What is Information Centric Networking

Information centric networking is an emerging networking paradigm that envisages to solve the shortcomings of the host centric Internet. The usage of Internet has moved away from the initial host centric remote access one to predominantly an information serving one. In the new paradigm, information rather than the host takes the central place in serving the users. Hence the users will search for information and download it from the nearest device holding it. In order to serve the customers better while optimizing the use of network resources, in-network caching is enabled in ICN. In ICN, the intermediate routers will serve as cache repositories in addition to acting as data forwarding devices. There are several ICN architectures proposed in the literature each having its own merits and demerits. This chapter has taken an in depth look at the design principles of ICN along with a future open research areas that need the immediate attention of the researchers.