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What is Peer2Peer? |
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One of the hot new technology topics in today's news is Peer2Peer computing. Like many technologies being hyped, Peer2Peer networking is not a new creation resulting from the Internet - it is a revitalized technology.
Peer2Peer networking enables direct communication or sharing of information between individual users (or more specifically, their computers). The power of Peer2Peer is its ability to harness the power or data of a large number of decentralized computers, thereby providing capabilities that would be difficult, expensive, or time-consuming on a single large computer. Its benefits are direct access to information and the decentralization of information and computing resources. This results in a bonanza for freely available information. Today's two most visible peer2peer networking applications are Napster and SETI.
Napster is a web site that allows members to catalog and share music residing on their hard drive. People interested in specific music tracks can review the catalogs, and then directly download the information (music tracks) from the other members' computers. The act of directly accessing and downloading a member's music is what is considered Peer2Peer. Napster, by providing an early Internet Peer2Peer application has also faced one of the biggest questions that Peer2Peer networking exposes. Do the end users have the right to share the information on their hard drive with others?
SETI, or the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, is a scientific effort whose aim is to determine if there is intelligent life out in the universe. SETI, rather than sharing files, is sharing unused computer processing capabilities. SETI scientific teams need vast computing resources to scour radio and light signals received from all over the universe. The search aims to identify signals that may be created by other life forms and separate them from naturally occurring ones.
SETI@home is one of the SETI projects. SETI@home allows anyone with a computer and an Internet connection to take part in the search. By using the computer while the owner is not actively on the system, the SETI@home screensaver is able to search for extraterrestrial signals. The SETI team developed an ingenious system that breaks down the immense task of searching through all the billions of signals: Instead of needing an extremely large single computer, they can use a large number of smaller computers working in parallel. This dramatically reduces the cost of the project. SETI has created a screen saver that is connected to the Internet. Millions of PC's located around the world retrieve data from the SETI site, perform the calculations, and send their results back to SETI. The benefit to the users who join this project is knowledge (and excitement) that their computer might be the one to discover intelligent extraterrestrial life.
In the corporate environment Peer2Peer networking runs into issues of defining appropriateness of applications, security and management. Peer2Peer is proposed by its advocates for use in collaboration applications. One idea is that teams of people can work directly with each other, letting the Peer2Peer application automatically update documents on the users' hard drives. Security, however, becomes the major issue. When end users directly access and transfer information from (and to) another end-user's computer, integrity must be ensured, access must be controlled, and only appropriate information must be handled. The Peer2Peer applications must be managed so that only desired updates are made. For example, if a user changes a document, once the change is propagated out to their teammates, it may be difficult to retract it (to return to the previous version.)
Most Information Technology (IT) departments try to reduce their costs and improve management of resources by centralizing applications. This is contrary to the benefits touted for Peer2Peer since a decentralized application can potentially cause more expenses since management may require more IT resources.
Currently, without Peer2Peer applications, employees are able send, receive, and share documents. The architecture relies on a hierarchy of servers and clients. Companies like Lotus have built sophisticated collaboration tools that will not be replaced in the near future by Peer2Peer versions. Local servers and e-mail are quite successfully handling candidate corporate applications.
Applications that lend themselves to Peer2Peer models (such as SETI) are far and few between. They are primarily found in basic research rather than in corporate needs. The few corporate possibilities include genetic sequence searches (looking for the purpose of each gene), fluid flows (modeling how an airplane would fly), and modeling interactions of millions of molecules (to find how a drug might work). Commercialization of this type of application is not likely. Similarly Peer2Peer networking for information sharing has more applicability in the consumer market place where data control and management needs are lighter. Until security and control of ownership rights are sorted out, Peer2Peer networking will remain an interesting technology with limited corporate adoption.