June 26, 2006
Volume 13, Issue 11
Grid Computing Hits Big Time
Excerpted from VNUNet Report by Clement James
Grid computing has penetrated well beyond the large research institutions that first developed the techniques, and has entered the early adoption phase of mainstream commercial computing, according to a study released by the Insight Research Corporation.
Grid computing, otherwise known as distributed computing, makes it possible to share computing resources across networks, creating what amounts to virtual super computers.
The report estimates worldwide grid spending to grow from $1.8 billion in 2006 to approximately $24.5 billion in 2011.
Grid spending was examined in 14 vertical industries. While spending on grid technology is expected to increase at a compound rate of almost 70 percent over the forecast period, the technology is still very much in an early adoption phase.
"Although large telecoms firms, including BT and Telefonica, have selected a grid middleware software partner to build out their service delivery capabilities, and a number of start-ups in grid have received venture capital, grid is still new to many IT organizations," said Insight Research President Robert Rosenberg.
New Chip Breaks Speed Record
Excerpted from NY Times Report by Laurie Flynn
Georgia Institute of Technology has broken the speed record for silicon-based chips with a semiconductor that operates 250 times faster than chips commonly used today.
The achievement is a major step in the evolution of computer semiconductor technology that could eventually lead to faster networks and more powerful electronics at lower prices, said Bernard Meyerson, Vice President & Chief Technologist in IBM’s Systems and Technology Group. He said developments like this one typically find their way into commercial products in 12 to 24 months.
The researchers, using a cryogenic test station, achieved the speed milestone by freezing the chip to 451 degrees below zero Fahrenheit, using liquid helium. That temperature, normally found only in outer space, is just nine degrees above absolute zero, or the temperature at which all movement is thought to cease.
At 500 gigahertz, the technology is 250 times faster than chips in today’s cell-phones, which operate at 2 gigahertz. At room temperature, the chips operate at 350 gigahertz, far faster than other chips in commercial use today.
Meyerson compared the achievement to the development of the chips used in Wi-Fi networks. It was not until the semiconductor technology used in those networks was produced with silicon that wireless networking became affordable for consumer applications.
Collanos Pioneers Peer-to-Peer 2.0
Collanos Software, a provider of software solutions and services that enable teamwork beyond organizational boundaries, has released Collanos Workplace 1.0 Beta, the first commercial and publicly available version of its free flagship application.
Geared for wide-scale adoption by Internet users worldwide, Collanos Workplace has been designed to meet the requirements of modern mobile and dispersed knowledge workers. While existing collaboration solutions rely upon web-based platforms, Collanos’ peer-to-peer (P2P) solution addresses the growing need of users for an online and offline solution that transparently synchronizes information among all team members.
"Not wasting time anymore on congested e-mail in-boxes or complex server-based solutions means simply more time for the team to concentrate on quality deliverables," said Peter Helfenstein, CEO of Collanos Software.
To the question of whether Collanos is a Web 2.0 company, Collanos Founder & President Franco Dal Molin said, "Yes and no. While it has all the key Web 2.0 attributes, we are not just another web-based collaboration solution. The hybrid P2P platform available for Windows, Mac, and Linux offers our users the best of both worlds - a matchless solution - Peer-to-Peer 2.0."
Collanos’ intends to harness the Internet to create a solution that truly reflects how 21st century teams work.
Report from CEO Marty Lafferty
 We are grateful to all who participated in the first annual P2P MEDIA SUMMIT. Feedback has been positive in terms of the value of this event to business development efforts of attendees, and we are now following up to support these activities.
At the Conference, the DCIA presented four awards recognizing key aspects of advancement in the distributed computing industry during the past year.
The DCIA Pioneer’s Award is presented annually to that company which has demonstrated the greatest persistence on the forefront of transitioning distributed computing technologies for commercial purposes.
MetaMachine developed and distributes eDonkey, the world’s most popular P2P file-sharing application, and has pro-actively engaged in the conversion of its operations to an entertainment industry sanctioned business model. The company also testified before the US Senate and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in support of licensing content for authorized P2P distribution.
President Sam Yagan accepted the Pioneer’s Award on behalf of MetaMachine.
The DCIA Groundbreaker’s Award is presented annually to that company which has achieved the greatest breakthrough in attracting distribution partners to advance distributed computing technologies for commercial purposes.
arvato mobile developed an innovative technology, GNAB, combining a centralized Internet download platform with a decentralized P2P network to ensure the protection of copyrights and efficient distribution of larger files like movies. Warner Bros. entered into a joint venture using GNAB in the creation of In2Movies, a revolutionary new digital download platform for the electronic sell-through of motion-picture and television content.
Business Development Director Jan Marc Külper accepted the Groundbreaker’s Award on behalf of arvato mobile.
The DCIA Trendsetter’s Award is presented annually to that company which sets the pace in the advancement of distributed computing technologies for commercial purposes.
LTDnetwork, developer and distributor of Qtrax, signed EMI as the first major music company to make its catalog available to the world’s first advertising-supported P2P music distribution service. Qtrax will not only provide this licensed free-to-user service, but also offer consumers a premium P2P subscription product and the ability to purchase songs and albums a la carte.
LTDnetwork Chairman & CEO Allan Klepfisz accepted the Trendsetter’s Award on behalf of LTDnetwork.
The DCIA Innovator’s Award is presented annually to that company which epitomizes the overall advancement of distributed computing technologies for commercial purposes.
INTENT MediaWorks, through its development of the Palladia digital media packaging and distribution platform, the MyPeer P2P software application suite, and the delveDown digital media meta-search engine, has exemplified innovation and led the industry in the creation of revolutionary technologies and services. INTENT has helped usher in a new era of digital media by turning each file into a powerful marketing tool for its copyright owner.
INTENT MediaWorks Founder & CEO Les Ottolenghi accepted the award on behalf of INTENT MediaWorks.
For those unable to attend the event, we are preparing online versions of keynote, panel, and workshop presentations and will provide links to these in next week’s DCINFO.
Also, please click here to obtain a copy of the Committee for Economic Development’s (CED) "Open Standards, Open Source, and Open Innovation," which was given to all attendees.
We express our deepest thanks to P2P MEDIA SUMMIT sponsors BitPass, Javien, MusicDish Network, Mi2n, Alston & Bird, Digital Media Wire, and Potomac Tech Wire, without whom our first annual Conference & Exposition would not have been possible. Share wisely, and take care.
CacheLogic & RawFlow Offer P2P Streaming
CacheLogic, the telecommunication industry’s acknowledged leader in P2P traffic management solutions, and RawFlow, a recognized innovator in P2P streaming solutions, have formed a technological partnership to provide a solution that delivers highly scalable, high-bit-rate A/V live streaming to broadcasters, and does not burden ISPs with the network congestion issues normally associated with traditional streaming and legacy P2P.
Through this alliance, RawFlow’s Live P2P streaming ICD software has been integrated into CacheLogic’s P2P caching products. The alignment of P2P streaming and caching overcomes the prohibitive distribution/hosting costs and scalability issues associated with current streaming technologies that have restricted the adoption of high bit-rate streaming services.
Providing support for RawFlow’s live P2P streaming technology within CacheLogic’s P2P caching products ensures ISPs have the capability to manage the impact of this traffic on their networks by reducing the upstream bandwidth levels and transit costs incurred by P2P. This extends CacheLogic’s P2P caching products support to include the following P2P client technologies: BitTorrent, eDonkey, FastTrack, Gnutella, and RawFlow.
CacheLogic and RawFlow further described their partnership and technology collaboration at the P2P MEDIA SUMMIT last week.
P2P Cash Announces "P2P Music"
DCIA Member P2P Cash, the only Open Online Cash Standard, announced last week at the P2P MEDIA SUMMIT, the formation of "P2P Music." P2P Music, a new wholly-owned division of P2P Cash is focused on developing new music applications for Intelligent Cash Units (ICUs). ICUs are the basis for P2P Cash’s patent-pending Open Online Cash Standard being accepted by banking, ATM, and cell-phone networks worldwide, including in China, Russia, and India.
Los Angeles-based TAG Strategic has been engaged by P2P Cash to provide guidance in the areas of online and mobile music. Ted Cohen, TAG’s Managing Partner, will serve externally as Chief Marketing Officer for P2P Music. Cohen, former SVP, Digital Development & Distribution, for music major EMI, is one of the best known advocates for adopting new technology within the entertainment industries. At EMI, he led global digital business development, helping EMI become a leader in new technologies such as digital downloads, online music subscriptions, wireless services, high-definition audio, and Internet radio.
In announcing his acceptance, Cohen said, "I am pleased that TAG Strategic can provide value to such an innovative payment company, one that is setting the Open Standard for mobile and online payment systems for cell-phone and online new media." He will also join the Content Advisory Board of the parent organization of P2P Music, P2P Cash.
Tom Meredith, P2P Cash Founder & President, added, "We are extremely fortunate to have Ted Cohen and TAG Strategic join us in developing our Open Standard in the music industry. Having known Ted for years due to his commitment and leadership to new technology within the music industry, we have been impressed with his openness to embrace new concepts and his insights into industry trends. We look forward to his ideas of applying the ICU Online Cash Standard to its best use within the emerging New Media system."
For more information about P2P Cash, its new subsidiary, P2P Music, or Intelligent Cash Units (ICUs), please contact Tom Meredith at 770-518-1920 or meredith@p2pcash.com.
Skype Helps Military Families
DCIA Member Skype, a leading provider of global Internet communications, is working with RadioShack and the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) to provide US military service members and their families with Skypestarter packs.
Using Skype, family members are able to talk to service members located anywhere in the worldwith a computer and broadband Internet connection. With the new offer, military family members in the US who purchase a Skype starterpack between June 18th and July 1st at Radio Shack stores or from www.radioshack.com will be offered a full refund for their purchase.
Skype starter packs include a computer headset with a microphone designed for Internet calling,calling cards pre-loaded with 30 minutes for landline calling, and a Skype software CD. 40,000 US service members across the nation, as well as those stationed in Korea and Germany, will receive free Skype starter packs via a distribution program administered by the VFW.
"Communication is the best morale booster for anyone who has ever been deployed. It is fantastic that Skype is helping expand the VFW’s ability to provide connection time to deployed servicemen and women," said VFW National Commander Jim Mueller.
Skype will also provide new US based SkypeOut subscribers with an hour of free international calling to landline phones until June 30th. According to a news release, Skype also has plans later this summer to offer its US users free international calling periods to select countries.
Oregan Puts Skype on TV
Oregan Networks, an embedded software company, now delivers Skype notifications to IPTV users. Broadband TV viewers can receive notifications of incoming Skype calls or messages on their television screens in the form of an unobtrusive popup.
This service is reminiscent of the partnership of TiVo and Verizon that allows subscribers to control the DVR via a cell-phone, in that it resembles a feature that typically would be delivered via a costly IMS infrastructure. Oregan has managed it without the benefit of the IP Multimedia Subsystem.
Presumably, this is because it is a software company, and not a gear vendor or carrier, which tend to tackle problems in a very different fashion. Please see The Problem with IMS.
Digital River Launches DTBMS
Direct Response Technologies, a leading provider of affiliate technology and e-marketing solutions, and business unit of DCIA Member Digital River, has introduced the DirectTrack Bid Management Service (DTBMS). The new web-based service, which is designed to help affiliates increase their paid search sales, offers integrated online tools that manage bids for paid search campaigns and track return on investment (ROI).
The service integrates Direct Response Technologies’ DirectTrack affiliate management platform with its KeywordMax paid search bid management tool. This is the first service offering in the affiliate market to combine an affiliate platform with a paid search tool.
"The marriage between DirectTrack and KeywordMax will empower affiliates to make better and smarter market offers on paid search engines," said Jason Wolfe, Direct Response President. "We are excited to see the results from integrating what we believe are some of the most powerful marketing mechanisms used on the Internet - affiliate marketing and paid search."
By taking advantage of the DirectTrack Bid Management service, DirectTrack clients will gain access to advanced features that can help them more effectively track and measure ROI.
Today, the DirectTrack platform powers more than 150 affiliate networks and 500 merchants, carrying nearly 40,000 offers to more than 200,000 affiliates around the world. DirectTrack’s platform supports the sale of physical and digital goods across a wide variety of affiliate models, including sales, clicks, leads, and impressions.
KeywordMax bid management tools are used by search engine advertisers to automate bidding and track the performance of paid and free listings. The tools have been used by thousands of online merchants and search engine management agencies to manage paid and organic search campaigns.
Softwrap Shows Growth in Q2
DCIA Member Softwrap showed consistent strong growth in the second quarter with the signing of a host of large international software publishers.
Funcom, a world leading independent game developer and publisher, is making its move in the online distribution market with the help of Softwrap’s industry-leading digital rights management (DRM) technology.
"Funcom chose Softwrap for its robust security and ease-of-use both from an end-user and developer’s perspective," commented Trond Aas, Funcom CEO. "Softwrap has been extremely efficient, friendly, and professional to deal with. We look forward to many titles being distributed electronically with the Softwrap technology."
Serif, a world-leading independent publisher of desktop publishing, design, and graphics software has also felt the time is right to take a stronger approach to the online market through the offering and distribution of fully functional trials.
Softwrap is providing the full security and e-commerce package allowing Serif’s latest titles to be sold as trial versions online.
U3 provides the innovative platform that transforms USB flash drives from simple storage devices into USB smart drives making software programs, personal preferences, passwords, settings, and files more portable, personal, and protected.
Working together, Softwrap and U3 have developed the world’s only DRM solution for the portable U3 device. This allows software content providers to place their titles onto the U3 device in a trial format that can be seamlessly licensed to the user’s U3 USB drive.
Softwrap will be announcing additional exciting partnerships for 2006 shortly.
P2P VoIP Service Poised for Launch
Excerpted from VoIP News Report
Fusion Telecommunications is about to launch a new service dubbed efonica, introducing what the company describes as the world’s first worldwide Internet Area Code (10) which is dialed ahead of standard phone numbers instead of a new number or user name when connecting via the VoIP service.
Fusion has also licensed voice-processing technology from Global IP Sound (GIPS), which is able to withstand up to 30% packet loss and still maintain telco-grade voice quality. This should make the efonica solution suitable for use over dial-up Internet connections in areas where the lack of broadband access has held back the use of VoIP services.
But the main difference lies in the P2P architecture used in the service. The company took more than five years to develop a new IP telephony architecture which it calls DSP technology (Directed SIP Peer-to-Peer) which it says substantially improves upon current methods of delivering VoIP calls.
The company’s website describes it in this way: "DSP avoids unnecessarily exposing the subscriber’s computer, bandwidth, and local area network to network security threats."
Each call automatically accesses a central registry for authentication and uses a centralized routing engine to facilitate the connection directly between calling parties.
Connections can be accomplished from any location worldwide and typically occur in a fraction of a second, says the company.
There are three plans in the works, efonica FREE which provides a basic set of services, efonica PLUS a paid service which includes in and out features and efonica PRO for business users.
MusicGremlin Challenges iPod Hegemony
Excerpted from MacNewsWorld Report by Gene Koprowski
Borrowing one of the features that made Napster, Kazaa, and other online sites famous, the MusicGremlin service enables consumers to share songs with their friends. Subscribers can even purchase songs for their friends – and send them electronically to their friends’ digital audio players.
Plenty of aspirants have tried to assail the iPod previously, but MusicGremlin may be poised to make the most impact. The company last week debuted a new Gremlin portable player, which, for US $299, enables MP3 music enthusiasts to download songs via Wi-Fi networks. The best part of it – no PC is required, unlike earlier offerings from Microsoft and others.
"We believe the Gremlin will transform the way people consume digital music," said Robert Khedouri, Co-Chief Executive Officer of MusicGremlin, which is marketing its wares through a partnership online with Amazon. "By having programming of consumers’ own choice delivered directly to their portable players, we’ve made it easier and more fun to get music."
The device allows music fans to download tunes from MusicGremlin’s own service – a network similar to iTunes – wirelessly. For a monthly subscription fee of $14.99, rather than a one-off fee of 99 cents per song, subscribers can download as many songs as they wish. They can also access commercial-free music programming. "By transforming the MP3 player into a wireless device, we’ve freed consumers from being tied to their PCs," said Khedouri.
The company said it has more than 2 million tracks in its music library from which to choose for playing on its digital audio player. The player comes with a browser that enables users to scan the library. If the Wi-Fi connection is lost during the transaction, the song selected will be archived for use the next time the user is online.
Old songs purchased for use on other MP3 players can be played on the MusicGremlin too – and not just MP3 songs – WMA files from PCs and songs from other Windows Media Player 10.0 music services as well.
The player is a thin, black, four-ounce device, about the size of a man’s wallet. The download speed is very fast – with a four-minute pop or rock song being downloaded in a compressed format in 20 seconds or less. The encryption is at a 128-bit rate. The LCD is a 2-inch, 220-by-176-pixel color screen.
Nareos Signs Indie Music Deals
Nareos, a pioneering digital content commerce service provider, announced distribution agreements with digital music distributors IODA, IRIS Distribution, Zebralution, and Big Fish Media. The latest agreements expand Nareos’ catalog to 2 million songs, and provide new PC and mobile sales channels for independent music artists.
These rights holders will be able to distribute their music content via Nareos’ flagship mobile P2P file-sharing service PeerBox Mobile and across open file-sharing networks using Nareos PeerReach distribution service.
Nareos’ revolutionary service allows music to be downloaded directly from P2P file-sharing networks onto a mobile phone - with audio fingerprinting technology built-in to recognize copyrighted materials.
Nareos’ CEO, Alexander Lazovsky, commented, "We are very pleased to be working with the best names in independent digital music distribution. These agreements substantially strengthen our offering to Internet and mobile phone users who need a convenient way to search for and purchase music they like anytime, anywhere. We are committed to developing alternative and profitable channels for digital music distribution."
Duke City Shootout Draws Faster Online
Excerpted from Back Stage Report by Chris Marlowe
The quirky Duke City Shootout film competition is popular beyond its size, but its New Mexico location can limit viewership. That is set to change this year, following a deal with the BitTorrent P2P service that makes all of the shorts freely available to anyone in the world.
Reggie Russell put the sponsorship together in his role as CEO of Digital Filmmaking Institute, which oversees the Shootout.
Noting that 65 million people use BitTorrent, he says this is the first time the shorts have been available to any large-scale audience. "We use technology to expedite the filmmaking process," Russell says. "That’s how we can do seven films in seven days; you couldn’t do it with film. So when we looked at distribution, file sharing was the way I wanted to go because it’s the quickest and most efficient way to get content onto your hard drive. Streaming is just a bandwidth hog."
Duke City is about to present its seventh annual competition. Because the BitTorrent agreement is retroactive, all 42 shorts from prior years will be made available free of charge.
"Our nonprofit is not going to be making money from it, but it will be a huge boost to our profile and reward filmmakers by giving them another outlet for their movies," said Anthony DellaFlora, who co-founded DFI with Grubb Graebner.
German P2P Traffic Rebounds
Excerpted from Slyck.com Report by Tom Mennecke
The policy of shutting down networks and threatening network administrators with lawsuits has changed little since the lessons learned from Napster. At Napster’s peak, approximately 1.5 million simultaneous users traded music on that network. By today’s P2P standards, Napster would be a relatively small network, as Gnutella, eDonkey, FastTrack, WinMX, and BitTorrent have all exceeded its population.
The latest computation from DCIA industry data resource Big Champagne estimates that approximately 9.7 million individuals simultaneously traverse the P2P landscape at any given time. This number does not include the population of BitTorrent, which at a minimum adds an additional 3 million individuals.
On May 23rd, German authorities with assistance provided by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) launched one of the largest raids in file-sharing history. The target of this raid was Razorback2, which functioned as one of the largest eDonkey2000 indexing servers. At its peak, it was home to approximately 1.2 million individuals, sharing 170 million files.
Additionally, authorities searched 130 premises, confiscating evidence in the form of computers and hard drives. IFPI reported these individuals were providing over 8,000 files each to the eDonkey2000 community. Furthermore, over 3,500 individuals were citied for distributing unauthorized material online.
According to IPoque PRX hardware, which provides network monitoring and P2P throttling technology to ISPs, the level of P2P traffic dropped 15% after the raids. The sampling was collected from the activities of approximately 250,000 individuals, traversing both small local area and wide area ISP networks.
Yet approximately 10 days after the raid, the decline in P2P traffic stopped and began to plateau. Several days later, P2P traffic once again was on the rise. Only 21 days after the massive raid, P2P traffic was once again at the identical level previous to the events of May 23rd.
Empirical evidence provided by the eMule client reflects eDonkey2000 network resources remain stable since RazorBack’s elimination (currently ~4.5 million users, ~600 million files.)
A shift in strategy to one that addresses the limitless demand of consumers and refrains from assuming the guilt of over 10 million individuals would likely prove more successful.
Defective By Design Phones RIAA
Excerpted from CD Freaks Report
Two weeks ago, the Free Software Foundation’s Defective By Design (DBD) group demonstrated outside Apple stores across the US to protest Apple’s use of DRM on iTunes.
On Friday June 23rd, the group carried out a day of action against the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and similar organizations around the world to complain about DRM as it is currently being used by the music industry.
One of the main purposes of this telephone-call campaign was to get the RIAA to hear from consumers who are affected by DRM.The main problem at the moment, according to DBD, is that while the RIAA helps push DRM, it generally does not deal with the public directly.
"This step is going after one of the driving forces behind the spread of DRM technology," DBD Manager Gregory Heller said. "We intend to drive the message home that consumers don’t want DRM. We’re taking it to the source."
The full article can be read here.
Coming Events of Interest
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Building Blocks 2006 – August 15th–17th in San Jose, CA. The DCIA is pleased to participate in this premier event for transforming entertainment, communication technologies and the global communications network: TV, cable, telco, consumer electronics, mobile, broadband, search, e-mail, VoIP, RSS, blogs and websites: "Disruptive Thinking – Change Agents That Transform the World –Where Content is King and Technology Rules."
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6th Annual Future of Music Policy Summit – October 5th–7th at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. FMC sees hosting this Summit in Canada as an opportunity to expand its perspective on a range of issues – from copyright, to sampling, to digital royalties, to radio, to how various musical communities are managing change. The music marketplace has become truly global, and some of the biggest challenges are navigating the assortment of legal and licensing schemes that encourage and/or impede the promotion and sale of music.
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