Content Centric Networking
PARC’s vision for a networking approach that simplifies network use, improves performance and security, and enables a seamless, ubiquitous experience.

In today's networking environment, everything is mobile, dynamic, and virtually connected to everything else. People are:
-	accessing ever-growing amounts of digital information;
-	connecting to diverse, often wireless networks; and
-	using multiple devices to send and receive information.

Internet communication has moved from point-to-point conversations between hosts, to point-to-multiparty or multiparty-to-multiparty information dissemination.

PARC Solution PARC researchers are developing a new approach to networking that enables networks to self-organize and push relevant content where needed. By shifting the focus from transmitting data by geographic location, to disseminating it via named content, content-centric networking enables communication to happen anywhere, anytime, and with any device — using any available means.

[AUDIO] Listen to PARC Research Fellow Van Jacobson explain the vision for content-centric networking in this recent presentation.

Benefits

• Simplifies network use — reduces set-up time and doesn't require manual configuration through firewalls, VPNs, and ad hoc synchronization protocols.
• Provides a seamless, ubiquitous experience — allows people to easily send and receive digital content from multiple locations, mobile devices, and diverse networks.
• Reduces congestion and latency — doesn't send irrelevant or redundant information through network pipelines.
• Improves network performance while reducing operating costs — increases efficiency by at least three orders of magnitude.
• Increases network reliability — robustly delivers information using any available medium.
• Eliminates many security problems — secures information so integrity and trust are properties of the content, not of the channel.
• Supports new and emerging applications — facilitates mobile and wireless access (which are currently relegated to the fringe of the network), and enables broadcast, voice over IP (VoIP), autonomous sensor networks, ubiquitous applications, and context-aware computing.
• Empowers the user — allows people to express intent to their networks (e.g., to prioritize specific content over others) and prioritizes their needs from inside the network.

Leadership

PARC's content-centric networking research program is led by industry pioneer Van Jacobson.

PARC Research Fellow Van Jacobson provides an overview and description of content-centric networking in a recent presentation at NTT in Japan. [video]