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Network Overlay: PlanetLab
September 26, 2003
Welcome to TNL.net. If you like this content, you may consider subscribing to the RSS feed.MIT Technology Review has an interesting article about PlanetLab, a new initiative to create a layer on top of the existing Internet. This new layer would allow to create new applications that can help develop new sets of distributed tools on the net.
The nice thing about the approach taken by PlanetLab is that it reuses the existing infrastructure and superimposes itself on it. This is a great concept as it allows to create a smarter net with little extra investments. Other projects, like Internet 2 have looked at creating a whole new network, complete with new routers and new lines. This is a much longer goal as it will require significant upgrades to the infrastructure before it can be used by most people on a regular basis.
The genius in the PlanetLab approach is that it requires little investment to jump on. Based on their list of requirements, you need a couple of 1.3 Ghz Pentium III machines with 1 Gb of memory and 40 Gbs of Hard Drive Space and a network addressable power strip. This means that, for roughly $3000, a group can easily jump on this new network. Pretty low cost when you consider the initial costs of setting up a regular Internet node (between network hardware and connectivity, you will easily exceed the price of a PlanetLab node). However, there’s the catch: in order to play, you must already be on the Internet.
Fortunately for all of us, a lot of the excess of the 90s has gotten us to a point where the Internet infrastructure is nicely developed. Call it a dotcom dividend if you want, as billions of dollars have been poured into creating the net we now know.
I don’t know if the PlanetLab project will succeed but I hope it does. Much of the promise it shows could help herald a new set of interesting developments around the net as a whole. This is definitely a trend to watch.
