Researchers say the time has come to rethink the Internet’s underlying architecture, a “clean slate” that could mean replacing networking equipment and rewriting software on computers to better channel future traffic over the existing pipes, support mobile users and sensors, and deal with hackers.

The National Science Foundation wants to build an experimental research network known as the Global Environment for Network Innovations, or GENI, and is funding several projects at universities and elsewhere through Future Internet Network Design, or FIND.

The European Union has also backed research on such initiatives, through a program known as Future Internet Research and Experimentation, or FIRE.