[IP] Company Releases Real World Data on File Sharing
Begin forwarded message:
From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: July 16, 2004 6:17:42 PM EDT
To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <dewayne-net@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Company Releases Real World Data on File Sharing
Reply-To: dewayne@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[Note: I posted a story on the CacheLogic story earlier. This story
gives more detailed information then anything else that I've seen.
Here's a pointer to the press release of CacheLogic on the study:
<http://www.cachelogic.com/news/pr040715.php>. I haven't been able to
find a copy of the study on-line. If I do, I'll post a pointer to it.
This item is worth reading, especially to see the traffic numbers. P2P
filesharing appears to be THE killer app for the NET. DLH]
Company Releases Real World Data on File Sharing
If you want to find out what's happening, just connect to the net.
That's what CacheLogic did: it measured P2P file sharing in six
Internet hubs around the world.
by Alex Goldman
ISP-Planet Managing Editor
[July 16, 2004]
<http://www.isp-planet.com/research/2004/cachelogic_data.html>
Privacy advocates say P2P file sharing increases music sales and helps
the industry gain exposure for new artists. The RIAA says that P2P file
sharing is theft, occurs largely on college campuses where it harms
networks built for education, and harms record companies.
CacheLogic says none of the above, only that P2P file sharing is
growing as both legitimate and illegitimate use explode. The company
points to the widespread availability of Red Hat Linux's Fedora product
on BitTorrent as a legitimate use of P2P.
CacheLogic has real world data to back up its assertions. The company
recently developed an application monitoring appliance, the Streamsight
510 (see Examining Layer Seven ), and deployed it in six POPs around
the world to measure the extent of P2P traffic in America, Europe, and
Asia.
Between January and June of 2004, the products saw KaZaA (which the
company calls Fast Track) replaced by BitTorrent as the world's most
popular P2P app.
The data also says that over the last mile, P2P traffic is 80 percent
or more of all traffic. The company notes that for systems designed to
be asymmetrical (as in most consumer broadband offerings today) the
fact that P2P traffic is symmetrical (i.e., P2P users upload as much as
they download) causes extra strain on the last mile portion of the
ISP's network architecture.
P2P use is widespread, the company's report notes. "In a 30 day period,
a single unit of CacheLogic equipment observed P2P accesses from 3.5
million unique IP addresses."
ISPs that operate on the assumption that a few bandwidth hogs cause
problems for everyone will be disillusioned if they obtain real data on
their network, the company warns.
Rather than fight P2P technology, the company would, of course, prefer
that ISPs adopt its Cachepliance system which delivers a more efficient
P2P architecture (see Building a Bettter P2P Delivery System).
Unfortunately, as we noted in our article on the Cachepliance system,
given the legal assault on all forms of file transfer undertaken by the
RIAA, the legality of any solution that gathers data on or assists the
operation of P2P file sharing may be subject to the whim of Congress
and other lawmakers.
The Streamsight 510 is not illegal, because it does not aid P2P
functionality, and it does not trace any individual's activity.
You may wish to drop this little device into your network to find out
what's really going on. In its report for June, 2004, CacheLogic says
that its U.S.-based equipment found that about two-thirds of all
traffic was P2P (with about 11 percent HTTP, and 22 percent "other"
including e-mail and FTP).
Archives at: <http://Wireless.Com/Dewayne-Net>
Weblog at: <http://weblog.warpspeed.com>
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