Intelligent Eco Networking (IEN): Revolutionizing the Future Internet with Value-Oriented Intelligen

Intelligent Eco Networking (IEN) is an advanced infrastructure for the future Internet of intelligence and value. It aims to revolutionize the traditional internet by treating valuable content data as a first-class entity and leveraging data exchange and artificial intelligence. IEN is based on the principles of software-defined, virtualized, and programmable devices, while also considering the cost and gain of storage, computing, and network resources. It integrates decentralized consensus trust preservation and a tokenized fine-grained allocation mechanism of blockchain to establish a prosperous and mutually beneficial value-oriented networking industry ecosystem.

The concept of IEN was proposed by Prof. Kai Lei and his ICNLab Group at Peking University, Shenzhen. The development of IEN has been ongoing, building upon previous projects such as NDN-Hippo, NDNMaze, Centaur, and BlockNDN. These projects laid the foundation for IEN's research and development.

 Several academic papers have been published to document the progress of IEN. The first edition of the IEN paper, published in August 2018, introduced IEN as an advanced future Internet infrastructure for the digital social economic ecosystem. Subsequent editions, including the second edition in December 2019 and the third edition in December 2020, further explored IEN's potential as a knowledge-driven future internet infrastructure and a shared in-network computing infrastructure.

IEN has also been the subject of video tutorials and presentations at academic conferences. Prof. Kai Lei delivered a presentation titled "Intelligent Eco Networking 2021: Open and Trusted Digital Foundation Based on Value Data NFT" at the 4th IEEE HotICN International Conference in 2021.

Patents have been granted to IEN-related inventions, including methods and apparatuses for network content control, interest packet forwarding, data transmission, and encryption in the context of NDN and IP fusion networks.

The need for IEN arises from the limitations of the traditional internet. The current hardware-centric network infrastructure is slow to deploy, lacks flexibility, and struggles to handle the increasing complexity of heterogeneous network communication. The network architecture needs to shift from transfer-based and location-based to content-based and service-based to accommodate the evolving behavior of users who are primarily focused on content acquisition.

Moreover, the emergence of artificial intelligence and blockchain technologies presents new opportunities and challenges for the underlying technology of the internet. Integrating these technologies into the network can lead to a smarter, safer, more autonomous, and comprehensive network architecture.

Additionally, as the internet expands to include not only devices used by people but also IoT devices embedded in various aspects of life, there is a growing need to address the communication between people and things, as well as between things themselves. The future internet must be capable of integrating, coordinating, and utilizing these network devices effectively.

IEN provides a solution by offering a future network infrastructure that is driven by value content data, data transaction, artificial intelligence control, software definition, virtualization, and programmable devices. It also establishes a value-oriented networking industry ecosystem by considering the cost and gain of storage, computing, and network resources. The integration of decentralized consensus trust preservation and tokenized fine-grained allocation mechanisms of blockchain further enhances the ecosystem's reliability and efficiency.

In conclusion, Intelligent Eco Networking (IEN) represents a groundbreaking approach to reshape the internet infrastructure. By prioritizing valuable content data, leveraging artificial intelligence, and integrating blockchain technology, IEN aims to create a future network that is intelligent, value-oriented, and capable of meeting the evolving needs of users and devices in a rapidly changing digital landscape.