BGP growth over 15 years or Is the Internet really just a star network after all?
Brian Carpenter
Department of Computer Science
The University of Auckland
Abstract:
This talk covers some observations on the relationships between three measures of the size of the Internet since 1994. The size of the BGP4 routing table, the number of active Autonomous Systems, and the total size of the Internet, have fairly simple relationships despite the Internet's growth by two orders of magnitude. In particular, the size of the BGP4 system appears to have grown approximately in proportion to the square root of the size of the globally addressable Internet. A simple model that partially explains this square law is described. This offers a way to understand and monitor the scaling of the BGP4 system.
Biography
Brian E. Carpenter joined the University of Auckland in September 2007 and was appointed Professor in January 2009. Before that, he spent ten years with IBM at various locations, working on Internet standards and technology. He was most recently based in Switzerland as a Distinguished Engineer and a member of the IBM Academy of Technology.
Previously, he led the networking group at CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics, in Geneva, Switzerland, from 1985 to 1996. This followed ten years' experience in software for process control systems at CERN, interrupted by three years teaching computer science at Massey University in New Zealand.
He holds a first degree in physics and a Ph.D. in computer science, and is a Chartered Engineer (UK). He has been an active participant in the Global Grid Forum, and in the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), where he has worked on IPv6 and on Differentiated Services. He served from March 1994 to March 2002 on the Internet Architecture Board, which he chaired for five years. He also served as a Trustee of the Internet Society, and was Chairman of its Board of Trustees for two years until June 2002. He was Chair of the IETF from March 2005 to March 2007.