Internet Transport is changing, some changes have been incremental updates tomechanisms (e.g., RACK, BBR), others demand new protocol options (e.g., MPTCP)or entirely new protocols (e.g., QUIC, SCTP). However significant changes arestill difficult to deploy - requiring modifications to application code andsupport by the stack. Even when updates happen, the network needs to supportthe new method to allow applications to use it. Long deployment times havemotivated the need to change how protocols are handled in the stack. We reviewthe state of the art in Internet Transport, and the status of deployment in thBSD's and then propose a new direction for the transport interface, developedin the EU NEAT Project, that can ease deployment of new transports across allplatforms. We conclude by showing the advantages and its prospects forstandards adoption. |