ISP Needs

1
ISP Needs

• Kevin Thompson and Jambi Ganbar
• WorldCom
• June 13, 2001

2
What is an Internet Engineer?

• Internet engineers are the network designers,
  operators, vendors, and researchers concerned
  with the evolution of the Internet architecture
  and the smooth operation of the Internet.
  Internet engineers work in the Internet
  infrastructure industry, consisting of
  telecommunications companies, Internet Service
  Providers, Internet backbone carriers, and the
  Internet equipment and software industry. In the
  future, the scope of internet engineering will
  increase as embedded systems technology
  integrates with the Internet. Jorg Liebeherr
  and John Stankovic, October 2000

3
Who Needs Internet Engineers

• ISPs of all sizes
• Government, Military
• Corporations
• Enterprises
• Campuses
• Equipment and software vendors
• Anywhere an IP network exists or is needed

4
Internet Eng Responsibilities

• Keep the network running (availability)
• Minimize packet loss and misrouting (reliability)
• Keep the network ahead of the traffic growth
  curve
• Test and deploy new hardware and software
• Design and implement new features and services

5
Skill Sets

• Problem solving
• Communications Skills
• Open mind
• Some amount of rigor and discipline
• Applying concepts to implementation, realization
• Adaptability, flexibility and creativity

6
Key Technical Areas

• IP fundamentals
• Layer 2 and transmission technologies
• User behavior and trends
• System administration
• Network Security
• Traffic analysis
• Advanced stuff (IPv6, multicast, MPLS)

7
IP fundamentals how the Internet works

• Whats an IP packet
• IP addressing
• TCP and UDP, reliability vs. best effort
• Routing, routing protocols
• Diagnostics like ping and traceroute
• Architectures of IP routers
• IP network topologies end-to-end
• Security

8
Relevance of your Internet Teaching Labs

• Lecture/Lab combination hits the bulls-eye
• Fundamentals/concepts of how the Internet works
  can largely be covered by a series of labs and
  lectures
• Homogenous hardware and software platforms ease
  adoption and allow students to focus on
  application, realization, and problem solving
• Your labs take a large step toward graduating
  Internet Engineers

9
The Larger Picture

• How complex is the Internet? No one knows how
  many hosts are connected
• IETF has
• 9 Areas of Working Groups
• 127 WGs!
• Over 3100 RFCs
• Many Internet drafts
• Internet engineering is in fact a distinct
  engineering disciplining

10
Labor Environment

• UUNet alone had over 400 Internet eng openings
  last Fall
• gt 900,000 new IT jobs this year
• And a shortfall of 425,000 workers ( data
  referenced from www.zdnet.com, May 21, 2001)

11
Assertions

• We (ISPs) need Internet engineers who have a
  fundamental knowledge base combined with
  experience and use of core Internet hardware and
  software
• ISPs need Internet specialists too, focused on
  areas like routing, security, traffic
  engineering, etc.
• ISPs need thinkers, designers, and innovators
  focused on core Internet technology
• ISPs need universities and colleges to build an
  Internet Engineering curriculum and graduate
  Internet engineers