Enhancement To P2P Cuts Network Costs

psycho12345 sends in an article in News.com on a study, sponsored by Verizon and Yale, finding that if P2P software is written more 'intelligently' (by localizing requests), the effect of bandwidth hogging is vastly reduced. According to the study, redoing the P2P into what they call P4P can reduce the number of 'hops' by an average of 400%. With localized P4P, less of the sharing occurs over large distances, instead making requests of nearby clients (geographically). The NYTimes covers the development from the practical standpoint of Verizon's agreement with P2P company Pando Networks, which will be involved in distributing NBC television shows next month. So the network efficiencies will accrue to legal P2P content, not to downloads from The Pirate Bay.

Comments

400%?

[Sam H]

How do you reduce the number of 'hops' by an average of 400%? Negative number of hops? Also, FP.

Re:400%?

[ThreeGigs]

It gets worse. From RTFA:

"Using the P4P protocol, those same files took an average of 0.89 hops"

How do you possibly get an average of LESS than one hop, unless you're getting the file from yourself?

Re:P2P - P4P?

[TripMaster Monkey]

Well, strictly speaking, incrementing the number would result in P3P, not P4P. Just as P2P means "Peer to Peer", P4P could be interpreted as "Peer for Peer", justifying the numeral.