Nortel unveils 'personal Internet' initiative

(Telephony) Piecing together capabilities it acquired with Shasta Networks and its Alteon Web switches, Nortel Networks introduced what it calls a "Personal Internet" initiative aimed at taking rich Web content from the network edges to personalized end user sites.

"We see it as a fundamental re-architecture of the control point of the Internet," said Joe Hickey, general manager of the IP services group within Nortel's content networking business unit.

This re-architecture is done by "bringing the point that you enter the network – the subscriber edge where the Shasta portfolio sits – with the content edge, which is where all content comes into the Internet at the other end of the core network. We tie those two ends of the network together with the Shasta and Alteon portfolio," Hickey said.

Today's Internet is built around a "rudimentary" set of information, like an envelope with a delivery and return address, he said. Alteon, he said, permits the network to open the envelope and read the user information Shasta has placed within it, thus gaining a better understanding of the end user's profile.

"Now we know more about you as a user and your preference and we can route you accordingly throughout the network," he continued. "The content companies are very interested in this because now they have an avenue to ensure the reliable delivery of their rich content."

The combined Alteon/Shasta product even recognizes the type of device being used and the closest location of cached content for the user, he said.

"IP just becomes a connectivity-oriented protocol, like ATM, and the intelligence about the user and where the user wants to go and wants the Internet to be" is now part of the network, he said.

This, he said, will become important as rich content overwhelms what started as a dial-up network with limited capabilities.

"The traditional IP Internet infrastructure will not be sufficient and you'll start to see bypass networks that will be optically based to ensure that content gets from one end of the network to the other at the speed of light," Hickey said. "The propagation delays of the Internet get removed (and) content gets served to the user on the appropriate user profiles and preferences. It's a combination of personalization with the approved speed and accuracy of delivery."

Nortel's traditional customers – the service providers – will provide the networks over which this new set of features runs. Content providers will then take advantage of those networks to expeditiously and selectively deliver their materials, he concluded.