Internet Society Chapters 

Vint Cerf Speech

Finland ISOC Video, March 29, 1999

Hello! This is "Virtual" Vint Cerf coming to you from Washington, DC. Thank you for inviting me to be here today. My only regret is that I couldn't join you in person at your inaugural meeting. Congratulations on your achievement! As chairman of the Internet Society, it's always gratifying to see new chapters spring up all over the world.

With the highest per capita proportion of Internet hosts than any other country, Finland is uniquely ahead of the curve in the adoption and use of Internet technologies. Finland is home to Nokia, and you also have the largest number of mobile phone users per capita -- I trust each of you has turned off your cell phones -- at least for the time being. But feel free to take notes on your Nokia Communicator!

I want to congratulate you on the role you've played in the development of the Internet and to suggest how, as new members of the Internet Society, you can help further the goals of our organization both regionally and globally.

Four years after your government unveiled its national IT strategy, or the so-called "Finland Way to the Information Society," and backed it up by deregulating the telecommunications sector, your country ranks at the top of most IT indexes. Finnish companies lead the world in such fields as mobile phone manufacturing and digital switching systems.

How did Finland reach this point? What is it about your country and its people that have enabled it to capitalize so well on these markets?

Perhaps it's your four-year head start on the European Union, which is using the Finnish deregulatory policy as a model. Or maybe it's the fact that the 28 days a year that you go without sunlight affords you more time to log on the Internet and plan ahead of your EU counterparts!

The principle purpose of the Internet Society is to assure that Internet is for Everyone! We strive to continue the development and to extend the availability of the Internet and its associated technologies and applications - both as ends in themselves, and as a means of enabling organizations, professions, and individuals worldwide to more effectively collaborate, cooperate, and innovate in their respective fields and interests.

Specific to Finland and your ISOC chapter is the role you can take in improving your already impressive regional network connectivity in Nothern Europe. Too often, elsewhere in the world, Internet traffic that should be flowing directly between nations often flows first to network elements outside the region. Furthering the goals of ISOC also means joining with other nations around the world and taking a place at the table to help administer the global network.

Now let me get to the part you've asked me to speak about ... the Interplanetary Internet. The Jet Propulsion Lab of NASA is the nerve center for this project, in which we're developing the internationally standardized data communications protocols needed to make remote spacecraft from many different nations accessible to their scientists and flight controllers. We work - along with other NASA centers - in a large international body known as the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) containing representatives from over thirty other space agencies from all over the world. Since 1982 we have been working alongside these other agencies to develop the new standards technologies that can aid the exploration of space to become a fully international enterprise.

Just as the Internet reaches everywhere on Earth, we see the Interplanetary Internet as evolving to become a permanent communications capability that will allow us to communicate anywhere in the Solar System.

This will be accomplished by connecting Internet-like communications systems around and on other planets and satellites back to Earth via upgraded Internet protocols designed specifically for the long distances involved in Earth-to-space communications. "Interplanetary Gateways" will allow the Earth's Internet and the "Mars Internet," for example, to communicate with each other. Initially, this communications system will support the robotic exploration of planets. Later, we will be able to expand the system to support human missions to the most far-off planets.

Even more important, the communications protocols will be standardized across the international community, which will make it much easier for many nations to build spacecrafts that can talk to each other, to Earth and, in time, the other planets and satellites in the Solar System.

There are three main objectives of this project. The first is to be able to lower the cost of space exploration in general by adopting communications techniques which are closely related to those used on Earth and are highly standardized. Standard systems are inherently lower cost and, properly implemented, they can bring maturity and reliability to the deep space enterprise. Secondly, we want to use the harsh environment of space exploration to research new communications techniques, some of which may spin-off into new Earth capabilities. Thirdly, we want to make it easier for the general public - via the World Wide Web - to be able to participate in the excitement of exploring space "in person". To say the least, the Interplanetary Internet is a formidable project, but one with countless possibilities for the future.

We expect to launch the first components of the Interplanetary Internet in 2003 and by 2008 we should have seven satellites in orbit around Mars. By 2010 we hope to have established several robotic outposts on Mars and by 2018, we hope for a manned mission to orbit Mars. Perhaps by 2030 it will be possible to mount a manned mission to Mars and return. Speaking of returning, let us, ourselves return to Earth for a moment. I would like to leave you with one last thought. As the Internet becomes a true global medium, it has potential to transform our social and economic fabric beyond the mere closing of communications gaps between nations. We're going to need the help and support of individuals like yourselves who recognize the unique power of the Internet to enhance scientific collaboration, highlight our planet's unique cultural diversity and encourage peace through open and unfettered channels of communications. Now is the time to take determined steps to assure that Internet will be for Everyone! I am looking forward to working with you to achieve this simply stated but ultimately challenging goal. See you on the 'Net!