By Ellen McCarthy
Thursday, May 26, 2005
The 500 technologists hunkered down in the Reston Hyatt this week are plotting the best way to push us onto the new Internet.
They assume everyone's heard that there's a new Internet coming. Didn't know we needed an upgrade? Yes, the one we're working on now is a bit antiquated, they say nonchalantly, and it's about time we moved to a sleeker model.
"What we've found over the last 10 years is that we need to do a number of things to improve [the Internet]," said Rod Murchison , senior director of product management for Juniper Networks of Sunnyvale, Calif. The current Internet simply wasn't designed to handle the volume of users and devices that are tapping into it, he adds.
But out there in the ether, waiting to be accepted and adopted, Murchison says, is an Internet that can handle all the needs of the growing digital society. Those in the know call it " IPV6 ," short for Internet Protocol Version 6. (For the curious, we're currently using Version 4 -- Version 5 never really got off the ground.)
The essential advantage of Version 6 is that it can expand to give Internet addresses not only to every cell phone, iPod and BlackBerry that will eventually come online, but also to Web-enabled sensors that will someday be scattered around our homes, cars and communities, allowing users to control more of their world through the Internet.
The current version has about 4.3 billion available addresses; the new one has so many it is expressed in exponents (3.4 x 10 to the power of 38).
The average consumer may never know the switch is occurring, because the two versions interact seamlessly with each other. Most modern computers are already enabled to use IPV6, but for network service providers, like Comcast or America Online , it can require significant and costly equipment upgrades, Murchison said.
Enthusiasts at this week's conference, called the IPV6 Summit and attended by many representatives of local tech companies and government agencies, expound fervently about the days when the sensors on a car's timing belt will send an alert through the Internet to a consumer's cell phone, informing the owner that it's time for a tune-up. Or when an e-mail will show up with the message that the freezer in a user's vacation home has risen above a certain temperature, putting that expensive buffalo meat at risk of spoiling.
The new Net is also more secure, its proponents say, because the simplicity of its structure makes it easier to identify potential trouble spots. And streaming video images played on IPV6 are far more clear than those shown on the old model.
American corporations have been slow to adopt the new standard, which was developed by a consortium of public- and private-sector technologists, but the Pentagon isn't giving its units the option to ignore it. By 2008, the Defense Department intends to deploy Version 6 and is requiring that all of the new devices purchased by military buyers are equipped to work on the new network.
"As the network gets bigger, they want more reach. They want more end-to-end communication. . . . The goal is ubiquity," said Chuck Lynch , technical director of the DOD transition office.
Rep. T homas M. Davis III (R-Va.) stopped by the conference Tuesday morning to promote the advantages of the new Internet, and last week the Government Accountability Office issued a report recommending that federal agencies start planning their transition strategies.
"Honestly, I think it's inevitable" that the switch will be made, Murchison said.
Sitting in the late afternoon sun, Sandeep Muju and Prabhat Kumar lean in close to discuss the impact they -- and the nearly 2,000 other alumni of the Indian Institutes of Technology who gathered in Rockville last weekend -- can have on the world.
That graduates of the intensely selective university, which has campuses across India, will create important technical innovations and build new businesses is almost a given. Absorbing an equal portion of the reunion's conversation, however, was the role IIT alumni should play in U.S., Indian and global politics.
"We have a lot of influence on the Indian side, but what we're finding is that we don't have influence on the American side," said Muju, who lives in California. The first generation of IIT grads and other Indian immigrants focused initially on establishing themselves, Muju said, but are now intent on entering the national dialogue regarding issues like immigration visas and offshore outsourcing.
"The kids of IIT grads are growing up here. We want the U.S. economy to remain as vibrant as it is today," Kumar added.
Another alum, R. Radha Krishnan , traveled from Paris to reconnect with old classmates but also to galvanize their support for his initiative to address the needs of people living in rural India.
"What we want is to have a think tank of IIT grads . . . who will conduct feasibility studies," Krishnan said. "Parliamentarians respect IIT grads."
Porsches and Escalades and BMWs were lined up around the winding neighborhood surrounding Roger Mody 's mansion in McLean on Tuesday night. Inside, Washington's technology elite filed into the marble-lined parlor to fete the publication of Charlie Thomas 's first book, "Entrepreneur: A CEO's Lessons in American Capitalism." The book chronicles the fast rise and eventual fall of his first company, Net2000 Communications , a Herndon broadband provider.
Along with Mody, whose Fairfax government contracting firm, Signal Corp ., was sold to Veridian Corp . for $227 million in 2002, and Thomas, who now holds the top spot at Nisco, a Fairfax software firm, were about 300 of their closest friends. Notables included: John Kealey , chief executive of Herndon-based i Direct Technologies , Matthew Calkins , chief executive of Vienna-based Appian Corp ., angel investor John May , and Gene Riechers , co-founder of Valhalla Partners , a Vienna venture capital firm. More than one guest noted that the gala was sweetly reminiscent of the good ol' boom days -- could be that high times are on the horizon once again.
Ellen McCarthy writes about the local tech scene every Thursday. Her e-mail address ismccarthye@washpost.com.