Academic Dissemination and Exploitation of a Clean-slate Internetworking Architecture:: The Publish-Subscribe Internet Routing Paradigm

Abstract

This thesis is about disseminating and exploiting a clean-slate internetworking architecture through advanced academic courses. We design, execute, and report on the results of an academic course-based engagement and dissemination pilot-trial for a revolutionary clean-slate internetworking architecture: the Publish-Subscribe Internet Routing Paradigm (PSIRP). ICT capabilities have evolved considerably since the inception of the Internet s predecessor, ARPANet, spawning a variety of new usage demands and operating conditions and incentives for which the original Internet architecture was never intended. Although the Internet is highly successful, its architecture has arguably become ossified and it is ridden with operational problems stemming from the obsolescence of its endpoint-centric send-receive underpinnings. In the face of increasing demands, size, and complexity, a revolutionary architectural alteration is warranted to adapt the Internet to current usage trends and holistically address its growing range of operational problems. One potential revolutionary solution that serves as the centerpoint of this thesis is the clean-slate architecture proposed by the EU FP7 PSIRP project. It is imperative, however, that future Internet research is supplemented by efficient dissemination and exploitation activities so that technological enhancements are dutifully enacted. Unfortunately, the dissemination and exploitation of innovations from PSIRP and other revolutionary architecture proposals has been notoriously problematic. Our academic course-based engagement approach performed very well in practice and achieved a commendable participant completion rate. Participants exhibited a good grasp of PSIRP material and provided positive qualitative and quantitative feedback regarding the quality of the course. We also gained positive feedback on the overall success of the course from a reputable group of external evaluating experts. Moreover, our observations provide useful information for future undertakings of this kind. We surmise that these results are a meaningful indicator that our methods offer a promising means by which to disseminate the innovations of a clean-slate internetworking architecture and educate the public with the end goal of promoting controlled change and progression of the Internet.