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.

P2P - P4P?

[thousandinone]

Yeah! Lets increment a number that isn't actually carrying a numeric value! We no longer transfer peer 2 peer. Information is now provided by peers, 4 peers.

P4P - Pay for Performance

[Anonymous Coward]

Hmmm, looks like the acroynm is already used...Just the way they want it...

Re:P2P - P4P?

[ePhil_One]

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.

Personally I'm waiting for the next binary progression, Peer Ate Peer, or P8P. I'm not sure what it will do, but I'll bring popcorn to watch...

Re:innumeracy

[pushing-robot]

On average, Pasko said that regular P2P traffic makes 5.5 hops to get its destination. Using the P4P protocol, those same files took an average of 0.89 hops.

Less than one hop on average? Wow, they must use patented "You downloaded that three months ago, you wanker! Look on your damn file server!" technology.

Re:New math

[L4t3r4lu5]

Isn't a mean (assumed from "average") of 0.89 hops the same as saying that the median value is less than 1?

Is it possible that pixies and angel farts are carrying packets between peers in your model?

Re:New math

[unbug]

I honestly can't figure out where "reduce by 400%" came from. They say the average hops were reduced from 5.5 hops to 0.89 hops, which is either 84% if you're not an idiot or 616% if you are.

That's easy. It came from the 4 in P4P. The more accurate P6P had been vetoed by marketing as too nasty.

Re:400%?

[MightyYar]

Well, this being Slashdot, I couldn't exactly read the article, now could I? Instead, I opened the article and searched for "4".

Re:400%?

[mcrbids]

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

Easy! They ran it in simulation, using VMware. Have you ever used VMware? It's an amazing tool that makes an excellent platform for simulations and prototypes, especially when you need to know exactly how applications will perform in the real world.

Game developers, for example, routinely use VMware sessions. Especially the hard-core, 3D FPS developers.

No, really!

Re:P2P - P4P?

[J Mack Daddy]

Even better, change the letter too. I'm waiting for B4B: Beer 4 Beer.

mmmm... Beer.

Re:400%?

[kaizokuace]

You can maximize the bitterness of the hops by adding more of them to the beginning of the boiling wort. A small amount of hops at the end of the boi...oh what are we talking about again?...

Re:P2P - P4P?

[tzot]

...mind you, after Beer 4 Beer, please avoid the Steer 2 Deer, 4 Fear of Near loss of Dear life. Here here!

Re:tragedy of the commons, Oh Hamlet

[jwo7777777]

or mastercard versa

Re:P2P - P4P?

[mrogers]

Verizon's up to P4P already but Comcast is still working on P0P - "peer, no peer".