As the Internet grows, so do Internet routing tables. This growth has so far been manageable, i.e., routing tables count fewer than 300,000 entries versus several hundred millions entities connected to the Internet; but this status-quo is ending. Core routing tables have experienced exponential growth far exceeding the pace of technology improvements. This has become cause for alarm for equipment vendors and standard organizations (the IETF recently created a ?Working Group? dedicated to the problem). Solutions will, however, take time to mature and likely require significant changes to Internet technology.
Broader Impact: This project explores whether market mechanism can help control the growth of Internet routing tables. Specifically, Internet users contribute to this growth primarily through multi-homing and traffic engineering, both aimed at improving local performance and reliability. These local improvements have global consequences: they increase the number of routing entries in the Internet core. Market-based solutions can introduce incentives and pricing mechanisms that capture this tension and allow users to realize their goals while explicitly reflecting their costs to others.
The intellectual merit of this research is in accounting for both technical issues and user goals in developing solutions to preserve Internet growth. Market solutions are effective in tackling complex problems involving diverse parameters, as is the case here, and can also evolve with technology. Ensuring the continued growth of the Internet has obviously broad impact. The impact should, however, also extend to improving the engineering curriculum; in particular through examples illustrating the importance of interactions between economic factors and technology
