ARTICLE
What Is Networking 2.0?

Networking 2.0 is a new approach to networking that runs on top of TCP/IP and makes everything addressable and interconnected, including people, entities, and things. It has a number of unique features and capabilities, such as:
- Addressability: With Networking 2.0, everything can have a unique address, regardless of whether it is a person, a device, or an entity. This is in contrast to traditional networking, where only devices and networks have addresses. This expansion of addressability ultimately makes it possible for anything on the Internet to communicate with anything else, regardless of its location or platform.
- Context: “Context” refers to information that is available about a person, entity, or thing at a given time, and includes data such as location, preferences, transit details, and more. This allows devices and applications to make better decisions and provide more personalized experiences. For example, people can have different answers to the same question, depending on who is asking. Take the question, “Where are you?” You might answer to a friend with, “I’m at home,” to a coworker with, “I’m out of the office, today,” or to a courier delivering a package with, “I’m at 245 Main Street.”
- Privacy and Security: Applications and solutions built using Networking 2.0 technology are inherently private and secure. They give data owners control over their data and transparency into how it is being used. End-to-end encryption and avoidance of centralized key management protects data from unauthorized access.
Networking 2.0 has the potential to revolutionize the way we communicate and interact with the world around us. It can be used to enable new applications and services in a wide range of settings, including AI, healthcare, and transportation, just to name a few.
Here are some examples of how Networking 2.0 can reimagine the way we connect.
- Private AI finance management: A Networking 2.0 approach could enrich and secure private AI finance management by enabling access to more data and collaboration with other AI applications, while protecting data with end-to-end encryption and access control.
- Doctor monitoring patient vital signs remotely: Doctors could use Networking 2.0-based applications to privately and securely monitor a patient’s vital signs remotely and provide real-time care.The doctor would have access to the specific vital readings, while other parties, like the doctor’s billing staff, would get less specific data confirming device use but not specific results.
- Self-driving cars communicating with other vehicles and infrastructure: Networking 2.0 technology could allow self-driving cars to communicate with other vehicles and infrastructure to avoid accidents and optimize traffic flow. And, it could do all this while protecting drivers’ identity and privacy, and keeping the infrastructure safe from hackers.
As we approach the 50th Anniversary of the Internet, think of all the impossible things we have already achieved, and then imagine all of the opportunities ahead of us. Networking 2.0 allows us to dream, and to usher in the next era of the Internet. Come join us.
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