Risk of Internet collapse grows

Wed Nov 27 08:06:30 UTC 2002

On Tue, 26 Nov 2002, Irwin Lazar wrote:
> Thought this might be worth passing on:
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2514651.stm
> <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2514651.stm>

Its difficult to tell what the authors have discovered since the paper
won't be published for four months.  From the press release I notice
some language which would indicate it may have the same issues other
Internet models have predicting the impact of physical disruptions.

Q: What's the difference between airline traffic and highway traffic
during a snow storm in Chicago?

A: A snowstorm in Chicago doesn't have much of an impact on highway
traffic through Dallas.  But a snowstorm in Chicago does impact air
traffic in Dallas.

Air traffic in the US is a tightly coupled system. Air traffic is
coordinated nationally, and passengers must make connections at fixed
points which are difficult to change.  Its difficult to get on a different
plane heading in the general direction of your destination. Automotive
traffic is loosly coupled.  Auto traffic is locally controlled and cars
may be individually re-routed towards its destination at many different
points.

Which analogy is closer to what happens to the Internet?  Air traffic or
highway traffic?  Or maybe Internet traffic is like Internet traffic.