By W. David Gardner, InformationWeek
Mar 14, 2008

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By modifying peer-to-peer file-swapping technology, researchers have found a way to not only reduce data traffic jams on the Web, but to also speed up delivery of video content to consumers.

In a presentation at the Distributed Computing Industry Association (DCIA) Friday by researchers from Pando Networks, Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ), and Yale University, the results of tests using advanced P2P techniques to transmit large files were described.

Using conventional host server technology, most files are requested from servers owned by content owners or ISPs. The customer requests a file and it is downloaded directly to the customer.

With P2P, a client takes content bits arbitrarily from all over the world, potentially congesting the Internet in the process. The researchers said the files are ignorant of the physical location of the data and sometimes use a "brute force" approach to compensate for long-distance delivery delays.

The new system, dubbed P4P, localizes traffic and reduces the number of routers and transfers required for data transmission. The method can move owner-authorized content including movies, TV programs, software and large databases. With a new tidal wave of video-based traffic poised to clog the Internet, the team of industry and academic researchers said the need was imminent to develop an advanced peer-to-peer file transfer system.

"Customer and network benefits were seen as soon as the test began," said Douglas Pasko, of Verizon, in a statement. "This new system, which routes files along the fastest, least expensive path, offers our FiOS [Verizon's fiber-to-the-home service] customers P2P downloads up to six times faster than networks without the overlay."

Pasko, a Verizon senior technologist and co-chair of the DCIA's P4P Working group, said "carrier-grade P2P" could cut P2P delivery costs by as much as 50% after targeted routing and network handling have replaced key delivery paths. More than 50 organizations have been participating in the P4P Working Group -- an indication of the already substantial interest in the technology.

The commercial debut of the technology is expected to take place as early as next month when Pando's Intelligent content delivery engine is utilized to deliver NBC's Direct service, which will enable PC users to download full-length episodes of popular programs to their Windows-based PCs.

"After that, it will be a company-by-company decision," said Verizon spokesman Jim Smith, who noted that companies that want to reap the benefits of the new technology will need to share their network topography. Smith noted that Yale researchers led by Haiyong Xie created the "germ" of the technology. "Then it became the industry working to solve an industry problem," he added.

With some industry experts estimating that P2P files account for more than one-half of the Internet's traffic, the claim that the new approach can shave traffic considerably would be a boon to the Internet and head off predicted Internet choking at the pass.

"The collaboration of various network and sharing companies through this effort indicates great promise for this distribution model because the more networkers who deploy it, the more the benefit accrues to the networks and the customers," said Pando's Laird Popkin, co-chair of the DCIA's P4P Working Group, in a statement.
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