The Path Toward Tomorrow’s Internet

What can ultrahigh-speed Internet communications and advanced software make possible? Beyond Today's Internet: Experiencing a Smart Future!, a conference in Arlington (VA), brought together participants in two initiatives supported by National Science Foundation: the Global Environment for Network Innovations project, or GENI, and US Ignite.

The attendees included White House officials, local community leaders, university researchers and corporate scientists. Their shared interest is in accelerating the spread of next-generation Internet technology to stimulate scientific discoveries, economic development, education and public health. Listening to the speakers and seeing the presentations, two themes stood out -- one about policy, the other about technology. The first is the crucial role government leadership and public funding can play in moving new technology forward. That reality tends to be underappreciated at a time when a flood of private money is pouring into tech companies and start-ups. But science comes before commercialization, and that can take time. The other theme at the conference was the anticipated impact of the so-called Internet of Things. Corporate and community representatives alike predicted that connecting sensor-laden devices from jet engines to appliances to smartphones to the Internet will drive the demand for next-generation networks and the smart software needed to find useful patterns in all the data.