[talks] 4-5pm Wed May 14 talk on Building a Strong Foundation for the Future Internet

[Jennifer Rexford]

[Note: In a couple of weeks, I'm giving an invited talk on "building a 
strong foundation for the future Internet" at the 2008 Symposium on the 
Theory of Computing (http://webhome.csc.uvic.ca/~stoc2008/).  The talk 
below is a dry-run of that talk.  I'd be very happy to hear your 
feedback on the presentation.]

Title: Building a Strong Foundation for the Future Internet
Speaker: Jennifer Rexford, Princeton University
Date/time: 4-5pm Wednesday May 14
Location: COS 105 (small auditorium)

Abstract:

The Internet is unquestionably a tremendous success---a research
experiment that truly escaped from the lab.  However, the Internet
faces many technical challenges that, while deeply rooted in early
design decisions, have grown even more complex as the network has
evolved into a world-wide commercial infrastructure.  In this talk, we
argue that perhaps the most important goal for a future Internet is
the ability to define, model, and analyze it precisely, so we can make
stronger statements about its basic properties.  Using Internet
routing as a driving example, we discuss the research challenges in
designing protocols that are simultaneously programmable (so they are
flexible and can evolve over time) and perform well in a competitive
economic environment (where different parts of the system are
controlled by parties with different, sometimes conflicting,
objectives).  We believe that answering these fundamental questions
presents a wonderful opportunity for theoretical research in computer
science, electrical engineering, economics, and mathematics.