The influence of internet architecture on centralised versus distributed internet services

Jari Arkko

Journal of Cyber Policy, 2020, vol. 5, issue 1, 30-45

Abstract: The internet evolves rapidly as innovations in technology, applications and business emerge. In some cases, the changes have also given rise to the creation of centralised service deployment models and industry consolidation. This paper focuses on the question of how internet technology and open interfaces may affect the ability to deploy services in a collaborative fashion vs in a centralised fashion. The paper presents a categorisation of factors influencing these choices and discusses these factors in the context of several case studies. Some aspects of centralisation and consolidation are direct consequences of physics. A large organisation can provide a short round-trip time to users around the globe, due to service instances in many locations. Other aspects are due to economics. For instance, network effects cause the value of a service to grow per Metcalfe’s law. But technology and deployment choices also have an effect. Federated, collaborative networks with open standardised interfaces (such as email) allow multiple service providers to interact with each other. Closed systems may not allow this. Many popular social networks fall in this category. While technology is not the main driving force behind what are often business and economic decisions, awareness of technology choices makes it easier to understand the likely impacts of a chosen model.

Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1080/23738871.2020.1740753

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