constantly developing, and the network is constantly adapted to new applications.

The report believes that with the continuous development of the Internet, it is important to understand and maintain the guiding ideology and design principles of the Internet. These guiding ideology and design principles help to achieve scalability, flexibility, adaptability, and resistance, and these four dimensions represent the success of today's Internet.

Source: APNIC

Compilation: Wang Yajing, Xiang Yang

Editor -in -chief: Xiang Yang

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