Emerging Applications of P2P Technologies |
Why peer-to-peer is efficient
When a user wishes to download a file from a website, the submit a HTTP GET request. This asking for the file uses a unmarried TCP socket, together with communicates with a unmarried server which transfers the entire file. By contrast, a P2P protocol creates TCP connections with multiple hosts together with makes many pocket-size information requests to each. The P2P client together with thence combines the chunks to recreate the file. Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 unmarried file host volition commonly receive got express upload capacity, but connecting to many servers simultaneously allows for higher file transfers, together with disperses the costs associated with information transfers alongside many peers. Moreover, a client mid-way through downloading the file also acts every bit a server, hosting the bits to others which they receive got already downloaded. These differences from traditional HTTP GET requests allow for lower costs together with higher redundancy since many people are sharing the files.
Fault Tolerance
The Internet evolved from the Arpanet, which, yesteryear design, was created to link the valuable figurer assets possesed yesteryear diverse DARPA query sites yesteryear creating a physically decentralized figurer network. By next the Internet's historical design, peer-to-peer technologies tin live utilized for error tolerant decentralized logical networks. These logical networks tin together with could back upward whatsoever type of data, such every bit Internet DNS information, scientific information, or large distributed together with redundant information databases. The internationally, together with potentially universally, distributed nature of these peer-to-peer logical networks tin enable critical information to hold upward natural together with human disasters. Peer-to-peer networks correspond a valuable technological tool for the preservation of human knowledge.
BitTorrent
BitTorrent is 1 of the most pop peer-to-peer file sharing protocols used on the Internet together with it accounts for a pregnant amount of traffic on the Internet.
Implementations of BitTorrent
Film
The creator of BitTorrent, Bram Cohen has gear upward deals with major content providers together with now offers Hollywood movies for buy or rental, distributed via BitTorrent.
Movies that have entered the populace domain are available over BitTorrent. Because they are no longer profitable, in that location is picayune work concern incentive to pay for bandwidth hosting costs. BitTorrent allows these films to hand audiences.
The world's kickoff "open movie", Elephants Dream was simultaneously released on the spider web together with over BitTorrent. The group's follow upward film, Big Buck Bunny is also existence distributed via BitTorrent.
A documentary nearly file sharing, Steal This Film has chosen BitTorrent every bit its distribution mechanism.
Ourmedia.org, the Open Media Directory, offers costless together with legal populace domain movies through BitTorrent
Video
Many so-called "new media" content publishers on the Internet receive got chosen BitTorrent every bit their distribution machinery to salve costs:
On the Revision3 Internet Television Network users tin view16 dissimilar shows direct from the website. But to offload some of their bandwidth costs, Revision3 has gear upward their ain BitTorrent tracker, together with viewers tin subscribe to a show's RSS feed together with automatically download novel shows via BitTorrent.
Music & Audio
Trent Reznor's Nine Inch Nails receive got offered costless downloads of their terminal few albums. For the higher character (i.e., larger file sized) versions of the tracks, Reznor has chosen to purpose BitTorrent to distribute his music. In a text file distributed with the album Ghotst I, Reznor states "Now that we're no longer constrained yesteryear a tape label, we've decided to personally upload Ghosts I, the kickoff of the iv volumes, to diverse torrent sites, because nosotros believe BitTorrent is a revolutionary digital distribution method, together with nosotros believe inward finding ways to utilize novel technologies instead of fighting them..." He has also released via BitTorrent the master copy Garageband files for fans to mix together with create novel content.
Subpop Records has made some of its artists' content available for costless on BitTorrent, including The Shins, The Postal Service, Flight of the Conchords, Constantines, Hot Hot Heat, and David Cross.
Indie stone label Saddle Creek has distributed an exclusive-to-BitTorrent costless sampler over, every bit good every bit singles from their pop artists such as Bright Eyes, Mayday, and Cursive.
Music sharing portal Jamendo offers a "free, legal together with unlimited" music from over 5500 artists via BitTorrent.
Public domain audiobooks from LibriVox.org available at legaltorrents.com
FMT has been releasing medical tourism podcasts of their interviews via bittorrent portal mininova.org
Why House released a 10 business office good serial on House for rent inward Sri Lanka via bittorrent portal legaltorrents.com
Television
The CBC offered an episode of its boob tube show Canada's Next Great Prime Minister via BitTorrent. The torrent file was hosted on Mininova.org, 1 of the largest BitTorrent portals inward the world. The full-resolution version has been downloaded over 10,000 times, together with over 4,700 users receive got downloaded a smaller file tailored for portable video players.
Computer Applications
Miro's tagline is "Turn your figurer into an Internet TV" together with it accomplishes this every bit a Bittorrent client. Focusing on the "video podcasting" market, Miro employs RSS (Really Simple Syndication) engineering to go along users up-to-date on their favourite video casts.
Much similar Miro, Vuze is a media hub which compartmentalizes content into "channels" much similar traditional boob tube broadcasting. BitTorrent makes it possible for Vuze to offer high character hard disk drive content. Without distributing the bandwidth requests alongside its peer users, Vuze would live unable to offering these large files (typically exceeding 1 gigabyte).
Software developer Konami has elected to create BitTorrent engineering into their upcoming Playstation three title Metal Gear Solid. When the game requires updates, users receive got the pick of downloading through P2P, or HTTP. Beta testers of the game report that the BitTorrent pick delivered their patch quicker.
Blizzard, the society behind famous PC game franchises similar Diablo, Starcraft, together with Warcraft receive got implemented a software update scheme which relies on BitTorrent technology. The "Blizzard Downloader" is a combination HTTP together with BitTorrent client which polls Blizzard's HTTP servers for smaller updates, but harnesses the community's superior bandwidth capacity for larger updates. Their most pop game, World of Warcraft has approximately 10 meg subscribers and using Bittorrent enables Blizzard's servers to avoid existence 'flash flooded' yesteryear update requests when they number a patch.
Various versions of the Linux operating system, called "distributions", together with their updates are commonly downloaded via BitTorrent. For example, 1 of the most pop distributions, Ubuntu offers torrent files from their website. An independent host, Mininova, records that the latest Ubuntu torrent file has been downloaded over 12,000 times only from that website alone.
Folx is a torrent client for Mac OS X. Based on BitTorrent engineering it meets the downloading needs of p2p protocol users. Folx features the might to conveniently download torrents from whatsoever torrent tracker.
Application & Desktop Deployment
DistriBrute
DistriBrute is the world's kickoff peer-to-peer (P2P) desktop deployment production particularly developed for work concern use. Using the P2P protocol, DistriBrute maximizes the speed of the network and eliminates the demand together with expense of decentralized distribution servers. Using DistriBrute it is possible to simultaneously migrate thousands of desktops to a novel OS together with chop-chop install novel applications together with drivers. DistriBrute tin practise the entire task inward less than an hour! DistriBrute provides a secure centralized, efficient, rattling scalable deployment environment. The benefits using P2P for desktop maintenance are enormous. DistriBrute is developed by 4M88.
File Sharing
Tribler
Tribler, developed at the Delft University of Technology together with the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, is an opened upward source social interactive Peer-to-Peer client with integrated search engine, video together with good player.
Private File Sharing
Pando
Pando is a personal P2P program, much similar BitTorrent but geared toward those looking for a unproblematic together with secure agency of file transfer. Users may email, IM, or post to their website a .pando file. When the intended recipient downloads the .pando file, the Pando software contacts an secure Pando server (much similar the "tracker" inward the BitTorrent system) together with allows the sender to initiate a direct P2P transfer to the recipient.
Peercasting
Like broadcasting, peercasting is a method of streaming content to consumers. But it differs from traditional broadcasting because the consumers of peercasted content are simultaneously broadcasters.
The Peer Distributed Transfer Protocol (PDTP) specification is a peer-to-peer scheme that provides streaming downloads of content which originates from a cardinal server. These files are shared alongside the peer network which allows the aggregate bandwidth capacity of the network to grow naturally with the number of clients connected. DistribuStream, a articulation venture betwixt the University of Colorado Department of Computer Science and Medioh! has implemented PDTP into an application which allows anyone to "set upward a lo terms on-demand streaming media server".
P2PTV is some other shape of peer-to-peer streaming but is to a greater extent than focused on the re-broadcasting of traditional media content. Popular examples of this engineering include Sopcast, TVU Player, CoolStreaming, Zattoo and IT-Koo.
Freecast
Freecast is a peer-to-peer streaming good broadcasting program. Typically, residential Internet connections receive got a much lower upload capacity than download capacity. Thus, it was impossible inward the yesteryear for residential users to broadcast personal good streams (such every bit talk-radio, or music) to to a greater extent than than 1 user at a time.
Freecast relies on P2P to allow these users to flow their broadcast to a much, much larger audience. The software's collaborative approach to sharing the bandwidth requirements of streaming good provides a way for "small organizations to diffuse over Internet radio broadcasting, musical events, etc. without a fiscal together with technical dependency with a spider web host.
Content Distribution
Babelgum
Babelgum is similar to Joost, but uses a proprietary P2P protocol with an encrypted information flow to forestall piracy. This costless service only airs professionally produced content but volition cater to independent producers. Babelgum volition offering Independents compensation for uploading their content, together with hope a world-wide audience with a rubber together with efficient content delivery scheme. Like Joost, Babelgum is supported yesteryear advertising.
Blinkx BBTV
Blinkx BBTV fuses TV together with other video from the spider web using "hybrid peer-to-peer streaming [which] enables [content providers] to disperse the burden of content delivery through the blinkx network together with peer-to-peer distribution". As the content gains inward popularity, the audience base of operations becomes large plenty to sustain the bandwidth requests on its own, thereby reducing overall distribution costs of penny-pinching content owners.
BBC iPlayer
Last Dec BBC launched a content distribution service through their website, a P2P client, together with cable television. The iPlayer download service relies on peer-to-peer engineering designed by Kontiki which allows the distribution of massive video files to live enjoyed without pregnant delays. Users tin download together with go along content for upward to 7 days, together with receive got access to an electronic plan guide to schedule automatic downloads. Statistics from Apr 2008 show that an average of 1.4 meg people per calendar week used the iPlayer, making 21 meg requests for plan downloads.
Sky Anytime and 4oD both offering a similar video-on-demand service using the same Kontiki peer-to-peer technology.
GridNetworks
GridNetworks aims to combine the traditional notion of content delivery networks (CDNs), like Akami, with P2P technology. Grid is openly courting cable networks to purpose its content delivery infrastructure, together with embed their proprietary P2P protocol into "network devices, set-top boxes together with fifty-fifty consumer devices." The society says this "GridCasting managed Interent boob tube service" tin live offered at a fraction of the terms of traditional content delivery networks, together with volition allow higher character video (HD) to live enjoyed yesteryear consumers.
Jaman
Jamen distributes international independent movies. Using its Jaman Player, the user downloads the movies through their "Jaman Cascade Network". The "Jaman Cascade Network" provides pieces of the motion painting via their server together with via P2P. Some films are free, some are available for a pocket-size cost. By utilizing P2P technology, Jayman claims this is how they tin render some of the content for costless or depression cost.
Joost
Joost distributes TV together with other video shows for costless over the spider web using P2P together with has major contracts with Viacom (which includes MTV, BET, together with Paramount Pictures), Fox, Warner Music, Indiapolis Speedway Productions, Ministry of Sound TV, Aardman Animation, Warner Music, CBS, CNN, Sony Pictures, together with fifty-fifty has signed a bargain to redistribute NHL content such every bit the 2007 Stanley Cup Finals. Joost is an advertising supported business.
LiveStation
LiveStation runs on peer-to-peer software originally created yesteryear Microsoft inward its Cabridge, Great Britain location. The costless service delivers alive TV together with radio intelligence every bit it happens from reputable world-wide sources. It industrial plant yesteryear splitting a video flow into many parts which are distribtued alongside the peer cloud. Similar to other P2P content delivery services, the Livestation Player reduces the demand for a cardinal server together with slashes operating costs.
Mashboxx
While currently unreleased, Mashboxx promises to live the kickoff peer-to-peer software authorized yesteryear major tape labels, Sony BMG Music, together with EMI Music. The Masboxx software is a P2P client which allows users to search existing P2P networks for good tracks. To appease the tape labels, the results are filtered through a digital catalogue fingerprinted yesteryear SNOCAP. Users together with thence receive got the might to download together with play a full-length vocal upward to 5 times, or buy it.
Chairman together with CEO of EMI Music North America together with Vice Chairman of EMI Music basis broad had this to say nearly P2P technology: "Legal peer-to-peer services which offering consumers a cracking user sense together with which compensate creators appropriately are expert for music fans, expert for artists, together with expert for the digital music marketplace every bit a whole," said David Munns, Chairman together with CEO of EMI Music North America together with Vice Chairman of EMI Music worldwide"
Open Media Network
Open Media Network hosts content from educational, community, together with non-profit organization. The software aims to offering socially-conscious programming through an tardily TV Guide experience. They specialize inward content which is non good distributed yesteryear traditional media outlets, for example, good together with video from non-profit organizations.
The software, OMN's Secure Grid Network (P2P) uses the pop Kontiki delivery scheme every bit used yesteryear BBC's iPlayer.
Pando Networks
In add-on to Pando's personal P2P software, Pando Networks offers Pando Publisher for companies who wishing to flow full-screen hard disk drive content, accelerate downloadable media, or bring down bandwidth bills "by upward to 90%". Their "Pando Content Delivery Suite" offers companies all they demand to publish, distribute, track, together with monetize their content.
Similar to GridCasting, Pando's Media Booster is a client installed on user's computers which runs inward the background together with leverages the user's bandwidth. "The to a greater extent than viewers a video has, the faster together with to a greater extent than terms effectively it tin live delivered". NBC is currently working with Pando Networks in a beta projection on a platform to deliver its "true" 720 hard disk drive video downloads to customers.
RedSwoosh
Red Swoosh is a networking client owned yesteryear the pop Content Delivery Network, Akami Technologies. Red Swoosh is a peercasting tool that is offered every bit a browser plugin. The software relies on a proprietary peer-to-peer protocol which allows servers to offload their bandwidth demands to the consumers of their content.
Reeltime Rentals
ReelTime Rentals is a depression terms TV together with motion painting content distribution society providing the most efficient, secure together with economical delivery of high bit-rate content, P2P powered by GridNetworks.
Tribler Video Streaming
This software uses Peer-2-Peer engineering for streaming alive video feeds across the Internet to millions of users.The University developers are currently involved inward the European Union's 19M€ R&D projection into P2P-Next.
Privacy Protection
Tor
Tor is an application that shields its user's identities yesteryear sending their traffic through a network of relays gear upward yesteryear volunteers around the world. In other words "it prevents somebody watching your Internet connectedness from learning what sites you lot visit, together with it prevents the sites you lot see from learning your physical location." Tor is used yesteryear everyday ordinary Internet users who wishing to avoid advertiser's behavioural targeting, citizen journalists inward countries without rubber access to media, constabulary enforcement setting upward anonymous tip lines, activists, together with whistleblowers.
To attain this, the Tor network relies on people to volunteer their Internet connectedness every bit a "relay". These relays ship user's content privately to other volunteer relays with the aim of obfuscating the user's location or identity. Those who volunteer their Internet connectedness every bit a relay are committing to allowing a certainly grade of bandwidth usage flow through their pipage (20KB/sec minimum).
Real-time communication
Skype
Skype, the pop VoIP application does non run the traditional client-server model. Rather, Skype is exclusively decentralized together with distributed to each Skype user's connection. This has allowed Skype to start upward work concern without investing inward complex together with costly infrastructure to back upward their over 240 meg users.
Adobe Flash Player
The adjacent version of Flash Player (version 10) volition include the Real Time Media Flow Protocol (RTMFP) which enables peer-to-peer communication. This implementation relies on an Adobe server which maintains a listing of peers, much similar a BitTorrent tracker. The engineering volition allow destination users to flow microphone or webcam media to other Flash Player clients when connected every bit peers.
Web Search Engines
YaCy
YaCy is a peer-to-peer search engine together with spider web crawler. Users install the software together with go a "YaCy-peer", volunteering their figurer to independently crawl through the web, analyzing together with indexing websites into a database shared yesteryear all Yacy peers.More than 400 meg websites receive got been indexed by YaCy. There is no cardinal server; the database is shared together with upheld yesteryear the YaCy peers.
There are a few distinct advantages of a decentralized peer-to-peer search engine: since in that location is no cardinal server or society who owns the service, the search results cannot live censored, together with no incentives to prioritize results based on prospective contracts or advertising dollars.
FAROO
FAROO offers a similar P2P search production to YaCy, but also has "distributed ranking" which lists the websites according to anonymized usage statistics of the websites visited yesteryear users of FAROO. This democratic method of ranking avoids so-called "search engine optimization" techniques that firms purpose to game pop search engines similar Google inward hopes of moving their site inward a higher house on the listing of search results.
FAROO states that "[t]he searcher becomes a business office of FAROO. All users connect their computers to a huge collective search engine. Whose architecture is decentralized similar the Internet itself." FAROO was 1 of the 2007 TechCrunch40: "Forty of the hottest novel startups from around the basis volition denote together with demo their products over a ii solar daytime menstruum at TechCrunch40. And they don't pay a cent to practise this. They volition live selected to participate based on merit alone". TechCrunch40 was gear upward to assist start-ups abide by funding to launch their product.
Government
European Union offers 14M€ grant for xiv P2P research
The European Union volition pay 14M€ to P2P-Next, which is a 4-year technical case of a content delivery platform for novel media which would run on a broad arrive at of consumer devices. Their mandate is to develop an "open source, efficient, trusted, personalized, user-centric, together with participatory boob tube addition media delivery machinery with social together with collaborative connotation using the emerging Peer-to-Peer (P2P) paradigm, which takes into work concern human relationship the existing European Union legal framework." P2P-Next is gathering of industrial partners, media content providers, together with universities, which include the BBC, Delft University of Technology, the European Broadcasting Union, Lancaster University, Markenfilm, Pioneer together with the VTT technical Research Centre of Finland.
The conglomerate aims, inter alia, to assist P2P shed it's dubious reputation every bit an illegal file sharing mechanism, claiming that "today [P2P] is considered yesteryear many every bit an efficient, reliable, together with depression terms machinery for distributing whatsoever media file or alive stream...[b]roadcasters together with content providers reckon P2P every bit a future-proof, universal, together with ubiquitous two-way (interactive) distribution mechanism."
Business
Collanos Workplace
Colonos Workplace is a cross-platform P2P scheme for collaborative teams to go on projects together with transmit their go alongside their go group. This P2P based production fills the gap for pocket-size and medium size businesses who don't receive got the information technology budget for the elaborate collaborative software institute inward larger businesses.
Currently out inward Beta phase, is its opened upward source integrated VOIP technology, thence squad members tin beak inward existent time, comport conference calls together with to communicate through its integrated multiplatform, multiprotocol minute messaging features spell collaborating on go projects.
