Chapter 1. Introduction

Abstract

The Internet is widely advertised as the solution for all problems having to do with information retrieval and electronic commerce. The common belief is that nearly everything can be found and/or bought on the Internet. Moreover, the Internet itself is imagined to have technical qualities that are nearly magical (at least by those who never used it): unlimited bandwidth, no network latency, reliable communication are only a few of these. However, many of the technological problems of the Internet have still to be solved before belief and reality meet. Besides limited bandwidth and unreliable communication without quality-of-service guarantees, one of the most difficult questions is how to deal with the dynamics of an ever-changing and daily growing environment. Furthermore, mobility plays an increasing role. The problems associated with it are manifold: a mobile device is frequently disconnected, be it through communication failures, e.g. because the device communicating over a wireless network enters a screened area, or because the user unplugged its network connection. It is neither foreseeable when and whether the device connects back, nor if it is connected back to the same network, e.g. if the device is transported from Europe to Asia. These extra difficulties add considerably to the gravity of the Internet’s problems.