By , ScreenPlays
Apr 09, 2008

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Managed peer-to-peer (P2P) content delivery service provider Pando Networks detailed field test results that show cost savings for broadband ISPs and open a path to cable and other broadband network operators embracing legitimate P2P players.

The field tests employed new protocols known as “P4P” that advance the efficiency of P2P media streaming by optimizing data sharing to peers located on the same local cable, DSL or other broadband network. The protocols reduced P2P traffic between ISPs, thereby substantially reducing requirements for costly inter-ISP transit infrastructure.

The ability to localize and reduce distances of many P2P data exchanges also increases delivery speeds for consumers and better ensures quality sought by content owners exploiting the technology, according to test results.

The test, which began February 21, compared three methods: traditional P2P, P4P and P4P plus Pando Network Aware technology. The combination of P4P and Pando Network Aware technology increased the percentage of data routed within U.S. cable networks from 2.2 percent to 43.4 percent of all downloads, thereby reducing cable’s inter-ISP data transfers by up to 43.8 percent—a benefit heralded by cable and telco ISPs.

“These newly released test results demonstrate the applicability of P4P to cable ISP infrastructures,” said Tony Werner, CTO for Comcast Cable. “The initial results are promising, and we look forward to continuing our mutual efforts with P2P companies distributing legitimate content in order to improve the efficiency of their applications on our network.”

Although Comcast has allegedly throttled down or blocked P2P traffic on its networks as an illegitimate threat to broadband service performance among non-P2P users, the largest U.S. cable ISP announced exploration of joint technical development with P2P streaming service provider BitTorrent last month.

Now P2P players like Pando Networks, which offers managed P2P services to content partners including NBC Universal, hope that P4P breakthroughs will benefit consumers, content companies, P2P companies and ISPs alike and attract more ISPs to participate in further trials.

“There are a lot of companies like Pando focused on distributing legitimate content, and there are, however, a lot of P2P technologies being used to distribute content that is not authorized,” says Pando CEO Robert Levitan. “Comcast wants to know they’re assisting legitimate content, and only the legitimate P2P companies will work openly with ISPs. This is going to force P2P companies to identify themselves as good guys or bad guys.”

Levitan notes that the key to claims of legitimacy by managed P2P players lies with their ability to disable any piece of content from moving across their networks, thereby enabling them to protect legitimate content from unauthorized sharing. This maturing of the technology “may force the P2P industry to grow up and be as responsible as possible in working with content owners and ISPs,” he says. “They can no longer say, ‘We can’t control what content is moving.’ This is P2P delivery, but with central control. Because we work with NBC, ISPs are eager to work with us.”

Levitan believes P4P can significantly ameliorate heavy P2P traffic burdens for ISPs by shifting traffic patterns. While “normal” P2P comprises approximately 98 percent inter-ISP and 2 percent intra-ISP traffic, P4P shifts the intra-ISP figure to 50. “That has real cost implications for real physical network and operating investment to expand connections with other ISPs,” he says. “The second step, making that internal data movement even more local translates to fewer routers the ISP needs to deploy. The implications are potentially billions of dollars in infrastructure cost savings.”

Initially developed by Yale University researchers, P4P protocols are implemented on P2P servers which communicate with P2P client software at user desktops. When coordinated with user-anonymous network map data provided by an operator like Verizon, the servers can instruct individual desktops where to find the shortest hop for the data, optimizing route efficiency.

During the test, Pando delivered video content to more than 1 million people across global broadband networks including AT&T, Bell Canada, Bezeq International, BT, Cablevision, Comcast, Cox, Orange, Sasktel, Telefonica, Telecom Italia, Time Warner, Tiscali, and Verizon.

Out of those operators, only Verizon and Telefonica participated directly by sharing network topology data with Pando. That additional intelligence enabled the Pando Network Aware technology to enhance the ability of P4P protocols to localize data sharing in those networks.

“If you and I are on Comcast, and we want to download a TV show, P4P will connect us to nodes within the same Comcast cable network, instead of connecting randomly to users and nodes across multiple ISPs and regions,” Levitan explains. “Local is most efficient. If content is on your block, it can travel the fewest links or hops. That’s the whole point of this: let’s try to have data move internally and, as much as we can, locally.”

Verizon released its own P4P test results in mid-March, describing them as “phenomenal” and yielding immediate benefits to both its network and customers. Telefonica is expected to detail its results later this month. “It was time for everybody to come out with public announcements that we’re working with this,” Levitan says. “Hopefully Comcast will be among those involved in the next tests.”

Overall, the test results show increased delivery speeds by up to 235 percent across U.S. cable networks and by up to 898 percent across international broadband networks.

“We are particularly pleased with the positive indication of these expanded test results for international ISPs with multiple diverse broadband operations in multiple territories, given our unique requirements for balancing internal and external traffic loading to optimize user quality of service (QoS) and infrastructure usage,” said Emilio Sepulveda, senior manager strategy & business innovation for Telefonica International Wholesale Services.

The P4P protocols and specifications are being shared within the P4P Working Group, which is open to all ISPs and P2P technology providers, and sponsored by the Distributed Computing Industry Alliance (DCIA). The P4PWG now claims more than 50 members, including Verizon and Telefonica, from the ISP, P2P and content markets. Verizon Senior Technologist Douglas Pasko and Pando Networks CTO Laird Popkin are co-chairs of P4PWG.

P4P “makes the Internet a more scalable media distribution platform while benefiting various online media constituencies,” says DCIA CEO Marty Lafferty. “It helps ISPs reduce network operating expenditures as well as enable content owners to distribute longer form, higher quality content. The fact that P4P demonstrated enormous benefits worldwide for cable as well as telco-based ISPs, and for small as well as large network operators, augurs extremely well for profitable mutually beneficial collaboration.”

Content owners like NBC have started to experiment with P2P for quality and cost benefits, but “the history of P2P and ISPs is not a pretty one,” Levitan says. “P2P companies have been trying to outsmart ISPs, and ISPs have been trying to block P2P. Our field tests say it’s possible to work together and everybody benefits. P4P was highly efficient. Pando Network Aware improves it more, where ISPs share their network data. The ISP doesn’t want to facilitate illegitimate content. It has to be for legitimate P2P networks. This is good for consumers and network operators and for content owners.”
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