This book meets the long-standing need for an explanation of how the Internet’s architecture has evolved since its creation to support an ever-broader range of the world’s communication needs. The authors introduce a new model of network architecture that exploits a powerful form of modularity to provide lucid, insightful descriptions of complex structures, functions, and behaviors in today’s Internet. Countering the idea that the Internet’s architecture is ‘ossified’ or rigid, this model which is presented through hundreds of examples rather than mathematical notation encompasses the Internet’s original or ‘classic’ architecture, its current architecture, and its possible future architectures.
