One flew over the Internet

[Commentary] The network neutrality dispute, when reduced to its core elements, is nothing more than another round in the protracted battle between Netheads and Bellheads. Long before the Internet went commercial in the early-to-mid-1990s and later matured into a global distribution network for commerce and communications, network engineers had been feuding with telecommunications engineers over the best way to build networks and deliver services. In the blink-and-you'll-miss-it environment that marks today's communications industry, it's comforting to know that some things stay the same: The so-called Netheads and Bellheads are still at it. In fact, it could be argued that the fighting is as fierce as ever — and the stakes have never been higher. This latest struggle between Netheads and Bellheads has been most prominently represented by a three-letter acronym: IMS. The IP multimedia subsystem carries the connotation of being either essential or superfluous, depending on the perspective. Bellheads, of course, see the IMS architecture as a successor to the signaling system seven (SS7) infrastructure that delivered a mechanism for gracefully managing the control side of the PSTN. The SS7 network (a packet-based network, by the way), created a universal standard that enabled carriers to offer their customers the ability to communicate — using voice or messaging — with virtually any other owner of a phone, regardless of the carrier that offered the service. From the Bellhead standpoint, IMS represents the ability to bring to the public Internet the reliability and predictability of circuit-based communications systems, as well as enable interoperability across carrier networks. Netheads, or backers of an Internet-based computing model, see IMS in a superfluous light, adding complexity and costs that will only hinder innovation. At the extreme, Netheads view IMS as nefarious, a blight upon a pristine ecosystem that will empower the owners of local transport pipes to erect toll booths or road blocks between ISPs and subscribers.