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P2P Networks Classifieds

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PCQ Bureau
New Update

The P2P space can be classified into three categories based on the anatomy of

the network and application. These are collaborative computing, instant

messaging and affinity groups. Collaborative computing is also referred to as

distributed computing and its biggest and most successful example is the Seti@Home

project. Another is Fight AIDS at Home from Entropia. We all know about instant

messaging and regularly use MSN, ICQ and Yahoo instant messengers. The hottest

P2P applications in use today are the affinity groups like (erstwhile) Napster,

Kaaza and Gnutella file-sharing networks. They are extensively used for music,

movies and software sharing. Then there are the less well known

workspace-sharing applications, like Groove, which also fall in this

category. 

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Kazaa is one of the hottest P2P apps in use today

While on one side, P2P technology puts unused and idle resources to

constructive use, problems abound about the usage of such a network to trade

software and multimedia content. In a corporate environment, the problem with

implementing it is the lack of central control. Plus, there can also be security

issues when individual desktops directly connect to each other. 

These debates apart, let us look at the P2P applications as they exist now.

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Collaboration 



Seti@Home




Though the founding document for SETI was first published in 1959, it was

not until the Internet got established as an effective medium to connect

computers, that the Seti@ Home project came into being. Again, though the idea

of using idle computing power of individual computers around the globe

originated in 1996, it wasn’t until May 1999, that the software actually

started its work. As of this day, it has around 3.8 million users and they have

contributed a total of a little over a million years of CPU time to the project!

The SETI@ home is yet to find intelligent life elsewhere in the universe. But

the enormous amount of computing power expended on the project would not have

been possible had it not been for this collaborative computing effort.

You, too, can participate in the effort. The only thing you have to do is to

install the client (available for different platforms and OSs) and run it. The

client automatically downloads data units, processes them in the idle CPU time

and sends them back to the project base at University of Berkeley.

Fight Aids at Home



A similar distributed-computing project is Fight AIDS at Home (FAAH) from

Entropia. Entropia is also running two more grid-computing projects–SaferMarkets

and a non-profit research–but FAAH accounts for 80 percent of the whole grid.

The FAAH project has a little over 50,000 machines running across the globe.

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The Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search



Another similar project is The Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search (GIMPS).

This runs computations for one of the most coveted finds in all of

mathematics–a new Mersenne prime number. The task is again very CPU intensive.

This computing community was also created by Entropia in 1997 and is hosted by

the Internet PrimeNet Server (Entropia’s). The total computing power of the

grid is currently equivalent to 69 of Cray’s most powerful T932

supercomputers! These distributed computing clients are also available for

download and work in a similar manner as Seti@Home.

Messaging



Instant messaging is another widely used P2P application–MSN, AOL, ICQ,

Yahoo and loads of others–that we use everyday. These messengers work in

coordination with a central server. The server is, however, used to perform the

task of authenticating a client to the network, storing buddy lists and making

the first contact between two clients. Once a connection is established, two

client applications talk to each other directly, though you also have the option

of using the server to send messages. Instant messengers come with a lot of

features that we overlook. We think of them as only text-messaging windows.

Take MSN Messenger. With it you can do message conferencing, application

sharing, white boarding, transfer of files. It even allows you to make phone

calls. Application sharing allows both interacting parties to work on an appli-

cation together. White-boarding works like a virtual white board on which the

interacting parties can write or draw.

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There are also private messengers. They consist of a server and a client part

that a corporate can buy and install for its network. This can then be used for

similar functions as public messengers within the organization. These private

messengers offer better security and encryption features, apart from local

manageability.

Affinity groups



Popularized by file-swapping programs, this area of P2P consists of lots of

applications, the most popular being Kazaa and Napster. Though propounded by

their creators as ‘efficient usage of your available bandwidth’, these are

sadly turning out to be platforms for illegal file swapping. Moreover, they are

becoming bandwidth hogs. Music companies have been on the forefront of the

trying to close these file-sharing networks down. The latest in the field to

dissuade users from illegitimate music file downloads is a company by the name

of OverPeer. They upload dummy music files to these P2P networks (files with a

chord or chorus in a loop instead of a track).

But fileswapping is not what affinity groups are all about. Collaborative

groups (also called P2P Groupware) can be public or private corporate groups

that work on a common application. Two such well-known applications are

Microsoft NetMeeting and Groove. These are what are called workspace-sharing

applications. In NetMeeting, for instance, individual users can host conferences

and invite others to them. Users in a conference can share their applications.

Other users get windows that have visualizations of the shared applications.

Groove uses a slightly different approach. Here you have workspaces that are

created and shared among participating users. It uses a client-server mechanism

to find peers and initiate services. After that, all communication happens

directly between the participating peers.

Ashish Sharma

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