Communications of the ACM
Upgrading the Internet for the Mobile age
A visualization of Internet connections in the United States.
Zina Deretsky / National Science Foundation
Princeton University researchers have developed Serval, a system that makes small changes to the way programs download and manage data, which they say could greatly impact the future growth of the Internet.
"Serval is something that will make things easier to build and easier to manage without relying on these hacks," says Princeton professor Michael Freedman.
Serval fixes problems by changing the role of the Internet Protocol (IP) address, adding another layer of information, known as the service access layer, to certain packets contained in the data stream. The service access layer identifies a service such as Google or Facebook, so if the IP address changes, the program does not stop working because it still receives functional information from the service access layer.
The researchers say the system also enables mobile devices to switch between a Wi-Fi stream and a cellular one, even allowing both services simultaneously. "The Internet is increasingly a platform for connecting mobile users with the cloud and the Internet was not designed to do that," says Princeton professor Jennifer Rexford.
The researchers also note that Serval can be deployed incrementally and does not require massive changes to current networks.
From Princeton University
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Abstracts Copyright © 2012 Information Inc., Bethesda, Maryland, USA
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