P4P Is 2x the Fun

At least when it comes to sharing music and videos, peer-to-peer networking (P2P) is the technology that users love, that ISPs love to hate, and that media companies just down-right hate. Still, estimates are that P2P systems generate 70 percent of all Internet traffic--and growing.

In an effort to lighten the network load while still accommodating performance demands, researchers are working on P4P, a network architecture that optimizes traffic within individual ISPs, thereby reducing the volume of data traversing the ISP's infrastructure and creating a more manageable flow of data. According to initial tests, network loads can be reduced by a factor of five or more without compromising network performance, while at the same time, increasing speeds by about 20 percent.

Pushing the move to P4P is the DCIA P4P Working Group (P4PWG), which consists of ISPs, P2P software distributors, and researchers like the University of Washington's Arvind Krishnamurthy and Yale University's Richard Yang who have co-authored the paper P4P: Provider Portal for Applications. Other members of the Working Group include AT&T, BitTorrent, Cisco Systems, Pando Networks, Telefonica Group, and Joost, among others.

P4P can operate in multiple modes, ranging from ISPs who reveal their network status so that P2P applications can avoid hot-spots, to systems where markets and providers interact freely to create the most efficient information and cost flow. In a field test conducted using Pando software, P4P reduced inter-ISP traffic by an average of 34 percent, and increased delivery speeds to end users by up to 235 percent across U.S. networks and up to 898 percent across international networks.

All right! Can't wait to grab some music from the Trailer Park Troubadours at those speeds.

-- Jonathan Erickson
jerickson@ddj.com

Posted by Jon Erickson at 09:51 AM  Permalink