Towards Multipath TCP Adoption: Challenges and opportunities

Successful deployment of new network protocols on the Future Internet is not a trivial task. Deployable protocol design is necessary but not sufficient condition for protocol´s success, unless it takes all stakeholders involved in the deployment process into account. This paper investigates the challenges of deploying a new transport protocol on the Internet, using Multipath TCP - a TCP variant that transmits along several network paths at the same time - as an example and proposes a framework for its adoption process based on diffusion theory. The paper distinguishes the roles of adopters and other stakeholders in the deployment process, and presents scenarios that enhance Multipath TCP deployment and adoption. One key finding is that the role of end users is not of significant importance for Multipath TCP deployment, because they are not necessarily in a position to make a conscious adoption decision.