Information-Centric Networking Research Group Charter ======= Background ---------------- Distributing named information is a major application in the Internet today. In addition to Web-based content distribution other distribution technologies have emerged such as P2P and CDN which are promoting a communication model of accessing data by name, regardless of origin server location. Information-centric networking (ICN) is an approach to evolve the Internet infrastructure to directly support this use by introducing uniquely named data as a core Internet principle. Data becomes independent from location, application, storage, and means of transportation, enabling in-network caching and replication. The expected benefits are improved efficiency, better scalability with respect to information/bandwidth demand and better robustness in challenging communication scenarios. These concepts are known under different terms, including but not limited to: Network of Information (NetInf), Content-Centric Networking (CCN), Named Data Networking (NDN) and Publish/Subscribe Networking. ICN concepts can be applied to different layers of the protocol stack: named-based data access can be implemented on top of existing IP infrastructure, e.g., by providing resource naming, ubiquitous caching and corresponding transport services -- or it can actually be seen as a packet-level inter-networking technology that would incur fundamental changes to Internet routing and forwarding. In summary, ICN is expected to evolve the Internet architecture at different layers. Research Challenges ------------------- Moving the focus from nodes to information objects brings scalability issues to a new level, currently the Internet is addressing in the order of 10^9 nodes, whereas the number of addressable ICN objects is expected to be several orders of magnitude higher. Name-based routing and name resolution have to be designed to scale accordingly, also considering mobility support and disruption tolerance. This is related to the question how objects are actually named, e.g., using flat labels with name/content integrity or more structured, possibly aggregatable names. Accessing copies of named content enables applying new data transport concepts, such as receiver-oriented (pull-based) transport protocols. Caches in the network may play an active role in transport sessions, enabling shorter feedback loops and specific transport protocol features in challenged networks, quite different from end-to-end transport as in TCP today. Leveraging the existence of multiple copies of each object enables new transport strategies such as parallel interaction with multiple caches. With ICN new security models are needed. Today's host centric trust model, retrieving data from a trusted server via a secure connection, no longer applies for ICN where ubiquitous replication and dynamic emergence of eligible object copies for access transactions are the norm. Instead, security/trust functions are rather expected to be bound to the information object themselves, employing signed objects and and ensuring name-data integrity. Moreover, not all objects will be universally accessible, requiring authorization and scoping mechanisms. The ICN paradigm is also expected to require new interfaces for applications to interact with the network. For example, a new API should let the application developers take advantage of location-independent naming, caching, and multi access functionality in ICN. It is expected that ICN will require changes to the business, legal and regulatory landscape. Examples include changes to how peering agreements are made in a network that heavily relies on caching. Compensation schemes for user nodes contributing cache space, bandwidth and/or battery for participating in delivery of objects to third parties. The caching of objects also have implications on how the legal framework deals with caching objects, in transit, that would mean copyright and/or other legal violations if they were regarded as being in your possession. Finally to get to the deployment of new ICN technology will require a well defined migration path from today's networking technology without the need for any forklift upgrades or flag days. Migration and inter-working possibilities are also required to foster large-scale experiments and thorough evaluation of ICN concept and specific concrete approaches. The development of corresponding test-beds and experimentation facilities is considered a very important potential activity area of the ICN RG. ICNRG Objectives ---------------- The main objective of the ICNRG is to advance the state of ICN research in the mentioned areas, focusing on solutions that are relevant for evolving the Internet at large. The ICNRG will provide a forum for exchange and analysis of ICN research ideas and proposals, work that is based on implementation and simulation experiences will be given preference. The ICNRG will identify key ICN architecture invariants across different specific approaches which could form the basis of a future ICN architecture. The ICNRG will foster the development of ICN testbeds for performing experiments with running code. The intention is that one result from this work could be a common protocol framework that can be used to identify protocols for standardization. These protocols may or may not re-use existing IETF protocols. Milestones ---------- The ICNRG will not work along a complete list of milestones, but will be set to meet the following starting point, intermediate and potential long-term goals: 1. As a starting point the ICNRG will produce a document that describes the main concepts and research challenges in depth. 2. An an intermediate milestone, the ICNRG will produce a document that provides a survey of different approaches and techniques. 3. Eventual long-term goals would be documents describing an ICN architecture and possible specific (protocol) elements, as well as documents providing recommendations to the IETF regarding transferring ICNRG results to standardization work. Organization ------------ The ICNRG will use an open mailing list (icnrg@irtf.org) as the main communication vehicle for the group. Most of the communication inside the ICNRG will be done through use of mailing lists, however, the group will hold regular physical meetings at least once a year in conjunction with IETF meetings. Additional meetings may be held at IETF or other venues, such as in conjunction with related academic conferences. The ICNRG will produce Informational and Experimental RFCs in order to document the activity of the group and to formalize the outcome of the research topics carried by the group. In addition, such documentation could become input to IETF working groups.