IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine - October 2015 - 129

keep things simple we can start by
focusing on the relationships between
physical things with a single connection between a controller (like a light
switch) and a destination (such as a
light bulb). These relationships exist
independent of whatever means we use
to exchange messages.
As with the database example, we
can use self-selected identifiers,
GUIDs. A pair of GUIDs defines the
relationship as [A, B]. This is purposefully abstract in the same way that an IP
packet is decoupled from its meaning-
that meaning exists only outside the
network. It is extrinsic.
This is sharply different from protocols such as UPnP, which has class
hierarchies and discovery built into a
single mechanism. By tying the mechanisms together, we limit ourselves to
solving old problems rather than building a basis for the future.
Separating mechanism from policy
gives us the ability to learn by doing. For
example, if we have a capability token
(as with OAuth), we can then experiment with policies to determine who is
authorized. One simple way is a name/
password or we may choose physical
proximity as being sufficient.

BEYOND WIRES
The wiring diagram approach gives us a
concrete way to understand and manage
connected things. It is a very good way to
approach applications like home control.
The concrete model is a starting
point for a deeper understanding. We
can also think more abstractly. URLs, for
example, represent connections between
documents rather than things. We can also
express abstract end points such as "all
people named John Smith."
We use these concepts on a regular
basis. When we change the association
between a DNS name and an IP address we
are changing bindings. "Binding" is a technical term and part of our articulate understanding of how to work with relationships.
Another technique is the use of references rather than copying data. We do
not make copies of Wikipedia, we just

pass URLs. Again, this is not just about
computing. Companies are increasingly
locating warehouses near customers and
sending around part numbers like ISBN
codes rather than shipping the product.
Those warehouses are caches for physical objects.

An articulate
understanding of working
with relationships makes
us appreciate that
interconnecting devices in
our homes is about more
than merely replacing
wires-it focuses on
putting us in control and
enables us to tap into the
power of computing
without getting lost in the
details of programming.
We can also use these abstractions
for electronics. Rather than run wires,
we run a bus and identify the end points
using identifiers. In fact, a class Ethernet
works just like that-a packet is placed
on a common bus and the recipient recognizes its address and reads the packet.
Networks are built upon relationships, and we exchange bits between
related end points using the networks as
a means. This is another reminder that
we need to think in terms of complementary techniques rather than layers.
APIs are also complementary to relationships. The identifiers we use in APIs
require the context of relationships for their
meaning. To turn on a light, you might
specify the GUID of an end point representing the light and a GUID for a capability.
The API doesn't necessarily know who is
turning on the light nor where it is.

with relationships. The economics of
relationships are decoupled from the
costs and value of a given wire. This is, in
a way, like the routes we use in our global
positioning systems (GPSs). The value is
in the routes rather than a particular road.
Fortunately, we fund roads as common
infrastructure and do not depend on
charging people for the directions they
get from their devices.
We need a similar approach for the
facilities that we use to speak among
ourselves and for interconnecting our
devices. You cannot know whether your
relationships depend on navigating the
twisting winding passages of telecommunications and whether that path
involves a so-called "metered connection" or requires permission. This is a
fundamental difference between pathbased telecommunications and a relationship-based Internet.
One of the challenges in public policy is that the very words we use have
implicit meaning. I chose to say
"speak among ourselves" rather than
"communicate" because the sense of
the word in telecommunications has a
technical meaning that is very different from the day-to-day meaning in
the sense of speech.
Teasing apart these two senses is at
the heart of the shift from traditional
telecommunications to the new world
in which we create our own solutions.
Traditional telecommunications policies treat speech as a service from a
phone company. With the Internet, we
speak for ourselves and need an infrastructure to enable us to speak rather
than one that assumes speech is provided, at a profit, by a provider.
An articulate understanding of
working with relationships makes us
appreciate that interconnecting devices
in our homes is about more than merely
replacing wires-it focuses on putting
us in control and enables us to tap into
the power of computing without getting
lost in the details of programming.

PUBLIC POLICY
Today's telecommunications-based public policies are a poor match for working

october 2015

^

IEEE ConsumEr ElECtronICs magazInE

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