Internet Routing Topology

This paper details the problems with the previous power-law view of network topologies. Their complaints are obvious in retrospect, as the power-law view doesn't take actual network requirements into account. They then demonstrate that incorporating actual networking requirements (throughput being the big one) into the construction of network graphs improves the modeling ability of said graph.

There's not a lot to say here really. I buy it, but it's just the normal interplay between theoreticians and practitioners. The theory folks build general models and the engineers want exact networks.

I personally side with the engineers and I find this work to be valuable. The best answer is to test on the real network, and get actual data from industry.

I'm surprised this is recent work. I suppose the internet has grown so fast that no one is exactly sure of what it looks like on the inside. The business concerns limit the amount of information that we have about the internals.

This is rambling now, but I think taking reality into account does lead to better mappings.