Peer to Peer

(c) David Strom Inc. 2001 1

Peer to Peer

David Strom, david@strom.com

PC Expo/ eBiz presentations

June 2001

(c) David Strom Inc. 2001 2

Summary

• What is P2P?

• Learning from Napster, Groove

• Business models

• Motivations for using P2P

• Technology examples

• Corporate strategies

(c) David Strom Inc. 2001 3

What is P2P?

• Sharing computing resources, such as files, CPU cycles, and applications

• Apps are both server and client on a distributed network

• Makes some use of Internet protocols/standards

(c) David Strom Inc. 2001 4

Examples of P2P technologies

• Simplest example is Windows/Mac built-in file sharing: remember WfW?

• Napster/Gnutella/Aimster/etc.

• Chat products like ICQ, AIM, Bantu, OMNI, etc.

(c) David Strom Inc. 2001 5

Other examples

• Seti@Home (search for ET)• Globus.org (distributed science)• McAfee ASAP (anti-virus protection)• Lightshare (desktop auctions) • Groove Networks (P2P Notes)• Uroam (remote access)• Roku, VxPort (file sharing) • OpenCola (info collection)

(c) David Strom Inc. 2001 6

How does P2P leverage the existing Internet infrastructure?

• Builds on ftp, http, etc. so can pass information freely through routers and firewalls

• Doesn’t require new domain name services or other authentication processes

• May make use of email and chat protocols as well• No specialized knowledge to setup new servers

and services• No network administrators and other IT resources

involved

(c) David Strom Inc. 2001 7

What is Napster?

• Easy to share digital music files

• Uses http and ftp protocols

• Each user's PC acts as client and server

• It creates a community of users with common goals and interests

• It builds upon P2P services to increase the overall value of the system

(c) David Strom Inc. 2001 8

How did we obtain music before?

• Go to record store

• Deal with surly underaged clerks

• Try to find the right CD

• Take it home, play on our stereos

(c) David Strom Inc. 2001 9

Enter MP3 downloads

• Locate an ftp server with music on it

• Try to connect to the server (often busy)

• Upload a few songs first

• Then hopefully find the right song and download it

• And much more work to host your own music ftp server!

(c) David Strom Inc. 2001 10

Problems with the old method

• ftp sites often busy

• Had to learn the ins and outs of ftp client software

• Uploading requirement was onerous

• Search tools crude, could often only find ftp sites, not songs

• Setting up servers painful too.

(c) David Strom Inc. 2001 11

Shirky’s list of lessons learned from Napster

• Centralize what you need to make your business model work

• A poor user interface isn’t an issue, especially if people can still get things done

• It routes around network admins/firewalls

• It allows people to create their own namespaces without specialized knowledge

(c) David Strom Inc. 2001 12

How do you share info now?

• Mydocsonline or similar “Internet hard disk”

• PGP secure email, maybe

• Yahoo Calendars or similar

• WebAddressBook.com

• Maybe even a web-based Office suite like TeamOn, FreeDesk or Blox

(c) David Strom Inc. 2001 13

Problems

• Motley collection difficult to manage• Not everyone is willing to work with

multiple tools• Authentication is difficult – multiple logins• Still need to download lots of software,

despite “100 % browser” emphasis• Tiresome email exchanges of documents• Security by obscurity

(c) David Strom Inc. 2001 14

Enter Groove Networks

• Authentication is always on• Different workspaces for different collections

of people• Setup is easy• No browser, email file swapping needed• Supports a wide variety of tools and

information sharing models• Great for sharing files between home and work

PCs

(c) David Strom Inc. 2001 15

How distributed does your network have to be?

• Napster: central server to authenticate and track users

• Gnutella: everything is distributed

• Aimster: uses AOL IM directory to authenticate/track users

(c) David Strom Inc. 2001 16

What business models make sense?

• Advertising

• User charges

• Corporate site licenses

• Core technology licenses

• ISP/ASP volume purchases

(c) David Strom Inc. 2001 17

Dale Dougherty’s thoughts on business models

“All the P2P players are hoping that their research leads them to establish a new way of doing things. At that point, the winner will be obvious and the business model will be crystal clear.”

(c) David Strom Inc. 2001 18

Signs that P2p is maturing

• Porn industry file swapping services (PornDigger, PORN.com)

• Already seeing downside articles in the press

(c) David Strom Inc. 2001 19

Motivations for implementing P2P

• Add intelligence to network edge devices

• Convenience and control

• Altruism

• Free up bandwidth

(c) David Strom Inc. 2001 20

Motivations: the network edge

• Right now network edge devices are underused or dumb when it comes to working with the network fabric itself

• P2P adds intelligence, increased utilization at the edge

• Makes it easier for people to get more work done, just like c. 1981 PCs

(c) David Strom Inc. 2001 21

Controlling your own network destiny

• Ask your IT department for the capability to have real-time conversations with Internet users directly from your PC, that you wanted this set up within the hour, and that you had no budget for it.

• Now imagine being laughed out of the room. (from Shirky)

(c) David Strom Inc. 2001 22

Advantages of ICQ

• No need for setting up IP addresses, DNS configuration, firewall rules, web server hosting co-location agreements, IT policy pronouncements, lengthy approvals up the IT command structure, IT R&D review, IT rollouts, …

• Do you detect a pattern here?

(c) David Strom Inc. 2001 23

Motivations: convenience and control

• Stress-testing web sites over the Internet, from Exodus/United Devices

• Shared-processing model frees up resources in their test lab for other projects, also provides more realism for test scenarios

(c) David Strom Inc. 2001 24

Motivations: altruism

“My goal was to harness wasted CPU cycles that to me were just warming the air. I also liked the fact that I would be participating in an interesting community and doing some good science." -- SETI user

(c) David Strom Inc. 2001 25

Motivations: bandwidth

• McAfee ASAP uses P2P to download virus pattern files from local users, saving on wide-area connections

• The more you distribute the network, the less bandwidth you need from any centralized locations

(c) David Strom Inc. 2001 26

Drawbacks to P2P

• Security loopholes

• Loss of control over desktop activities

• Some companies don’t like to share and play with others

(c) David Strom Inc. 2001 27

Corporate strategies

• Download and try Napster or uRoam• Compare with downloading music or

PC/Anywhere for functionality• Examine your own programs for file transfer

components that could benefit from peering• Examine whether you can benefit from shared

processing models • Setup a trial Groove workgroup and project team

(c) David Strom Inc. 2001 28

Places for more information

• O’Reilly P2P conference: www.openP2P.com/pub/a/P2P/conference/

• My review of Groove: strom.com/pubwork/varbiz.html