consume the net
#aims
#orgs
#folk
#nodes
#services
#slogans
#peering
#benefits
#technologies
#finance
#gui
#core kit
#tests
#legal
#mailing list
#aims
The aims of consume.net are;
define a sustainable network development
utilise low cost and licence free radio IP systems
optimise infrastructual expenditure and reduce network connectivity costs
increase network speed
re-distribute access
promote common ownership
increase resilliance
aggregate avaliable 'internet' bandwidth
develop top level peering status
and of course
have more fun
model 1
The initial working pilot makes certain assumptions. This network will
be used to test these assumptions and others to arrive at a sustainable
network model.
1. assume persistent connections at each node
2. there is spare capacity at each connection
3. this spare capacity can be offered to the netwrok
4. all interconnects are 2 way
5. the owner of interconnects benefits to the extent of their total
interconnect bandwidth
6. the minimum speed available to a connection owner is the speed of
the line they own.
7. it is in the interest of a node owner to interconnect as fast as
possible
8. it is in the benefit of the entire network for nodes to be added.
#orgs
These are organisations that have either confirmed to be node [~] signalled an interest in the
project [*] or are contacts of project members who will be invited to get involved in the near future.
If you are not listed and should be or are unhappy about your inclusion at this stage then please contact james@spc.org.
mediumrare~
spc.org*
lateral
lux~
thought
interorum
foundry~
ellipsis
romandson
darq
planet hackney
yesmate~
lovely
tecc
elektrosmog
LShift
A.L. Digital Ltd
The Bunker
static
yootv
comala
planetme
singlelton
silver server
ProteinTV~
#folk
A list of people who are engaged in the project or have requested
information.
julian@mediumrare.net
james@spc.org
tim@red56.co.uk
sacha@thought.co.uk
ian@darq.net
vaughan@psyanide.net
richard@binaryrefinery.com (richard jones)
angus@planethackney.com (angus dunwoody-dunn)
alexeiblinov@hotmail.com (alexei blinov)
justin@raylab.com
paul@yesmate.com
honor@va.com.au
col@clinkstreet.com
lee@lateral.net
kevin@frontier.com
andrew@lovely.net
john@lovely.net
howard@ihac.org
stephan@comala.net
julian@planetme.com
susan@singlelaw.com
oscar@sil.at
christian@mediumrare.net
#nodes
initial locations for transmitters are buildings which have power and access
to high points such as a roof or tower. Proximity to another node and
permenant/regular internet connections are essential. The initial locations
will be experimental and so it is envisaged that most of them will have
technically minded people who are willing to contribute.
#existing
clink street studios se1
foundry e1
ellipsis e1
shoreditch town hall e1
lateral (charlotte road) e1
lux building (hoxton square) e1
percy street wc2
#probable
Truman Bricklane
Interface - Commercial street
#possible/interesting
lwt building
itn building
*centrepoint
southwark cathedral se1
#services
the network is designed to facilitate some higher bandwidth activities
and part of its remit is to provide a space for members to experiment
with real world high speed or broadband applications without the
prohibitive costs that are associated with those activities in more
bandwidth limited spheres. The ability of the network to attract
services is also a key to its success in publishing to the wider network
and an aggregation of content on the network will make peering with it
attractive to other networks. In return for access to the content and
high speed interconnect the wider network providers may peer.. eg reduce
the connect fee from its current high levels to zero.
streaming media
internet access
game servers
public programming (frequency clock sheduling)
#slogans
personal telco
pico peering
#peering
peering normally takes place between large network providers to
mediate traffic into and out off their networks. The peering model of
consume.net will create peers between individual unaggregated network
nodes. The peering agreement will allow access to the network on the
condition that its terms are met by the interconnecting network. The
peering agreement passes to its next neighbour. In the instance of
wireless networks the peering is also proximity based.
The consume.net peering agreement may have 2 parts. The first will
specify how nodes within the network peer with each other and the second
specifies how the netowrk peers with other networks. Ideally these would
be present in the same general agreement. Legal work is needed to see
how this agreement impacts on existing network contracts.
#benefits
access to content
agregation of spare bandwidth
local high speed networking
agregated bargaining power
short circuiting the local loop (reducing the cost of local loop
connection)
#technologies
#wireless ethernet
Wireless ethernet conforming to the 802.11 standards is a license
free networking technology which runs at up to 8 mbits. It can be
thought of as the networking equivalent of CB radio. The technology is
low cost and standards based and comes actually plays to some of
ethernets stronger points (ethernet was origninally developed as a
wireless broadcast medium). There are 2 license free bandwidths that may
be used in the uk 2.4 Ghz and 3.5 Ghz. Most activity is in the 2.4 Ghz
range which leaves a virtually unused band which consume.net will
exploit. There is much activity in the states in the wireless isp
industry and as a result most of the common problems and there solutions
are in the public domain. The equipment is also fairly well supported
for drivers under linux and bsd. The low cost of the medium makes it
ideal for consume's initial phase. It may be used in directional or omni
modes depending on arial design. Directional instalations obviously fit
more bandwdith into a smaller physical space and are prefered. Omnis are
useful for street wide coverage etc. It may be that the backbone of the
netywork is initially done over 3.5ghz directional and the last hop to
laptops etc. is done over 2.4 ghz gear. There are many vendors such as
lucent, breezenet, nwn and many more. The commodity status of the
equipment means it is readily available and prices are headed only one
way .. down. There are also developments and additions to the standard
that will increase the bandwidth with some vendors suggesting a 24 Mbit
version and the hiperlan 2 consritium proposing 56 MBit versions.
#router
each node has a router which routes (der) and serves as a container
for the mediating software which is router based. It should also contain
a small web server which publicises the legal frame work of the network
and the conditions for usage (npl).
Initially it is proposed that this
router be based on a floopy based installation of one of the free unix
os's. A selection of these are trinux, pico bsd and linuxrouter.org. The
PC that serves as host should have a minimum spec of a PC (486 +) 16MB
Ram + a floppy disk drive. 2 PCI cards. One PCi Card is for ethernet
access the other to hold the wireless card. This enables us to have a
cheap flexible platform for developing the network on, and a software
platform that lets us be flexible about how the supporting software is
implemented. The router also should manage network traffic so that
allocation is controlled and the user always retains as much bandwidth
as they are donating to the network.
#free space laser
This is a new wireless eyesafe high speed networking technology.
Data is transmitted over point to point infra red laser at very high
speeds (622Mbit and 1 Gbit) Older versions of this were very expensive
and prone to misallignements, pigeons etc. New technologies mount
several autosensing units which train themseleves on neighbouring
installations to form a high speed mesh of connections at very high
speeds. We are hoping to gain funding to install a metropolitan network
of these devices to form a high speed backbone. Some vendors are
airfiber.com (distributed by nortel) and terabeam.com
#lans and other networks
Donnate your LAN or other fixed network to consume.net. Bandwidth
doesn't have to be wireless. A slong as it provides a route from one
place to another and expands the network then it is valuable. A piece of
category 5 through a wall is a cheaper bandwith solution than a wireless
terminal. Agregating a building means that you increase your bandwidth
and reduce your costs.
#ipv6
Give every device on the network its own address. ipv6 also has
advantages in terms of security and mobility. The utilisation of ipv6
will allow the network to have a fair chance at populating the new
address space and give the network a technological superiorty to the
existing network. It will also encourage other networks to join the
network as a possible upgrade path from ip4 to ip6.
try these
ORiNOCO
#finance
#node based (individual node financing)
the core of the network is its users nodes. These finance their own
nodes thus making their local bandwidth increase and adding resources to
the network.
#sponsored (games companies initially)
We have some interest from games comapnies who wish to be able to
give their players access to a high speed network as a marketing
exercsie fro their games
#service funded
It is in the interests of service providers who wish to sell
services or bandwidth to people on the network to increase the speed of
access to them through the network. This is done by them making
infrastructure investments into the network surrounding them. Initially
these may be isps (band x) or other network services such as satellite
providers (gloebcast) etc.
#public bodies funded
There has been some interest from councils who see this as a means of
providing low cost high speed access to people in their areas. Possible
councils are haringey and hoxton. Councils themselves have access to
government and european funding to develop public access technology
initiatives and this could fit the bill nicely ffor them as it is
inherently a publicly held enterprise
#gui
There is an associated project to map the network and edge towrards a
new interface paradigm for network based broadband applications. This
toolkit will be used as a common interface to services that exploit the
potential of the netwrok. Initial ideas suggest a gl based stalker like
network mapping tool (similar to iods "into the web"/stalker) crossed
with a media interface.
#core kit
pcmcia card -station adapters
pci card (converter)
access points -£650
antennas -£150
installation
3 amp power supply
pci based computer 2 slots 16mb ram floppy disk ( no hd!)
ethernet switch and category 5 cabling
rooftop or near line of sight to nearby locations
#tests
use three modems and three routers to build a network with network
connections to isps and a 10baset network to simulate a network faster
than the connections.
#legal
develop a network public license that creates a single node personal
isp. This will set the rules by which nodes connect. Nodes that use
services that lie under the npl will mediate their interconnection
through the npl. It is enforced by the routing software.
#mailing list
If you wish to be included in the pilot phase (now) or want to know
more please....
subscribe review the archive here