QW2002 Paper 1G1 Mr. Fred Baker (Cisco Systems) Internet Reliability under Stress

Presentation Abstract

The internet, which was designed for reliability through redundancy, has been criticized regarding its reliability on specific paths. Contributing factors have included the reliability of end system and infrastructure software, database design, provisioning of circuits with bandwidth, and control of traffic using policy and routing, to name but a few. The reliability of the network has come under test recently on 11 September, in the Code Red and Nimda virus attacks, and with the current Klez worm. Fred Baker, who contributes technically to Internet QoS standards, chairs the Internet Emergency Preparedness Working Group, and sits on the Internet Architecture Board, will address these issues and put them in context.

About the Author

Fred Baker has worked in the telecommunications industry since 1978, building statistical multiplexors, terminal servers, bridges, and routers.

At Cisco Systems, his primary interest areas include the improvement of Quality of Service for best effort and real time traffic, the development of routing and addressing, and issues in law enforcement and emergency use of the Internet. In addition to product development, as a Cisco Fellow, he advises senior management of industry directions and appropriate corporate strategies.

In addition, he is the chair of the Internet Society’s Board of Trustees.

His principal standards contributions have been to the IETF, for which he served as IETF Chair in from 1996 to 2001. In that forum, he has contributed to Network Management, OSPF and Manet Routing, PPP and Frame Relay, the Integrated and Differentiated Services QoS architectures, and RSVP. He now serves on the IETF’s Internet Architecture Board and chairs the Internet Emergency Preparedness Working Group, as well as directly contributing technically.