New Service Models Coming - Or, All About Bypass

Wed Jun 3 20:27:09 UTC 1998

 ---- New Service Models Coming - Or, All About Bypass ---

In my opinion, the ION announcement by Sprint is only the tip of
the iceberg. North American network operators may also want to look
at the following press release from Lucent and note that MCI is
mentioned as the company testing the new products. 

http://www.lucent.com/press/0598/980527.nsa.html

There is a certain irony that AT&T is not part of these activities...yet...

The Internet has captured the imagination of a wide range of people.
The Internet has been constructed around the edges of the existing
telecommunications infrastructure. Many people have leveraged small
investments into large empires and are now resting on their winnings.

While they are resting and as the Internet becomes as insular as
the old telecommunication cliques, others are busy building new
structures around the edges of the existing IPv4 infrastructure. The
following is just one example. Some of the ideas put forth in the
Sprint annoucements confirm they have been thinking beyond the
current legacy Internet. Other large companies are clearly looking
down the road and as you can see above Lucent is ready with serious
products for serious companies.

@@@@ http://www.aiag.org/anx/pilotend.html

AIAG PUBLISHES ANX? RELEASE 1 DOCUMENT FOR ISPs;
DEFINES CERTIFICATION PROCESS & REQUIREMENTS FOR ANX? SERVICE 
...
ISP Certification Process Opens
Beginning Thursday, May 21, ISPs may apply for certification of
their network environment to meet the business quality internet service
specified by ANX Release 1. 

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

Some people feel that these new service models signal the end
of the good old days of the Internet. This reminds me of people
claiming that early computer store chains signalled the end of
people experimenting with PCs. This was not the case, what
happened was that the rest of the industry (boring PC usage)
grew and it overshadowed the people building Altairs, IMSAIs,
and Cromemco systems. It also helped to bring the price of
floppy drives down to $18 from the $1,800 we paid for the some
of the early drives.

In my opinion, these new service models signal the beginning
of an exciting time of expansion for the Internet and telecommunications
in general. This growth will eventually bypass the legacy IPv4
Internet as we know it. People will have a choice whether to remain
with the old-school legacy systems which they can operate as
transport networks as long as someone is willing to pay to have
some bits hauled, or people can switch and work on the new
service models that are going to rapidly grow around the edges.

There is a need for both types of people. Hopefully, people will
be free to pursue either path. While it is clear that most of the
people interested in NANOG fall into the legacy camp, I have a
feeling that eventually some people will step out and try some
new horizons. When you do, you might be surprised at how
much is going on at the leading edge of those horizons...

Jim Fleming
Unir Corporation - http://www.Unir.net
IS Coordinator for the AM Radio Station Registry - http://www.DOT.AM