DARPA, Microsoft, Lockheed team up to reinvent TCP/IP • The Register — This development is flying under the radar as it were.
Arms globocorp Lockheed Martin announced today that it has won a $31m contract from the famous Pentagon crazy-ideas bureau, DARPA, to reinvent the internet and make it more suitable for military use. Microsoft will also be involved in the effort.
The main thrust of the effort will be to develop a new Military Network Protocol, which will differ from old hat such as TCP/IP in that it will offer “improved security, dynamic bandwidth allocation, and policy-based prioritization levels at the individual and unit level”.
Found by Anthony Fox.
Looks like this has all the ingredients of a giant cluster fck.
Sugar Coated Cluster Fck
1 cup DARPA oversight
2 tbs Microsoft – may substitute IBM Lite
1 lb of Lockheed Martin management
Add engineering subcontractors to taste.
Mix well adding money as needed.
Serve over sh*t with light sprinkling of sugar.
That bandwidth allocation thing may not be such a good idea. Right now the military hogs and wastes HUGE amounts of bandwidth on useless high definition VTC’s (video teleconferences) and sending UAV (unmanned aircraft like the global hawks and predators) video halfway around the world so a 3 or 4 star general can decide to engage a target or not, without having any idea what the situation on the ground actually is.
Asking Microsoft to develop security is like having a sign on your house that says, “Rob this one First, doors unlocked,” with a map of where all valuables are stored painted on the front door!
It’s probably just a makeover of TCP/IP, with encrypted packets or tunneling.
Microsoft + Military contracts = An Armageddon that doesn’t work.
#4 There you go floyd. I think thats about the easiest way. They can afford teh crypto.
Well its not like we can get Apple to do it.
They wouldn’t be able to launch a missile, just photoshop a picture of a dog on it.
Not to mention Jobs would want to be made Commander In Chief.
Can’t use Linux either. Everybase would have their own kernel.
Cursor_
What a fucking minute how can they reinvent the internet without Al Gore?
I thought they were already using a separate network or has that one failed?
What you need is about 7 really smart people to set down and write the protocols and specs with maybe each guy having a dozen or so smart techs to back them up and do research and bring them food. They could most likely get the job done in a couple of months or less and it would work.
This may take years and never work. Too many executives can’t even change a light bulb.
Well… At least the target project is long over due. Only question is will they get the job done or use it as a money sinkhole to create jobs?
Oh boy, Microsoft smells some of that delicious American Military Complex pie and they want in. Screw ’em, they might be able to impose that crap on their own people but it’ll never fly in the rest of the world. The internet doesn’t belong to the US.
“I thought they were already using a separate network or has that one failed?”
I think their satellite network is totally separate from commercial but I would guess their landlines use the same backbone.
How many versions will there be?
– Ultimate (includes a network tech)
– Business
– Home Premium
– Home Basic
– Starter TCP (doesn’t include IP)
After the floodgates were opened to have integrated circuits fabricated in China, some very wise civilians with MBA degrees working at the DOD came up with the novel idea of using common off the shelf products (COTS) for military use because it was more cost effective.
Then one day the military had an oh sh1t moment when they realized that a lot of their computer and weapons tech has parts made in China. Why is this bad?
1. The Chinese continually try hacking into government and corporate networks on a daily basis in order to steal secrets.
2. The Chinese may halt exports to our country at some future point in time when they disagree with the U.S. over some geopolitical reason.
3. The Chinese may be fudging on the quality of their parts so parts may be unreliable.
4. The Chinese may have back doors built into circuits they are fabricating.
5. The Chinese may have kill switches built into circuits they are fabricating.
DARPA has another program to address all but the export issue. It’s called Trust in Integrated Circuits
Hunt for the Kill Switch
Always trust Microsoft.
Gosh, so for the equivalent cost of 2 government websites we will get a new internet. That sounds like a hell of a deal!
Things that might happen when you pull the trigger on your Microsoft powered digital weapon.
“Are you sure you want to shoot the target : no / yes” (no is the default response)
“An undetectable error has occurred”
“You have new updates. Apply now yes / no”
“Your weapon is not activated – please call HQ and quote this 128 character activation key”
#17 But its a defense industry contract, so quadruple the budget, double the time-line, and then kill the program and start over.
Microsoft? So the current Internet will not be upgradeable.
DARPA knows it’s stuff, whether you like em or not.
However, what I see is multiple generals demanding bandwidth at the same time for “high-priority” discussions and stepping on each other with a big hissy fit.
I think what they really need is for routing to have a redo — with multiple levels of routers for each type of traffic, separate from basic tcp/ip. Or increase overall bandwidth with massive redundant pipes — why don’t all primary core routers these days have 16 core processors and 64 linked gigabyte connections?
Or perhaps they do and I’m just not paying attention.
How does a firm of mostly aerospace engineers, automatically qualify as the perfect candidate for a data security and information system programming job? I mean, hello! There’s nothing aeronautical about this job. So they’ll have to start hiring programmers, they never employed before. And just about any firm could do that. But naturally, the military favors one of its own. So Lockheed Martin gets the job. Maybe because their F22 Raptor isn’t going to get approved. Got to get their major stockholders rich, somehow.
Dvorak,
do you know that in Portugal (where you´ve been recently) there´s a 1Gb internet link for private users?
1st country in the world they saying.
it´s available in Korea and Japan but for business only.
check it out
23, DARPA and the U.S. Army invented the Internet. Educational institutions came along later. The original purpose was to find ways to communicate when the head of one’s own snake got chopped off so that a combat mission wasn’t in danger or had to be scrapped.
It’s my understanding they were thinking of nodal communication sometime in the 1950s but didn’t start formally developing things until starting in the mid or late 60s to early 70s.
23, Forgot to say that Lockheed is probably not composed of mostly Aerospace Engineers.
Yes they are an Aerospace company like Boeing and Northrup Grumman, but they employ many Electrical, Computer, and Mechanical Engineers as well (who more than likely dwarf the number of people who are formally Aerospace Engineers).