The National Science Foundation is currently funding several university projects through Future Internet Network Design (FIND), and plans to build its own experimental network called Global Environment for Network Innovations, or GENI.
The European Union also is backing research, and government officials and researchers met in Zurich last month to discuss early findings.
Dipankar Raychaudhuri, a Rutgers University professor overseeing three "clean slate" projects said that the Internet "works well in many situations but was designed for completely different assumptions. It's sort of a miracle that it continues to work well today."
Vinton Cerf, one of the Internet's founding fathers, said he supports the revamping research because the current technology "does not satisfy all needs."
The current technology was not designed to accommodate the upsurge of wireless laptops and mobile devices that has developed in the world today, and researchers argue that redesigning the system to secure connections and diminish the need to create workarounds when new technology develops.
For example, there are no guaranteed transmissions for information sent over the Internet, and actions performed over the Internet that require instant information transferal — such as remote surgeries or emergency calls — can not be performed safely on the current network.
An entirely new, updated and technologically sound Internet would not only guarantee information transmission, it also would enable all devices Internet capable on a faster network.
"Now, we have the ability to do all sorts of things at very high speeds," said Bruce Davie, a fellow with network-equipment maker Cisco Systems Inc. "Why don't we start thinking about how we take advantage of those things and not be constrained by the current legacy we have?"
It also is possible that findings made from research completed by the various clean-slate projects will not replace the Internet so much as develop it, and can be folded into the existing Internet as improvements are made.
Research is reported to already have cost tens of millions of dollars, with companies, universities and governments putting forth a combined total $300 million to complete the projects. GENI alone could cost $350 million.
It also could cost billions of dollars to replace existing software and hardware, should the Internet ever be replaced.
Either way, results from GENI, FIND and other projects, assuming research funding continues, aren't likely to surface for another decade.
