1. Compute & Storage: this is where applications are being served from. Currently this system is highly centralized and runs from large data centers (see below).
2. Network: this is the ability for information to travel and it can be wireless, via cables (fiber) or satellite links etc. Currently information needs to travel very far and for most countries very little information is stored locally. A handful of companies own more than 80% of the current Internet's network capacity.
3. Applications: currently applications are hosted in huge data centers using the compute and storage as provided. This system is too centralized and therefore very vulnerable.
Digital information mainly travels over large fiber backbone links as pictured here.
The Internet as we know it has significantly diverged from its original intent. If 2 people in e.g. Zanzibar (an Island in Africa) use Zoom with each other then the information will travel from Zanzibar to a large European datacenter where the Zoom servers are being hosted and back again.
Another important aspect is the lack of autonomy and sovereignty within this Internet. We have become the products. All of our data is hosted in large data centers owned by a few large corporations.
We also exist many times on the Internet across many applications and each time a full infrastructure has been built to deliver the applications from. This system is unsustainable and inefficient.
