The Internet has great difficulty coping with the sharp increase in mobile devices like cellphones and laptops, and handling bandwidth-hungry traffic such as video, now demanded by an increasing number of users. According to Ellen W. Zegura, chairwoman of computer sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology, the Internet is like a big wonderful house that was built in the 1970s. Last month the National Science Foundation officially began an effort to renovate that house, and possibly build a completely new one. It's called the Global Environment for Network Innovations, or GENI, and could cost $300-million. According to Mr. Peterson, part of the GENI planning group, it is the computer field's version of the International Space Station--the field's chance to do "big science." This article discusses some of the more pressing problems with the current Internet, and briefly discusses some reactions to plans for GENI.