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Internap Unveils P2P CDN Capabilities

Internap Network Services has teamed with Pando Networks to offer peer-to-peer (P2P) capabilities for its content delivery network.

Internap Network Services has teamed with Pando Networks to offer peer-to-peer (P2P) capabilities for its content delivery network. The new hybrid P2P CDN will be available by the end of 2007, and combines Internap's caching and routing infrastructure with Pando's Video Booster P2P client, which is installed on user computers.

Internap (INAP) says the service complements its streaming services for Adobe Flash and Windows Media videos, creating a "flexible and reliable CDN solution for business and government organizations ... with new levels of security, reliability and business intelligence."

"Until now, P2P networking was an interesting technology that could not meet the requirements of enterprise applications and digital media owners," said Philip N. Kaplan, chief strategy officer at Internap and co-founder of VitalStream. "Internap's CDN and content monetization tools combined with flexible delivery methods for P2P, Adobe Flash video and Windows Media provide enterprise-class solutions for digital media content and applications."


Internap's announcement follows reports that CDN market leader Akamai will announce a hybrid P2P CDN next week. VeriSign and CacheLogic already have hybrid services using P2P content for delivery.

"In this new Web 2.0 world, the supply of and demand for large media objects like video, images and software downloads is exploding," said Daniel Golding, vice president and research director at Tier1 Research. "As we get more and bigger objects, the best CDNs should embrace peer-to-peer technology as part of their delivery options to maximize the value they offer to their clients."

Dan Rayburn at the Business of Online Media also sees the integration of P2P as a welcome trend for the CDN industry:

This is good news for everyone, customers and vendors. The one size fits all mentality that CDNs have had for some time is now being replaced with the idea that it's about using the best combination of technologies to deliver the right type of content, to the right user, in the right manner. The mentality of many CDNs has changed quite a lot in the past two years, all for the better.

In July, Internap bulked up its CDN infrastructure by adding a point of presence in London, giving Internap 43 global service delivery points to support its nine major CDN delivery points in Los Angeles, Seattle, Atlanta, Silicon Valley, Chicago, Washington, D.C. and Amsterdam.