June 30, 2008
Volume XXII, Issue 8
Study: 44% of Internet Traffic is P2P
Excerpted from Multichannel News Report by Todd Spangler
Peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing applications represent 44% of all bandwidth consumed on networks operated by North American Internet service providers (ISPs), up from around 41% a year ago, according to a survey by Sandvine, a vendor of bandwidth-management systems.
Sandvine compiled survey results from several leading service providers. The bandwidth-usage data was gathered at the subscriber access network to account for traffic that is not routed through peering points.
The three biggest overall generators of Internet traffic according to Sandvine's May survey were: P2P file sharing (43.5%); web browsing (27.3%); and streaming media (14.8%).
Other applications, ranked by overall usage, were: tunneling into private networks (5.9%); newsgroups (5.6%); online games (1.4%); and voice over IP (VoIP) (0.2%).
P2P accounted for an even bigger portion of upstream direction, consuming more than twice as much traffic as all other traffic combined. The three biggest traffic generators in the upstream direction are P2P file sharing (75.0%); tunneling (9.9%); and web browsing (9.1%).
Downstream traffic was also primarily generated by P2P (35.6%), followed by web browsing (31.6%) and streaming (17.9%).
Sandvine's report is available here.
ISPs Tout New Methods of P2P Traffic Management
Excerpted from CrunchGear Report by Nicholas Deleon
Good news for P2P fans! ISPs were touting their new bandwidth control methods at this week's major NXTComm convention in Las Vegas, NV.
For example, several companies discussed "smart" routing technology, which works by routing requests to the closest physical location.
So, presumably, if a user is downloading a torrent file, smart routing will make it so that the content will automatically download from the closest IP, thereby reducing stress on the network as a whole.
No use downloading Viva la Vida from some kid in France when you're neighbor one town over has it.
One other solution bandied about was to cache popular P2P content - which would only apply to licensed material.
Give credit to the ISPs for attempting to come up with workable solutions!
Report from CEO Marty Lafferty
 We plan to hold a special session at the upcoming P2P MEDIA SUMMIT Silicon Valley to discuss new initiatives currently in-process internationally to harness P2P for music distribution.
Reports from the United Kingdom (UK) this week suggest that open, authorized P2P-music-file-sharing for UK users, offered through and priced by broadband Internet service providers (ISPs), on an opt-in basis, could be introduced there by year's end or early 2009.
Along with commercializing un-monetized traffic, content discovery improvements and file delivery efficiencies could in theory simultaneously be advanced with this type of licensed P2P music system, so that less network bandwidth would be consumed than currently is the case.
This would make the UK the second country in the world to offer such so-called "broadband music subscription services that permit file sharing."
South Korea now leads globally with the adoption of a similar plan, although with the significant difference that the service there is offered by a P2P company rather than an ISP.
Soribada obtained government approvals for its P2P music subscription service in March after attracting more than 15 million users - or over a third of the country's population - before being so authorized.
In Soribada's case, after more than a decade of seeking licenses with music rights holders, an amendment was made to the Regulation on Collection of Musical Works under which government-designated copyright-related associations collect fixed-rate royalties.
Meanwhile, QTRAX, based in the US, now offers a licensed P2P music service that is ad-supported and free-to-users rather than subscription-based. Other things being equal, this model would seem to have much greater appeal to consumers.
A new so-called "iPod tax" on devices that copy and share music could also be proposed in the US during the next two-to-three years, although the prospects of its acceptance by the consumer electronics (CE) sector seem low.
In the fullness of time, a two-tiered structure may emerge where P2P companies and other online "retailers" offer entertainment content directly to end-users in paid-download, subscription, ad-supported, and/or other new, more innovative offerings, while ISPs perform a role akin to that of "wholesaler."
In any case, the Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform (BERR) within the British government provided the impetus for the current UK activity by strongly encouraging talks among music industry representatives and ISPs directly as a preferred solution to legislation for addressing concerns regarding the substantial ongoing increase of unauthorized online music distribution.
With music industry revenues down 33% since the millennium, consumer P2P adoption steadily growing, and the CD now more than a quarter-of-a-century old - and in the absence of either a more advanced physical format or entertainment industry sanctioned online music distribution business model that is widely acceptable to Internet users - such experimentation must be regarded as welcome and timely.
And, as we reported last week, a new survey from British Music Rights (BMR) advocates this particular kind of broad-based, blanketed-access model for the UK on behalf of music composers, songwriters, and publishers.
Leading record labels, including Warner Music Group (WMG), have also recently signaled a willingness to consider this approach. Many independents indicate their desire to explore this direction as well. The exclusive right of labels to make copies of sound recordings is, of course, technologically eliminated with P2P services.
The new UK P2P music services would allow broadband households to pay a voluntary fee in exchange for being empowered to download and share all the music tracks they want, which the majority already do without explicit permission. The services would track exchanges of songs within each P2P network using non-intrusive technology, and compensate rights holders based on relative popularity.
Given such a dramatic change in music revenue generation, much preliminary work would need to be done to bring together recording and publishing interests in order to be able to negotiate with broadband carriers, which would then in turn license or subcontract with P2P software developers and distributors.
Usage limitations, payout levels, tracking parameters, participation terms, affiliate conditions, and a number of pricing issues would need to be addressed, among other factors. In addition, a royalty distribution system for a blanket P2P license would need to be established, which is not a trivial endeavor.
But so far, all sides tend to concur that something different is needed to re-monetize music, and this experimental proposal seems to offer attractive upsides in the UK market. Learn more about this at the P2P MEDIA SUMMIT Silicon Valley. Share wisely, and take care.
DCIA Members: High-Quality P2P Video Distribution
Bill Wishon, Director of Marketing at Kontiki, a leading provider of managed peer-assisted delivery for high-quality video and digital content, and Michael King, CEO of Abacast, a leading provider of hybrid CDN technologies and services including live P2P streaming, shared best practices in high-quality video distribution during a panel presentation at the Voice Peering Forum on June 23rd in San Francisco, CA.
The discussion focused on commercial and technical aspects of P2P and explored its affects on the entire digital content value chain.
P2P technology represents a paradigm shift in the delivery of rich media content. When applied to media and entertainment solutions, it enables services to distribute high-quality content to massive audiences at a fraction of the cost of traditional delivery.
When applied to enterprise video communications it enables the distribution of high-quality corporate video to all employees worldwide over existing network resources.
Kontiki's secure and scalable commercial P2P delivery platform powers the world's largest media companies' broadband video-on-demand (VOD) download services including the BBC iPlayer, Channel 4's 4oD, and BSkyB's Sky Anytime on PC service, in the UK.
Kontiki's ISP-friendly protocol, fine network controls, security, edge throttling capabilities, and client application flexibility are ideal for all constituents in the broadband video delivery value chain - content owners, network operators, and consumers.
Abacast's unique, creative streaming technologies drive many broadcasters' rich-media streaming initiatives. Abacast helps its customers optimize their business models with revenue generating features like its Ad Injection System, Subscription Systems, and Synchronized Ads.
Abacast provides the most efficient delivery options possible with standard unicast, P2P, or a hybrid combination. Abacast allows its customers to monitor their objectives with understandable analytics that are accurate, real-time and designed for business and media people.
ABC & ESPN Content Added to Veoh Networks
Excerpted from World Screen News Report by Mansha Daswani
Several ABC series and short-form online video content from ESPN are now available to peer-to-peer television (P2PTV) service Veoh Networks' more than 28 million broadband users.
Delivered via ABC.com's broadband player, episodes of "Lost," "Desperate Housewives," "Grey's Anatomy," and "Ugly Betty," among others, can be viewed for free from the Veoh P2PTV service.
The popular P2PTV service - whose investors include former Disney chief Michael Eisner's Tornante Company, ex-Paramount chairman Jonathan Dolgen, and Tom Freston, formerly the CEO of Viacom - will also feature selected short-form programming from ABC via an embedded player that will launch on the site later this year.
Also available are highlights from major sporting events via an embedded ESPN video player, as well as original ESPN programming, including "SportsCenter Right Now" and clips from "Mike and Mike in the Morning," "Pardon the Interruption," and "Around the Horn."
Matt Murphy, Senior VP of Digital Video Distribution at Disney and ESPN Media Networks, noted, "This deal expands the distribution of our quality programming through our own broadband players, growing the reach of our advertisers while maintaining their direct association with our powerful network brands."
Steve Mitgang, CEO of Veoh Networks, stated, "Veoh's viewers actively watch a broad range of content across network TV shows, made-for-web productions and independently produced videos, so we are thrilled to expand our offerings with popular programming from ABC and ESPN. This relationship will not only allow Veoh to cultivate new, influential fans of ABC and ESPN shows among its core audience of 18-34 year old viewers, but also engage marketers across even more types and lengths of video content."
Other key content partners for Veoh include CBS, MTV Networks, Lionsgate, and PBS.
Ashwin Navin: Working to Boost BitTorrent's Image
Excerpted from Conde Nast Portfolio Report by Kevin Maney
I sat down yesterday with Ashwin Navin, President of BitTorrent, to talk about his challenges running one of the most controversial companies on the Internet. We met after he was on a panel at the Digital Media Conference in Tysons Corner, VA.
BitTorrent has, at different times, been fired at from all sides. At first it was seen as enabling copyright infringement of video and movies because its P2P network allows anyone to ship huge files around the Net. Hollywood feared it as a next-generation Napster.
More recently, broadband providers have tried to limit or cut off BitTorrent users, supposedly because they hog bandwidth. One of the Internet's creators has even come out with a box that can limit BitTorrent use so networks stay uncongested for other uses.
Navin has made it his job to fight the "bad" image of BitTorrent. "We've come farther than I thought we would at this point," he says. "The technology has merit, and if we give people ways it can be a benefit, deals get done."
The movie industry has shifted from fighting BitTorrent to embracing it as a technology that can allow it to efficiently sell downloads of movies. Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, and others have deals with BitTorrent. More recently, BitTorrent is powering movies on News Corp.'s MySpace TV.
Navin argues that BitTorrent doesn't build an index of available files, a la file-sharing services that have gotten whacked because they enable infringement. It's simply a technology that breaks up a giant file - like a movie - into tiny pieces and relies on users' computers to forward them around the Internet until they arrive at their destination.
Navin notes that if his technology allows soldiers in Iraq to keep up with episodes of "Lost" or lets Chinese news videographers get around state controls - that must be good.
He says he's got the best collection of P2P engineers in the world - 34 of them in San Francisco, CA. Content owners that want to ship video around would do better to license BitTorrent than try to build it themselves.
BitTorrent's client has been downloaded 180 million times, Navin says. It has about 40-to-45 million users a month.
His next business target is the videogame industry.
BitTorrent should allow consumers to download games more efficiently than they can now. He says a videogame company could see a 90-to-95% reduction in the server power it needs to distribute games online if it uses BitTorrent.
Peer-to-Peer Television - P2PTV
Excerpted from WorldTVRadio Report
There are several definitions of P2P network structure, but many of them talk only about the dark side of P2P. A P2P network is and should be understood as more than a means of allowing the unauthorized transfer of copies of movies, music, etc.
In a pure P2P structure, every user connected to the network becomes a broadcaster by sharing his/her own resources and bandwidth with other connected users.
This kind of service works better when more users are online, (the more the better). On the contrary, conventional server-based streams work better with fewer users connected at the same time (the less the better).
P2P is also a way to share resources to reach a common goal such as P2PTV, which is highly attractive when the channel broadcast is freely available (not encrypted) and can be tuned-in using a conventional TV set or decoded by an untempered cable or satellite receiver.
There are, however, copyrights and intellectual property rights that should be considered before joining a P2P network.
TV producers are looking at this technology as a mean to offer their content online at low cost; remember that Internet streaming providers charge by consumed bandwidth or simultaneous number of users connected at the same time or a combination of both.
P2PTV will help to reduce those costs dramatically because every user watching the stream is at the same time sharing his/her own resources making it cheaper and (at least theoretically) with unlimited reach to broadcast the content online.
The "pros" of P2PTV include the facts that broadcasting P2PTV is cheaper than conventional alternatives, and a larger number of simultaneous users can be served with fewer resources.
The "cons" of P2PTV include the facts that every user is a re-broadcaster, so nodes with dial-up connections or slow computers can affect negatively speed and quality (same case if an uplink or downlink point become saturated or unstable); and broadcasters may lose control over their streams, such as the number of viewers, regions where their content is available, and statistics.
In order to diminish the impact of these issues, broadcasters can use a hybrid solution, with several servers acting as nodes and load balancers, redirecting users as required and controlling access to streams.
Joost is based on P2PTV technology and delivers high-quality on-demand video. Joost is a combination of television, good content, great picture and sound quality, an easy-to-use interface, and, of course, using the power of the Internet. It was in beta mode until March 2008 and is now open to the public.
What is Joost? It's video - 28,000 shows and 4,000 channels (as of today), with more added every day. It's music - more than 50 channels dedicated to musical videos, hip-hop, rap, urban, jazz, cross-over, etc. It's online - you only need a high-speed Internet connection. Best of all, Joost is free.
Joost's main screen uses graphic menus and transparent buttons. Joost is going to be a leader in P2PTV and, for now, looks very promising.
TvAnts P2P streaming media acceleration engine is also based on P2P technology. Its main modules include: signal acquisition, coding, programming and publishing, network acceleration, client link player, and various other modules that aim to optimize and achieve a lower server load and improve the user experience.
TvAnts streaming media acceleration engine supports tens of thousands of people and has fully proven the superiority of its technology and reliability.
Most channels on TvAnts are provided and shared by users, so the availability and reliability of a channel depends on its popularity. End-users can add their own channels to the platform, because TvAnts includes client and server modules.
Launching a channel is as easy as double-clicking on its name, and you can open an unlimited number of channels at the same time.
This Fall's TV Shows: Now on P2P Networks
Excerpted from NewTeeVee Report
This summer's TV season has barely started, but net-savvy TV fans are already downloading pilots of shows slated to premiere this fall. A whole bunch of pilots have found their way onto torrent sites in recent days, and file sharers are having heated debates about shows that in some cases still go by their working titles. As always, the sources of the leaks are unknown, but one can suspect that at least some of the shows received some inside help.
Of course, leaks like these are unfortunate if a show has been running into trouble during production. The pilot for ABC's remake of the UK crime drama "Life on Mars" was shot in Los Angeles, CA, but ABC decided to relocate the whole show and re-shoot in New York, NY. The LA pilot still found its way online where it got less than stellar reviews. Other shows are doing far better online, which could help them to build a fan base ahead of the fall TV season.
So what can we expect coming this fall, and what are file sharers thinking about these shows?
Here's a quick overview of pilots that are already available online, complete with a quick show summary and some candid commentary.
"Do Not Disturb" aka "The Inn." The title of this "hilarious workplace comedy set at one of New York City's hottest and hippest hotels" is not set in stone yet. FOX wants to premiere the show this fall and got Jason Bateman to direct the pilot, which leaked on 6/20. File sharers didn't think it was all that funny. Their brutal verdict: "Early cancellation."
"Fringe." A new Sci-Fi show from J.J. Abrams that will premiere 9/9 on FOX. The pilot for the show leaked on 6/14, and the web has been buzzing ever since, with one P2P user proclaiming: "Looks very promising! Another Supernatural!"
"Leverage." An upcoming TNT show that "follows a team of thieves, hackers, and grifters who act as modern-day Robin Hoods," says the network's website, which doesn't provide any air-date yet. Leverage's pilot leaked on 6/23 and got lots of compliments from file sharers - compliments that read like this: "OMFG I'm sooo excited."
"Life on Mars." ABC's attempt to copy the BBC's success of a crime drama with the same title. The premiere is planned for this fall, the pilot leaked on 6/18, and the verdict is already in: "Fail."
"Pretty Handsome." An upcoming FX show about a family guy who discovers that he is transsexual. The network hasn't said anything about when it will air, but the pilot leaked on 6/20 and got some homophobic reactions from file sharers. Others disagreed: "Screw the rest of you, this looks awesome."
"Raising the Bar." The show "follows the lives and cases of young lawyers who have been friends since law school," according to TNT, where it premieres this September. The pilot leaked on 6/21, but the P2P world remains skeptical. Says one file sharer: "Just what we need, another legal drama."
"True Blood." HBO's new fall drama "tells the story of a group of vampires who settle in a small town in Louisiana", according to HBO, and is scheduled to premiere on 9/7. The True Blood pilot leaked on the 6/16 and didn't bode so well with file sharers. Says one: "Southern does not equal brain-dead hillbilly. Terrible show."
Stream Japanese TV with KeyHole TV & TVUPlayer
Excerpted from Quechuafee Report
KeyHoleTV (KHTV) is a Windows and Linux P2PTV application that broadcasts all the regular Japanese TV channels (with the exception of NHK) and the occasional American channel, webcam, etc. With this program, you can stream Japanese channels in real-time.
The program is simple and self-explanatory. To watch a channel, double-click the channel you want under the Program tab and you are set. The viewing screen may be resized by double-clicking on the screen, which opens up a separate window.
Another option for watching these channels is through TVUPlayer, another P2PTV application.
The quality seems to be better than KHTV. The channels available include Fuji TV, NTV, TV Asahi, TBS, and several other Japanese stations. To find the channels, sort the channel list by language or scroll down and find them by number.
Happy watching!
Japanese ISPs Bring in Capping
Excerpted from IT Examiner Report by Dave Murray
Japan, which has always been proud of providing Internet bandwidth much higher and faster than the rest of the world, is considering capping for the first time.
While telcos in the United States take heat for considering bandwidth caps, Japan has been incredibly reluctant to do so because of the competition to provide higher speed links.
However OCN, operated by NTT Communications, will limit downloads to 30 gigabytes daily. Downloads will remain unlimited on NTT's 100Mbps fibre-optic connections.
The limits are huge by anyone's standards, and even heavy P2P users would be hard pressed to reach them.
In comparison, Time Warner recently began testing metered service in Beaumont, TX, with downloads of 40 gigabytes a month costing $55, and $1 a gigabyte for going over.
However it is a mindset which indicates that even in wide-bandwidth Japan, ISPs are starting to feel the pinch of heavy usage.
Internet Gridlock
Excerpted from MIT Technology Review by Larry Hardesty
ISPs and P2P networks are not natural antagonists. A BitTorrent download may use a lot of bandwidth, but it uses it much more efficiently than a traditional download does; that's why it's so fast. In principle, P2P protocols could help distribute server load across a network, eliminating bottle necks.
The problem, says Mung Chiang, an Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering at Princeton University and a member of last year's TR35, is the mutual ignorance that ISPs and P2P networks have maintained in the name of network neutrality.
ISPs don't just rely on the transmission control protocol (TCP) to handle congestion. They actively manage their networks, identifying clogged links and routing traffic around them. At the same time, computers running BitTorrent are constantly searching for new peers that can upload data more rapidly and dropping peers whose transmissions have become sluggish.
The problem, according to Chiang, is that P2P networks respond to congestion much faster than ISPs do. If a bunch of computers running P2P programs are sending traffic over the same link, they may all see their downloads slow down, so they'll go looking for new peers.
By the time the ISP decides to route around the congested link, the P2P traffic may have moved elsewhere: the ISP has effectively sealed off a wide-open pipe. Even worse, its new routing plan might end-up sending traffic over links that have since become congested.
But, Chiang says, "Suppose the network operator tells the content distributor something about its network: the route I'm using, the metric I'm using, the way I'm updating my routes. Or the other way around: the content distributor says something about the way it treats servers or selects peers." Network efficiency improves.
An industry consortium called the P4P Working Group (P4PWG) - led by Verizon and the New York, NY P2P company Pando - is exploring just such a possibility. Verizon and Pando have tested a protocol called P4P, created by Haiyong Xie, a PhD student in computer science at Yale University.
With P4P, both ISPs and P2P networks supply abstract information about their network layouts to a central computer, which blends the information to produce a new, hybridized network map. P2P networks can use the map to avoid bottlenecks.
In the trial, the P4P system let Verizon customers using the FiOS fiber-optic-cable service and the Pando P2P network download files three to seven times as quickly as they could have otherwise, says Laird Popkin, Pando's Chief Technology Officer (CTO). To some extent, that was because the protocol was better at finding peers that were part of Verizon's network, as opposed to some remote network.
Every technical attempt to defeat congestion eventually runs up against the principle of net neutrality, however.
Even though BitTorrent is a core member of the P4PWG, its Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Eric Klinker, remains leery of the idea that P2P networks and ISPs would share information. He worries that a protocol like P4P could allow an ISP to misrepresent its network topology in an attempt to keep traffic local, so it doesn't have to pay access fees to send traffic across other networks.
David Clark, a senior research scientist at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, has proposed that ISPs simply charge their customers according to usage; but that, too, could threaten neutrality. As Mung Chiang points out, an ISP that also sold TV service could tier its charges so that customers who watched a lot of high-definition (HD) Internet TV would always end-up paying more than they would have for cable subscriptions. So the question that looms over every discussion of congestion and neutrality is, "Does the government need to intervene to ensure that everyone plays fair?"
For all Klinker's concerns about P4P, BitTorrent seems to have concluded that it doesn't. In February, Klinker had joined representatives of Vuze and several activist groups in a public endorsement of net neutrality legislation proposed by Massachusetts congressman Ed Markey.
At the end of March, however, after FCC hearings on broadband network management practices, BitTorrent and Comcast issued a joint press release announcing that they would collaborate to develop methods of peer selection that reduce congestion.
Comcast would take a "protocol-agnostic" approach to congestion management - targeting only heavy bandwidth users, not particular applications - and would increase the amount of bandwidth available to its customers for uploads. BitTorrent, meanwhile, agreed that "these technical issues can be worked out through private business discussions without the need for government intervention."
The FCC, says Clark, "will do something, there's no doubt, if industry does not resolve the current impasse." But, he adds, "it's possible that the middle-of-the-road answer here is that vigilance from the regulators will impose a discipline on the market that will cause the market to find the solution."
That would be welcome news to Chiang. "Often, government legislation is done by people who may not know technology that well," he says, "and therefore they tend to ignore some of the feasibility and realities of the technology."
But Timothy Wu, a Columbia Law School professor who's generally credited with coining the term "network neutrality," believes that net neutrality regulations could be written at a level of generality that imposes no innovation-killing restrictions on the market, while still giving the FCC latitude to punish transgressors.
There's ample precedent, he says, for broad proscriptions that federal agencies interpret on a case-by-case basis. "In employment law, we have a general rule that says you shouldn't discriminate, but in reality we have the fact that you aren't allowed to discriminate unless you have a good reason," he says. "Maybe somebody has to speak Arabic to be a spy. But saying you have to be white to serve food is not the same thing."
Ultimately, however, "the Internet's problems have always been best solved collectively, through its long history," Wu says. "It's held together by people being reasonable... reasonable and part of a giant community."
Please click here for the full report.
Battle of the Network CTOs
Excerpted from The Viodi View Report by Ken Pyle
Actually, the discourse among Mark Wegleitner, Chris Rice, and Pieter Poll of Verizon, AT&T, and Qwest, respectively, was quite civil, although the approaches each of these companies is taking to provide video and deploy its network is quite different.
A common theme of Wegleitner and Rice was that service is about executing and building upon the video platforms they already have. Rice suggested that many of the technical issues are behind them, and now it is about internal cultural issues and ensuring that they train enough technicians fast enough to meet demand.
Poll suggested that Qwest is betting on the Internet for delivery of video, although he indicated that Qwest also has a great relationship with DirecTV. He pointed out that young people are less interested in linear television and want on-demand content. Qwest has focused on Metro Ethernet and ensuring quality of service (QoS), so that they can do a better job of delivering over-the-top video.
Similarly, Wegleitner acknowledged the challenge of the backbone and described what they are doing with the Distributed Computing Industry Association (DCIA) to use P2P technology to make for a more efficient network.
All three speakers stressed the importance of being able to manage bandwidth and devices in the home. The home network was termed, "the final frontier," by Rice.
According to Wegleitner, Verizon has 3.7 million units of consumer premise equipment (CPE) under management today. Poll said that TR 69 is a start as far as remote management and suggested that the future is the interaction of smart home networking with a smart network. According to Poll, telcos need to take advantage of their position as a trusted entity if they are going to be successful in the home network.
Rice pointed out that home networking also has potential for reducing energy consumption by enabling new efficiency through remote control of appliances, etc.
AT&T is pushing for Uverse to be the first energy-star rated communications service, while Verizon has a goal of 20% improvement in energy efficiency in their equipment. Along these lines, Poll indicated that thin-client "cloud computing" uses less energy than a traditional PC on every desk.
In the end, these three technologists had more in common than not in terms of what the challenges and opportunities are. Interestingly, the networks they are deploying to meet those opportunities continue to grow further apart.
CE Firms & ISPs to Provide Home Servers
Excerpted from EE Times Report by Rick Merritt
The home server is poised for significant growth, but consumer electronics (CE) not PC companies will be the big winners in this emerging product category, according to a new market research study.
The Windows Home Server, co-developed by Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard (HP), initially will gain acceptance from a small group of enthusiasts. But long term, consumer companies will dominate this area with more user-friendly products, according to Ted Theocheung, a senior analyst with The Diffusion Group of Dallas, TX and author of a new report on the topic.
Analysts have long predicted the rise of a category of systems that store and forward pictures, video, and data for home networks and act as home automation hubs. To date, the product concept has not materialized, but that's about to change, according to Theocheung who forecasts home server shipments rising from 1.2 million this year to 90 million in 2015.
"Our philosophy is early adopter enthusiasts are turning to PC-based systems, but the CE devices will bring home servers to the mainstream," said Theocheung.
A product from LaCie called the Ethernet Disk Mini Home Edition is an example of smart storage appliances that are the first-generation consumer systems, he said. Sony and 2Wire showed at CES in January more advanced versions of such products, in Sony's case sporting a hefty $3,500 price tag.
"The opportunity to bring this to the mainstream comes when such devices come in at less than $500," he said.
Theocheung warned that the current Windows Home Server, based on Windows Server 2003, has reported bugs that can create problems dealing with digital media in configurations with multiple hard disk drives. An updated version is expected in July, and companies including Fujitsu-Siemens and Gateway are expected to roll-out systems based on it.
The market analyst said a new wave of home servers from CE companies will hit in 2010 that challenge the PC products. By 2012 the CE devices will make significant strides against the PC models.
Ultimately Internet service providers (ISPs) will become a main conduit for providing the CE systems, outpacing retail sales of PC-based systems, Theocheung said. "Privacy may be an issue, but given the value proposition of service providers leasing these systems for perhaps an extra $5 a month, it's a manageable problem," he said.
Cox Fulfills Customers' Need for Speed
Excerpted from SmartBrief Report
Cox Communications announced June 24th it is bumping up the speeds of its Internet service for subscribers, allowing faster downloads and uploads.
For customers with Cox's Preferred service, downloads will move from 7 megabytes per second (mbps) to 9 mbps, with upload speeds increasing from 512 kilobytes per second (kbps)to 768 kbps.
Those speeds are being increased with the help of the company's PowerBoost technology, maxing out at 12 mbps download speed and 1 mbps upload speed for the lower-priced offering.
For the higher-cost Premier service, customers will get 15 mbps with bursts of up to 20 mbps for download speeds with uploads starting at 1.5 mbps and capable of bursts up to 2 mbps.
The additional speed comes with no additional cost to subscribers.
The move comes about two months after competitor Qwest Communications announced it was putting in infrastructure to increase its download speeds to 12 mbps for its lower-cost service and 20 mbps for its higher-cost service.
Cox officials said the move comes in recognition that customers are using the speeds to access larger files such as video and music.
Mobile Operators Urged to Turn P2P to Their Advantage
Excerpted from TelecomTV Report by Ian Scales
Mention P2P file transfer at a mobile operator gathering and you'll set off a ripple of lip curling and angry muttering. But it's a gut response that needs a careful re-evaluation, according to a recent report published by Pioneer Consulting.
Pioneer cites some big numbers extrapolated from estimates of mobile-content-worth by 2012 and concludes that $16.4 billion in revenues might be at risk from users bypassing the mobile content value chain and swapping files on a P2P basis, especially among close peer groups and family members.
Of course, with next generation Bluetooth (which uses WiFi as a bearer for large files, where it's available on both devices), the ease with which content can be shared is greatly increased. And with increasingly "friendly" user interfaces on mobile devices - like those on the iPhone - users are bound to share more content, such as user-generated photographs and videos - and copyrighted music and video - on a whim.
According to the report's authors, "P2P is generally treated with contempt by operators and has now become the 'P' word that should never be uttered. It is more of an attitude problem rather than an engineering one, and unless operators wake up to the reality of the situation, we cannot even begin to solve the problem."
"The report is yet another cry for operators to think with the grain of technology and the way users want to use it, rather than simply trying to stand against P2P as commercially and technologically disruptive."
"Mobile operators need to embrace P2P methodologies within their own networks and focus on the advantages of using both assisted-P2P and augmented-P2P to mitigate the disruption."
"The bottom line, of course, is that treating P2P as a problem to be squashed ultimately won't work because users will continue to do it one way or the other."
Network operators need to build their networks and business models around that simple fact.
Obama's Steady Lead on the Web
Excerpted from MediaPost Report
Early polls indicate that Barack Obama's lead over John McCain is slight, but on the web, Business Week says the Illinois Senator's lead may be insurmountable.
Whereas Republicans have focused on using traditional media to reach voters, the Democrats have embraced social media to help disseminate information.
For example, Senator Obama has grabbed almost 1.5 million "friends" on MySpace and Facebook; he even has 850,000 friends on his own social network MyBarackObama.com. McCain, meanwhile, has just 203,348 supporters across the web's top two social networks, according to web strategy tracking firm TechPresident.
"The Republicans have had some success online, but not to the degree the Democrats have and certainly not to the degree the Obama campaign has," says Andrew Rasiej, Co-Founder of TechPresident.
As such, Obama has raised more than $200 million for his campaign through donations over the web.
"There is now a recognition with the leaders of the party that, though they might not totally understand online, the Internet matters, and it is an area that we need to participate in," says Austin Walne, the former E-campaign Co-Director for Senator Fred Thompson (R-TN), who withdrew from the race earlier this year.
A Scholarly Look at the "Making Available" Dispute
Excerpted from Wired News Report by David Kravets
Wired has been writing heavily about the concept of "making available" as it applies to P2P copyright infringement.
At issue is whether the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which has sued more than 20,000 persons, can win a lawsuit by demonstrating that somebody was "making available" the industry's copyrighted works on a file-sharing program.
Hollywood says "yes" because it's impossible to prove that the public is downloading songs on P2P networks.
Digital rights groups and others, however, said the Copyright Act, which carries as much as $150,000 in fines per violation, requires proof of actual distribution to the public. It's a contested issue playing itself out in courtrooms across the United States, with conflicting results.
Here is a scholarly paper on the topic, written by Draeke Weseman, a third-year law student at William Mitchell College of Law. Among other things, the Copyright Act of 1976 fails to address adequately the digital age, he writes.
"My concern is that Congress was in fact not successful at preventing future shock within at least one specific area: digital distribution. I am concerned that Congress, blinded by the foreseeable age of digital reproduction technology then arriving, failed to accommodate the age of digital distribution technology just beyond the horizon," Weseman writes in Future Shock and the Copyright Act of 1976: Is Merely Making a Copyrighted Work Available for Digital Transmission a Violation of § 106(3)?
"Now, having technologically arrived at that horizon, the courts are left scrambling to adjudicate allegations of copyright infringement through digital distribution systems without adequate Congressional guidance. The most glaring example of the future shock phenomenon in copyright law arises in the recent litigation carried out by members of the recording industry against individual P2P users."
Coming Events of Interest
P2P MEDIA SUMMIT SV - August 4th in San Jose, CA. The first-ever P2P MEDIA SUMMIT in Silicon Valley. Featuring keynotes from industry-leading P2P and social network operators; tracks on policy, technology and marketing; panel discussions covering content distribution and solutions development; valuable workshops; networking opportunities; and more.
Building Blocks 2008 - August 5th-7th in San Jose, CA. The premier event for transforming entertainment, consumer electronics, social media & web application technologies & the global communications network: TV, cable, telco, consumer electronics, mobile, broadband, search, games and the digital home. The DCIA will conduct a P2P session.
International Broadcasting Convention - September 11th-16th in Amsterdam, Holland. IBC is committed to providing the world's best event for everyone involved in the creation, management, and delivery of content for the entertainment industry. Uniquely, the key executives and committees who control the convention are drawn from the industry, bringing with them experience and expertise in all aspects.
Streaming Media West - September 23rd-25th in San Jose, CA. The only show that covers both the business of online video and the technology of P2PTV, streaming, downloading, webcasting, Internet TV, IPTV, and mobile video. Covering both corporate and consumer business, technology, and content issues in the enterprise, advertising, media and entertainment, broadcast, and education markets. The DCIA will conduct a P2P session.
P2P MEDIA SUMMIT LV - January 7th in Las Vegas, NV. This is the DCIA's must-attend event for everyone interested in monetizing content using P2P and related technologies. Keynotes, panels, and workshops on the latest breakthroughs. This DCIA flagship event is a Conference within CES - the Consumer Electronics Show.
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