Future Plans

Since its start in 2010, RIPE Atlas has continually added new features and functionality, and will continue to evolve based on the feedback we receive from its users. Learn more about what we currently have planned for the future.

RIPE Atlas' development will continue to be guided by you, the user, and is a continually evolving process. However, there are some general plans for its future development.

• At a basic level, we will continue to operate the RIPE Atlas platform, maintain all software and deploy incremental improvements to current functions. In addition, we will continue expanding the command, control and collection infrastructure to accommodate the growing number of probes.

• We’ll continue to create new and enhanced Internet traffic maps and will integrate more RIPE Atlas data into other RIPE NCC tools, such as RIPEstat.

• We'll create and document APIs for measurement specification and data access. Users will be able to access RIPE Atlas functionality from scripted environments, giving more flexibility to tie RIPE Atlas services into other business or monitoring processes.

• We hope to distribute 4,000 additional RIPE Atlas probes in 2013 in order to gain more vantage points and therefore a more complete picture of the Internet's infrastructure. This deployment will continue to be worldwide but concentrated in the RIPE NCC service region.

• A major new development currently underway is the RIPE Atlas anchor pilot. In 2013, we plan to deploy approximately 50 RIPE Atlas anchors - enhanced probes with two main functions:

  • To act as high-capacity probes that generate a large volume of measurement traffic
  • To provide a cooperating target for measurement traffic from the thousands of probes in the RIPE Atlas network, allowing measurement traffic at both the source and the destination

  The RIPE Atlas anchor hardware will be provided by the hosting organisations.
  
  

For the latest, more detailed plans, you can read about RIPE Atlas on RIPE Labs or get an overview of RIPE Atlas' current state of development, including requested, planned and recently delivered items, with the RIPE Atlas Roadmap.

In the long run

Our ambition is to create an opportunity for unexpected and creative uses of Internet traffic measurement data based the world's largest active measurement network that is valuable for network operators, researchers, the technical community, and anyone interested in the healthy functioning of the Internet who wants to learn more about the underlying networking structures and data flows that keep the Internet running globally.

With those goals in mind, we will work together with RIPE Atlas users, RIPE NCC members, network operators and the wider Internet community to expand the reach of RIPE Atlas and allow them to more efficiently access RIPE Atlas data, and together to conceive of ways in which RIPE Atlas can be used to best contribute to an understanding of the functioning of the Internet.

Feedback

We want to hear from you. Find out the different ways you can give us your feedback.