[Here is another excellent paper on the evolving Internet that has also documented the changes to the to the Internet topology as many companies deploy content centric networks using distributed computing and storage. As I mentioned in my paper this evolution could have profound impacts for mobile offload for large data volumes from 3G/4G networks. Content centric networks are much easier to deploy than traditional end-to-end networks. A possible business scenario is for someone like Google and/or Microsoft to partner with Boingo as the customer facing mobile data network using a 3G/4G "virtual" network (like Virgin Mobile's network) as fallback delivery modes in areas where there is no Wifi or white space coverage. Such a network would be an ideal partnership with R&E networks and community networks to easily extend coverage to students and faculty off campus and deliver wireless data at a fraction of the price of today's mobile networks. Most R&E networks already peer with these content networks.
Thanks to Martin Arlitt for this pointer - BSA]
*The Flattening Internet Topology: Natural Evolution, Unsightly Barnacles or Contrived Collapse?*
/Gill, Phillipa; Arlitt, Martin; Li, Zongpeng; Mahanti, Anirban/
HPL-2008-47
*Keyword(s):* Internet, topology, content providers, private WAN, measurement
*Abstract:* In this paper we collect and analyze traceroute measurements 1 to show that large content providers (e.g., Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!) are deploying their own wide-area networks, bringing their networks closer to users, and bypassing Tier-1 ISPs on many paths. This trend, should it continue and be adopted by more content providers, could flatten the Internet topology, and may result in numerous other consequences to users, Internet Service Providers (ISPs), content providers, and network researchers. Publication Info:
Presented and published at Passive and Active Measurement Conference, Cleveland, Ohio, April 2008
http://www.hpl.hp.com/techreports/2008/HPL-2008-47.pdf