One colleague asked me how, using this architecture, you would get to the server. The answer is: you don’t.
-Dirk Trossen
Researchers have taken the first step towards a radical new architecture for the internet, which they claim will transform the way in which information is shared online, and make it faster and safer to use.
The prototype, which has been developed as part of an EU-funded project called “Pursuit”, is being put forward as a proof-of concept model for overhauling the existing structure of the internet’s IP layer, through which isolated networks are connected, or “internetworked”.
The Pursuit Internet would, according to its creators, enable a more socially-minded and intelligent system, in which users would be able to obtain information without needing direct access to the servers where content is initially stored.
Instead, individual computers would be able to copy and republish content on receipt, providing other users with the option to access data, or fragments of data, from a wide range of locations rather than the source itself. Essentially, the model would enable all online content to be shared in a manner emulating the “peer-to-peer” approach taken by some file-sharing sites, but on an unprecedented, internet-wide scale.
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Image: Classic OPTE project map of the internet 2005.
Credit: Curiouslee from Flickr
Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge
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