Farewell to deterministic networks

As communication networks become increasingly complex and dynamic, the three functions known as monitoring, control and management prove to be ineffective. It is increasingly difficult to operate large networks, perform diagnostics, prevent cascading failures, or deliver dependable services. I argue that this is because, although the Internet serves more terminals than there are neurons in the brain, we still handle our networks via deterministic protocols. We still try to capture the complex entangle of interconnections by creating deterministic models of the network, its traffic and control system. By the year 2020 the number of interconnected ‘things’ will grow by a factor of a thousand, and networks will be programmed to ‘learn’ how to detect new communication patterns and self-regulate, rather than acting deterministically. I introduce the anatomy of a smart network, discussing what more could be achieved with it.