He also points out that statistical data about the Internet's expansion over the past few years suggests that central routing systems have been able to cope with the exponential expansion of the Internet in the past.

"How many [companies] have announced that they have no plan to build a next generation router?" he says. "If it is impossible or not feasible to build such, then what underlies the business plans of the several startups in the...space?"

David Newman, president of Network Test Inc, which tests router technology, says that Bradner points out a worrisome trend in Internet infrastructure, but it's not yet time to press the panic button.

"I'm a little more sanguine than Scott is," he said. "But there's more than a hint of truth in what he says."

He worries about the impact that five- or ten- fold expansion of the Internet will have on hop tables.

"It's not unreasonable to say that we'll get to much higher numbers--500,000, a million, in the not too distant future," he says.

One senior computer executive points out that some of Bradner's noisemaking about this problem can be attributed to his position as a technical advisory board member at Packet Design, Inc., which is working on the router problem.