Peer to Peer - Why the Bad Rap?
Why does peer to peer technology get such a bad rap? There are probably many answers, but the most prevalent thinking is the technology is one of the components enabling rampant illegal downloading of music and videos.
So that raises a bigger question - "Why is peering behind the illegal downloading of music and videos?" Ahh - now we get a pretty interesting answer.
Put simply, a peer to peer network can harness the computing power and bandwidth of the participants in the network rather than concentrating it in a relatively low number of servers (see Wikipedia for a longer definition and insight). Done in a safe, secure manner, it's SIMPLY THE MOST EFFECTIVE WAY TO DOWNLOAD LARGE FILE CONTENT ON THE INTERNET. It's also an incredibly effective way to leverage networked computing power for things like medical research.
What's the point? You're going to see and hear a lot more about peering during 2007. In December, VeriSign launched its Intelligent CDN using peering technology to massively alter the economics of content delivery. A user who used to download a (DRM protected) high definition video in 7 hours can now do so in 7 minutes, assuming their media vendor of choice is using our technology. Think of a traditional CDN on steroids - distribution costs go down, user experience goes up - everybody wins. Four of the six largest long form content sites in the world - AOL, BBC, Channel 4 and Sky - are using our technology.
Other players are harnessing peering as well - think BitTorrent and the Venice Project. The result is likely going to be a lot of media coverage on peering. Take the time to understand why (see text in caps above!) - it's going to change the way you manage and watch content forever.
