The Impact of ISPs on the Architecture of the Internet :: Internet Cause Effect Papers

The Impact of ISPs on the Architecture of the Internet The Internet was started over three decades ago as a US government sponsored project. The Internet originally connected several universities and the government; it eventually grew to include some private companies/research labs. As such, the initial users of the Internet were scientists/technologists who were well versed in the workings of the network (and who did not have the malicious intents of modern hackers). The motivation of the Internet at this time was to provide a robust nationwide communication network and to allow for the sharing of scientific research/resources around the nation1. The original architecture of the Internet is often described as an end-to-end architecture. The end-to-end architecture is a decentralized one in which a â€Å"mechanism should not be placed in the network if it can be placed at the end node† 2. This type of design keeps the core of the network simple and generic. Since that time, however, the scale of the Internet has grown exponentially. It became increasingly difficult for a government-sponsored network to scale to such sizes, so the government gradually turned the network over to the private sector. Since the government is no longer responsible for access to the Internet, private companies – Internet Service Providers (ISPs) – have emerged to provide access to this vast network. These ISPs, of course, are private companies whose principal goal is to make a profit – a radical contrast to the goal of the original ISP, the US government. The rise of ISPs as dominant players in today’s Internet has been a catalyst for a more centralized network that is shifting away from the original end to end design; this change has been a negative one for it has hurt the most important group associated with the Internet – the end users. One of the most fundamental changes from the early days of the Internet to today has been the shift to privatization. It is the profit-making end of ISPs that drives their actions and it is in this interest that ISPs are attempting to move the Internet away from its end-to-end beginnings. In order to make a profit, ISPs must first attract a sizeable number of customers to buy their service and then obtain a significant profit for the services they provide. In the free market economy, ISPs must compete with one another for customers; to be competitive in this market, ISPs must have some attractive feature to offer customers: low prices, unlimited connection hours, high speed access, or some other attractive service that is unique to that particular ISP.