Lets talk about an interesting article I read called the Future of the Internet Report by the Future Internet Strategy Group. I think there's some real potential in this article, and I'll save you the 60 page read. In this post, I'll review the article, and comment on how the topics in the MIT course I'm taking relate to the trends in the report.
The report is designed to position the British government well for what the report refers to as the 'Future Internet'. Broadly defined, the 'Future Internet' is what the internet will look like in the future. I know that sounds pretty obvious, but the article spends a great deal of time talking about some common misunderstandings about the future. For example, with all the talk about 4G and other smartphone connection speeds, it's easy to assume the future will be all about speed. The article points out that internet speed, while important, is only a minor portion of the future state.
What the article proposes as the 'Future Internet' is an "Internet of People and Things". This means in increase of internet connected devices, and not just smartphones. It proposes that we will accumulate much more data as machines talk directly to each other with no human interaction. This last idea has a very 'big brother' feel to it, and it shows the England-centric tone of the article. There are several ideas proposed here, like having GPS locators on a phone or clothing always tracking someone's location, that don't sit well in American culture.
The article outlines three specific areas of technology advancement needed to reach the Future Internet state.
- Capable Access Mechanism
- Cloud Infrastructure
- Converged Services
| 1,000 Bytes | = 1 Kilobyte |
| 1,000 Kilobytes | = 1 Megabyte |
| 1,000 Megabytes | = 1 Gigabyte |
| 1,000 Gigabytes | = 1 Terabyte |
| 1,000 Terabytes | = 1 Petabyte |
| 1,000 Petabytes | = 1 Exabyte |
The Cloud Infrastructure is something we are experiencing today with things like Google Docs and Zoho. Given the exabytes of data that are being collected, we will need specialized storage locations to manage all the data. Given the chart above, I don't see that society has any choice but to consolidate data storage, which leads us directly into the Converged Services. The article is staunchly opposed to companies keeping 'silos' of data, where one company captures their own data and doesn't share it across the industry. While the gains from this are hard to deny, I was never sold on this idea. Given that data is power, and whoever knows their customer better wins, I don't forsee companies willing to part with their hard-earned data to competitors.
The remainder of the article inspects various technologies and their feasability of being implemented. As you can see from the chart above, each of the larger blocks, like Social Advantage, are built on smaller pieces. Each of these smaller pieces are discussed in detail for the rest of the report, along with how close the UK is to achieving the piece.
Overall, I thoroughly agree with the direction the report is taking. It is very sensible, and we can even see pieces of this in place today with things like SaaS, FaaS, as well as the FCC releasing additional broadband spectrum. Also, the Cloud is gaining popularity, building into the necessary pieces outlined above. I think we will need to see some major businesses implement a cloud strategy as part of their regular operations, including security fixes and downtime safeguards, before the Cloud will take off as a strong and viable option for the future.
I would have to say that the Future Internet Strategy Group has a well researched report that is based in sound facts and predictions. I am excited to see their predictions come true, hopefully sooner than later.
**All images and quotes in this blog are from the Future of the Internet Report.
Nice summary of the report.
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