Verizon Testing P4P for Peer to Peer Delivery
Verizon (VZ) has been test-driving peer-to-peer file transfer using the new P4P protocol, which is being jointly developed by a group that includes P2P services BitTorrent and LimeWire, content delivery specialists Pando Networks and Verisign/Kontiki, telcos Verizon and AT&T, and network gear vendor Cisco Systems.
Ars Technica reports that the tests by Verizon and Pando show the new protocol "provides a significant boost in download performance while simultaneously reducing network congestion." An excerpt from the story:
The implication is quite clear: network operators can more effectively cut costs by enabling better P2P rather than trying to impede it. The question that remains is whether this solution will be extended to all P2P traffic, or just services favored by ISPs and Big Content. Verizon condemns illegal filesharing and says that the new protocol is intended for adoption by legal commercial services, but also reiterates that—unlike AT&T—the company has no intention of policing its own network. Regardless of the implications for piracy, Verizon believes that P4P is an important step towards solving the problems that peer-based file transfer technologies pose to network management.Discussion of Internet capacity is in the news again after a front-page story yesterday in the New York Times. For more information on P4P, see the Distributed Computing Industry Association (DCIA) web site and the group's mission statement (PDF) for P4P. There's also a good summary from Wired of P4P.
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By Rich Miller 
March 14, 2008 | Permalink | >Get Posts By E-mail
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