Congestion on the Internet : operator responses, economic analysis, and improving the network architecture

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2008.

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Bauer, Steven J. (Steven Joseph), 1976-
Other Authors: David Clark.
Format: Thesis
Language:eng
Published: Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2009
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/44406
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author Bauer, Steven J. (Steven Joseph), 1976-
author2 David Clark.
author_facet David Clark.
Bauer, Steven J. (Steven Joseph), 1976-
author_sort Bauer, Steven J. (Steven Joseph), 1976-
collection MIT
description Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2008.
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spelling mit-1721.1/444062019-04-12T08:56:48Z Congestion on the Internet : operator responses, economic analysis, and improving the network architecture Network Neutrality : monitoring tools, economic analysis, and Internet architecture Bauer, Steven J. (Steven Joseph), 1976- David Clark. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2008. Includes bibliographical references (p. 146-156). Our thesis presents the results of monitoring traffic management techniques of network providers. We find that in addition to complete blocking of traffic flows on some transport layer ports, providers are also actively managing traffic based upon application layer content. We document how providers are engaged in not just deep packet inspection, but deep flow inspection - tracking, shaping, and actively managing the state of individual flows. We explain why network operators attempt to manage traffic in these manners by looking at both the technical and economic forces influencing their decisions. We argue that inefficient congestion management and contractual practices of network providers are not unexpected given the limitations of the existing Internet architecture. Indeed, managing network traffic based upon transport and application layer content are likely to become more prevalent as high bandwidth demanding applications such as video and peer-to-peer increasingly dominate the traffic mix on networks. The existing Internet architecture leaves network operators with little architectural support for making more efficient traffic management decisions or contractual relationships. We therefore consider how making the architectural and protocol changes proposed by Briscoe et al [14, 17, 16], might help better align the economic and technical interests of traffic senders and traffic carriers. Briscoe's proposal would enable traffic management and/or contractual relationships to be based directly on congestion information. Our contribution is to further the analysis of the economic implications of this proposal. We apply both game theory and elementary economic analysis to better understand the proposal's advantages and limitations. (cont.) Aligning the congestion responses of end-users with the traffic management and contractual decisions of network operators is part of a larger challenge of designing the next generation Internet architecture and protocols while taking into account the economic interests of different stakeholders. Accepting a proposal such as Briscoe's requires the research and wider networking community to be able to balance both technical and economic arguments in a design process. We examine how this integration might occur. Establishing a means of discourse is vital to the objective evaluation of what constitutes good architecture and good research for these techno-economic problems. by Steven J. Bauer. Ph.D. 2009-01-30T16:42:43Z 2009-01-30T16:42:43Z 2008 2008 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/44406 289322421 eng M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582 156 p. application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology
spellingShingle Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
Bauer, Steven J. (Steven Joseph), 1976-
Congestion on the Internet : operator responses, economic analysis, and improving the network architecture
title Congestion on the Internet : operator responses, economic analysis, and improving the network architecture
title_full Congestion on the Internet : operator responses, economic analysis, and improving the network architecture
title_fullStr Congestion on the Internet : operator responses, economic analysis, and improving the network architecture
title_full_unstemmed Congestion on the Internet : operator responses, economic analysis, and improving the network architecture
title_short Congestion on the Internet : operator responses, economic analysis, and improving the network architecture
title_sort congestion on the internet operator responses economic analysis and improving the network architecture
topic Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
url http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/44406
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