P4P: faster, smarter P2P

[Bolt_Gundam510]

{Bolt_Gundam510:i did a little research on p4p a little deeper than from before wheni posted from torrent freak. it sounds ok but i perfer to stick with p2p for now. well any ways here's a little more in deepth to what p4p auctly is and what it does}

by Robin Harris March 16th, 2008

The P4P working group demo’d higher P2P download speeds with 1/6th the inter-metro hops that soak up expensive, long-distance network bandwidth. P4P is designed to enable better ISP and P2P coexistence with a win/win solution: better performance for users and less network overhead for the ISP.

P4P speeds up P2P downloads by localizing network traffic. Standard P2P traffic gets spread all over the globe, so a single packet may go through a half-dozen costly high-end routers and thousands of miles of scarce ocean-floor fiber on its way to your PC. Metro-area routing is both cheaper for ISPs and faster for the users.

Traditional P2P

Today’s P2P is network oblivious: peers are selected without regard to network topology. One stream may be coming from Flagstaff while the next is coming from Cape Town.

pTracker and iTracker

P4P is an open standard for delivering network awareness to P2P networks. One way it can work - and there is more than one, but the tech papers aren’t available yet on the web - is to add a peer-tracker (pTracker) and an Internet-tracker (iTracker).

The peer queries the pTracker for nearby peers. If the pTracker knows where the right bytes are in the local metro area, it returns that info to the peer. But if the inventory isn’t locally available, the pTracker could then go to the iTracker for peering suggestions that take into account network topology and costs.

The pTracker then selects a set of active peers and returns that list to the peer that initiated the request.

The pTracker is run by the P2P system - say BitTorrent or Pando - while the iTracker can be run by trusted 3rd parties, P2P networks or ISPs.

The Storage Bits take

As the volume of video content rises, the demand for P2P will only grow. With P4P it appears a substantial portion of the ISP community will make its peace with P2P content distribution. This is a Very Good Thing.

Which leaves Comcast - who isn’t a P4PWG member - facing their original problem: they under-provision their network in order to maximize profit. As long as customers are passive receptacles that works, but once they start distributing content through P2P Comcast has a problem.

Comcast wants to make their problem your problem. Rather than saying they can’t compete with DSL or fixing the problem through protocol or equipment upgrades, they’ve been fighting the common-carrier law.

That’s just wrong. Common carrier status for telecom is over 160 years old. It has stood the test of time for very good reasons. Comcast needs to get with the program: either get competitive with the telcos or get out.

Source: zdnet

[Bolt_Gundam510]

{Bolt_Gundam510: i went on this site to see what p4p was all about well this is just some of the stuff that i found.}

P4PWG Mission

To work jointly and cooperatively with leading Internet service providers (ISPs), peer-to-peer (P2P) software distributors, and technology researchers to ascertain appropriate and voluntary best practices for the use of P4P mechanisms to accelerate distribution of content and optimize utilization of ISP network resources in order to provide the best possible performance to end-user customers.

P4PWG Objectives

Provide ISPs with the ability to optimize utilization of network resources while enhancing service levels for P2P traffic

Provide P2P software distributors with the ability to accelerate content delivery while enhancing efficient usage of ISP bandwidth

Provide researchers who are developing P4P mechanisms with the support to advance and the ability to publish their work

Determine, validate, and encourage the adoption of methods for ISPs and P2P software distributors to work together to enable and support consumer service improvements as P2P adoption and resultant traffic evolves while protecting the intellectual property (IP) of participating entities

Establish appropriate and voluntary best practices for the deployment of P4P mechanisms to meet the above identified objectives in a way that can be sustained by all of the necessary participants

P4PWG Path to Progress

Publish the Mission and Objectives of the working group

Publish a call for participants in the working group and recruit a balanced representation of core members

Draft and reach agreement on a P4P pilot study to expand beyond simulation research done to date, including the test plan, timeline, and deliverables

Ensure that the test plan emphasizes quantification of performance improvements using to-be-determined (TBD) measurements

Organize and conduct the P4P pilot study to ascertain an efficient means for accelerating content distribution and optimizing the use of network resources for content distribution using P2P software programs

Prepare and publish voluntary DCIA recommended practices for P4P adoption based on results of the pilot study

P4PWG Membership

The P4P Working Group (P4PWG) was established in July 2007 at the direction of DCIA Member companies Pando Networks and Verizon Communications to be conducted under the auspices of the DCIA pursuant to the trade association's guidelines for such activities. At the formative meeting of the P4PWG, representatives of Pando and Verizon were elected as Co-Chairs, Haiyong Xie as the Principal Researcher.

Membership in the P4PWG was initially organized in two Groups:

Core Participants.

Qualifications for Core Participants are that their primary business be either a) Internet service provider (ISP) providing broadband access service to consumers; or b_) peer-to-peer (P2P) software developer or distributor providing file-sharing service to consumers.

For such P4PWG Core Participants, there is no cost to participate in the P4PWG and no pre-requisite for acceptance into the P4PWG, such as DCIA Membership. The P4PWG is open to all ISPs and P2Ps on a global basis, subject only to the approval of the P4PWG Co-Chairs.

In addition, DCIA Member companies in good standing are entitled as a privilege of Membership to participate in the P4PWG.

Observers.

Qualifications for Observers are that their primary business be relevant to the Mission of the P4PWG. In addition to the qualifications for Core Participants (i.e., certain ISPs and P2Ps may elect to be Observers rather than Core Participants), this also includes vendors, suppliers, and researchers whose work centers on the P4PWG Mission. Acceptance as a P4PWG Observer is subject to the approval of the P4PWG Co-Chairs.

P4PWG Participants:

Core Group

AT&T

Bezeq International

BitTorrent

Velocix

Cisco Systems

Grid Networks

Joost

Limewire

Manatt

Oversi

Pando Networks

PeerApp

Telefonica Group

Telecom Italia

Verisign

Verizon

Vuze

Univeristy of Washington

Yale University

Observers

Abacast

AHT International

Akamai

Alcatel Lucent

CableLabs

Cablevision

Comcast

Cox Communications

Juniper Networks

Microsoft

MPAA

NBC Universal

Nokia

RawFlow

Solid State Networks

Thomson

Time Warner Cable

Turner Broadcasting

Source: open p4p

[myidisbb]

just looking at the above names is more then enough to tell me to stay the heck away from p4p. ill stick with newsgroups

[LoKz]

just looking at the above names is more then enough to tell me to stay the heck away from p4p. ill stick with newsgroups

newsgroups is was up! and PG2