End-to-End Arguments: The Internet and Beyond

A key factor supporting the Internet's evolution and growth is the use of "end-to-end arguments" to decide where to place functionality in the overall architecture as it evolved. There are many today who assert that the end-to-end arguments are no longer applicable to the Internet—that the Internet in its maturity must now begin to lock in specialized functions for mobile phones, television and video conferencing, functions to enable cyberwarfare, and functions that are required to ensure adequate profits to the operators and equipment vendors who must have incentives to invest in the Internet. At the same time, we are seeing vastly more complex interoperable architectures built around the Internet emerging in the form of cloud-style computing and mobile interaction.

Dr. Reed, who is one of the three authors who articulated the end-to-end argument as a principle of design, will argue that the end-to-end argument is not dead—it is more important than ever. In passing, he will explain some of the misconceptions about the end-to-end argument that have emerged from its friends and its foes.