Abstract:
The Internet has seen an increase in complexity due to
the introduction of new types of networking devices and
services, particularly at points of discontinuity known as
network edges. As the networking industry continues to
add revenue generating services at network edges, there is
an increasing need to provide a systematic method for
dynamically introducing and providing these new services
in lieu of the ad-hoc approach that is in use today. To this
end we support a phased approach to “activating” the
Internet and suggest that there exists an immediate need
for realizing Active Networks concepts at the network
edges. In this context, we present our efforts towards the
development of a Content-aware Active Gateway (CAG)
architecture. With the help of two practical services
running on our initial prototype, built from commercial
networking devices, we give a qualitative and quantitative
view of the CAG potential.
