Internet of Things,future networks,and the economics of virtual networks

Abstract

The Internet of Things (IoT) gains momentum. Developments regarding smart grids, intelligent transportation systems, and low-power networks for smart cities constitute significant drivers in the evolution of network industries. IoT creates an array of new requirements for information and communications technology (ICT) data transmission: In addition to real-time and data geopositioning, new service characteristics result from the change of the traditional sender–receiver perspective of Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) to content relevancy for many users (e.g. cloud computing) and dynamic changes of the state of devices. The future development and success of IoT hinges critically on the provision of heterogeneous quality of service (QoS) requirements which cannot be provided by best-effort TCP/IP Internet. It is thus not surprising that both in the US and the EU network neutrality regulations are currently being reconsidered. Alternative network logistics (virtual networks) dealing with heterogeneous QoS requirements of network traffic may require fundamental deviations from traditional Internet architectures. Corresponding logistics operating over joint physical infrastructures gain increasing attention under the heading of future networks (FNs). The goal of this article is to focus on the economic mechanisms of how the potentials of QoS differentiation in the context of FNs can be fully exploited and incentivized within innovative all-IP-based QoS traffic architectures.

Keywords

Internet of Things future networks next-generation networks virtual networks QoS guarantees QoS traffic classes Internet pricing network neutrality regulation

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Ash

Morton

Dolly

Tarapore

Dvorak

El Mghazli

(2010). Y.1541-QOSM: Model for networks using Y.1541 quality-of-service classes, RFC 5976.

Babiarz

Chan

Baker

(2006). Configuration guidelines for DiffServ service classes, RFC 4594.

Bauer

J. M.

Knieps

(2018). Complementary innovation and network neutrality. Telecommunications Policy, 42, 172–183.

BEREC. (2016). BEREC guidelines on the implementation by National Regulators of European Net Neutrality Rules, BoR (16) 127.

BEREC. (2018). Consultation paper on the evaluation of the application of Regulation (EU) 2015/2120 and the BEREC Net Neutrality Guidelines, BoR (18) 33.

Clark

D. D.

Lehr

Bauer

Faratin

Sami

Wroclawski

(2006). Overlay networks and the future of the internet. Communications & Strategies, 63, 109–129.

Deering

Hinden

(1998) Internet protocol, Version 6 (IPv6) specification, RFC 2460.

European Commission. (2015). A digital single market strategy for Europe, Brussels, 6 May. 2015, COM (2015)192 final.

Farinacci

Fuller

Meyer

Lewis

(2013). The locator/ID separation protocol (LISP), RFC 6830.

10.

FCC. (2018). In the Matter of Restoring Internet Freedom, Declaratory Ruling, Report and Order, and Order, WC Docket No. 17–108, FCC 17–166. Adopted: December 12, 2017, Released: January 4, 2018.

11.

ISO/IEC. (2012). Information technology – Future Network – Problem statement and requirements – Part 1: Overall aspects (Technical Report), TR 29181 -1. Retrieved from http://standards.iso.org/ittf/publiclyavailablestandards/index.html.

12.

ITU-R. (2015). IMT Vision – Framework and overall objectives of the future development of IMT for 2020 and beyond, Recommendation ITU-R M.2083-0.

13.

ITU-T. (2002). Network performance objectives for IP-based services, ITU-T Recommendation Y.1541.

14.

ITU-T. (2004a). Next Generation Networks – Frameworks and functional architecture models: General overview of NGN, ITU-T Recommendation Y.2001.

15.

ITU-T. (2004b). An architectural framework for support of Quality of Service in packet networks, ITU-T Recommendation Y.1291.

16.

ITU-T. (2006a). Admission control priority levels in Next Generation Networks, ITU-T Recommendation Y.2171.

17.

ITU-T. (2006b). Resource and admission control functions in next generation networks, ITU-T Recommendations Y.2111.

18.

ITU-T. (2007). Service restoration priority levels in Next Generation Networks, ITU-T Recommendation Y.2172.

19.

ITU-T. (2010). Requirements for support of ubiquitous sensor network (USN) applications and services in the NGN environment, Recommendation ITU-T Y.2221.

20.

ITU-T. (2011a). Future networks: Objectives and design goals, ITU-T Recommendation ITU-T Y.3001.

21.

ITU-T. (2011b). Network performance objectives for IP-based services, Recommendation ITU-T Y. 1541.

22.

ITU-T. (2012). Framework of network virtualization for future networks, Recommendation ITU-T Y.3011.

23.

ITU-T. (2014a). Common requirements of the Internet of things, Recommendation ITU-T Y.2066.

24.

ITU-T. (2014b). Requirements of network virtualization for future networks, Recommendation ITU-T Y.3012.

25.

ITU-T. (8 2014c). The Tactile Internet, ITU-T Technology Watch Report.

26.

ITU-T. (2015). Functional framework and capabilities of the Internet of things, Recommendation ITU-T Y. 2068.

27.

ITU-T. (2016). Internet protocol data communication service – IP packet transfer and availability performance parameters, Recommendation ITU-T Y. 1540.

28.

Knieps

(2011). Network neutrality and the evolution of the internet. International Journal of Management and Network Economics, 2, 24–38.

29.

Knieps

(2015). Entrepreneurial traffic management and the internet engineering task force. Journal of Competition Law & Economics, 11, 727–745.

30.

Knieps

(2017a). Internet of Things and the economics of microgrids. In Sioshansi

(Ed.), Innovation & disruption at the grid’s edge (pp. 241–258). Amsterdam, the Netherlands: Academic Press/Elsevier.

31.

Knieps

(2017b). Internet of things and the economics of smart sustainable cities. Competition and Regulation in Network Industries, 18, 115–131.

32.

Knieps

Bauer

J. M.

(2016). The industrial organization of the internet. In: Bauer

J. M.

Latzer

(Eds.), Handbook on the economics of the internet (pp. 23–54). Cheltenham, England: Edward Elgar.

33.

Knieps

Zenhäusern

(2015). Broadband network evolution and path dependency. Competition and Regulation in Network Industries, 16, 335–353.

34.

Kumar

Gollakota

Katabi

. (2012). A cloud-assisted design for autonomous driving, Proceedings of the first edition of the MCC workshop on Mobile cloud computing (MCC’12). Helsinki, Finland. August 17, 2012, pp. 41–46.

35.

MacKie-Mason

J. K.

Varian

H. R.

(1995). Pricing congestible network resources. IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, 13, 1141–1149.

36.

Martin

Minet

George

(2004). Deterministic end-to-end guarantees for real-time applications in a DiffServ-MPLS domain. In Ramamoorthy

C. V.

Lee

R. L.

Lee

K. W.

(Eds.), Software engineering research and applications. Lecture notes in computer science (vol. 3026, pp. 51–73). Berlin, Germany: Springer.

37.

OECD. (2012). Machine-to-machine communications: Connecting billions of devices, OECD Digital Economy Papers, No. 230, OECD Publishing. doi:10.1787/5k9gsh2gp043-en.

38.

OECD. (2013a). Building blocks for smart networks, OECD Digital Economy Papers, No. 215, OECD Publishing. doi:10.1787/5k4dkhvnzv35-en.

39.

OECD. (2013b). The app economy, OECD Digital Economy Papers, No. 230, OECD Publishing. doi:10.1787/5k3ttftlv95k-en.

40.

Ofcom. (3 2018). Enabling 5G in the UK, discussion document. Retrieved from http://www.ofcom.org.uk/spectrum/information/innovation-licensing/enabling-5g-uk.

41.

Stocker

Smaragdakis

Lehr

Bauer

(2017). The growing complexity of content delivery networks: Challenges and implications for the Internet ecosystem. Telecommunications Policy, 42, 1003–1016.

42.

Winchcomb

Massey

Beastall

(2017). Review of latest developments in the Internet of Things, Cambridge Consultants Ltd, Ofcom contract number 1636 (MC370), Cambridge, UK.