Modularity Theory and Internet Regulation

Modularity is often cited as one of the foundations for the Internet’s success. Unfortunately, academic discussions about modularity appearing in the literature on Internet policy are undertheorized. The persistence of nonmodular architectures for some technologies underscores the need for some theoretical basis for determining when modularity is the preferred approach. Even when modularity is desirable, theory must provide some basis for making key design decisions, such as the number of modules, the location of the interfaces between the modules, and the information included in those interfaces. The literature on innovation indicates that modules should be determined by the nature of task interdependencies and the variety inherent in the external environment. Moreover, modularity designs interfaces to ensure that modules operate independently, with all information about processes that adjacent modules should not take into account being hidden within the module. These insights in turn offer a number of important implications. They mark a return to a more technological vision of vertical integration that deviates from the transaction-cost oriented vision that now dominates the literature. They also reveal how modularity necessarily limits the functionality of any particular architecture. In addition, although the independence fostered by modularity remains one of its primary virtues, it can also create coordination problems in which actors operating within each module optimize based on local conditions in ways that can lead to suboptimal outcomes for the system as a whole. Lastly, like any design hierarchy, modular systems can resist technological change. These insights shed new light on unbundling of telecommunications networks, network neutrality, calls for open APIs, and clean-slate redesign proposals

The business Challenges In Communicating, Mobile Or Otherwise

This survey paper analyses some of the fundamental economic and management science issues concerning the communications and information economy ,with special emphasis on mobile communications. Are first highlighted major trends such as the balkanisation of the communications networks , and the advent of competitive tariffs. This leads to a move away from time and distance based charges to tariffs covering bandwidth, service , and contents use. It is noted that very few resources have gone into the analysis of that sector and its inter-relations with others. The paper advocates for more visibility and research into the unique aspects of the communications and information sector. It does so by making an inventory of key economics ,management, and computational economics research issues in need of contributions, selected from the following areas: public communications infrastructure and tariffing principles, sales of communications services, public access and equal access policies, competitive access pricing, communications industry finance, engineering-economic studies, information contents and macroeconomic issues. Finally , the specific aspects of models of the communications and media sector are addressed in view of modelling work. This includes variables, pricing and production models for both communications and information contents . The most unique contribution is here a formal model for quantifying and pricing knowledge , both for consumption and for assets building .telecommunications;mobile communications;tariffs;knowledge bases;public access;content

Bundling, Differentiation, Alliances and Mergers: Convergence Strategies in U.S. Communication Markets

Convergence is a multi-facetted phenomenon affecting the technological basis of information and communication industries, the boundaries of existing and new markets, and the organization of service providers. Convergence in substitutes will tend to increase the intensity of competition but convergence in complements may have the opposite effect. Given the economics of advanced communication industries, convergence necessitates strategies to overcome the risk of commodification at the level of networks, applications, and services. The paper examines bundling, differentiation, alliances, and merger strategies adopted by North American service providers in response to convergence. Service providers'opportunities and risks in the emerging environment differ considerably, with cable and telephone service providers presently in stronger positions than wireless service providers, broadcasters, and satellite service providers. New entrants such as Vonage, Skype, Google, and Yahoo have high disruptive potential but remain disadvantaged without their own access networks

Design principles for the future internet architecture

Design principles play a central role in the architecture of the Internet as driving most engineering decisions at conception level and operational level. This paper is based on the EC Future Internet Architecture (FIArch) Group results and identifies some of the design principles that we expect to govern the future architecture of the Internet. We believe that it may serve as a starting point and comparison for most research and development projects that target the so-called Future Internet Architecture

Creation of value with open source software in the telecommunications field

Tese de doutoramento. Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores. Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 200

Authorized licensed use limited to: University of Texas at Arlington

ABSTRACT In this article, we focus on the use of radio frequency wireless LANs, as opposed to infrared wireless systems. For radio frequency wireless LANs, the availability of unlicensed spectrum is a significant enabler. In the United States, it was the Federal Communications Commission's rule change, first published in 1985 (modified in 1990) allowing unlicensed spread spectrum use of the three industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) frequency bands, that encouraged the development of a number of wireless technologies. Today, unlicensed wireless LAN products are available in all three of the ISM bands at 902-928 MHz,' 2.400-2.4835 GHz, and 5.725-5.850 GHz. As described later, the IEEE 802.11 committee makes use of the 2.4 GHz ISM band. The discussion that follows treats several types of emerging standards which impact wireless LAN systems. We begin with a description of two influential physical-and data-link-layer standards, IEEE 802.11 and HIPERLAN. Following this, we briefly examine some developments concerning the U.S. personal communication services (PCS) bands, future spectrum allocations, and wireless asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) systems. After describing these physical-and link-layer developments, we focus on the network layer. We discuss the extensions being made to the widely used Internet Protocol (IP) t o deal with mobility (wired or wireless). Finally, we describe some emerging standards for wireless link management in which interfaces are specified to provide wireless link information to protocol stacks and applications on the mobile client. In the conclusion, we speculate on future directions of wireless LAN systems. IEEE 802.1 1 WIRELESS LAN STANDARD he IEEE 802.11 committee has been working on the estab-T lishment of a standard for wireless LANs. Having begun its work in 1990, the 802.11 committee is nearing completion of the standard, which is expected to be finalized in mid-1996 Much of the standard appears to have reached final form at the current time (early 1996), so we can describe the main features of the architecture, the multiple physical layers, and the common medium access control (MAC) sublayer [1]. ARCHITECTURE We introduce the general architecture and terminology defined by the 802 11 committee [l]. As shown in 8

FPGA-based architectures for next generation communications networks

This engineering doctorate concerns the application of Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) technology to some of the challenges faced in the design of next generation communications networks. The growth and convergence of such networks has fuelled demand for higher bandwidth systems, and a requirement to support a diverse range of payloads across the network span. The research which follows focuses on the development of FPGA-based architectures for two important paradigms in contemporary networking - Forward Error Correction and Packet Classification. The work seeks to combine analysis of the underlying algorithms and mathematical techniques which drive these applications, with an informed approach to the design of efficient FPGA-based circuits