Next Generation Internet

People tend to think of the Internet as a "fait accompli", the fully-rounded information provider for now and the future. However, like all technologies, it can reach its limits and be reengineered in a completely new form. Most Internet engineers now believe this to be the case, and since 1993 various organisations and corporations have been designing and testing possible replacements including Internet2 and other next-generation Internets. Accordingly, it is now imperative that policy makers and network developers everywhere understand what has already happened in the development of Internet2 and what the world can expect in the future. This text offers a resource which provides such information. It explains why a next-generation Internet (NGI) is needed; what design issues have to be resolved (including technical, economic, and political issues); and describes all the emerging technologies that are being used to create the NGI. Timed to release when the first NGI is opened to public use in the United States, this book is written by experts who are directly involved in the design and operation of Internet2.