On Jan 20, 2007, at 7:38 PM, Mark Smith wrote:
Maybe I haven't understood what that exactly does, however it seems to me that's really just a bit-torrent client/server in the ADSL router. Certainly having a bittorrent server in the ADSL router is unique, but not really what I was getting at.
I understand it's not what you meant; my point is that if the SPs don't figure out how to do this, the customers will, by whatever means they have at their disposal, with always-on devices which do the distribution and seeding and caching automagically, and with a revenue model attached. I foresee consumer-level devices like this little Asus router which not only act as torrent clients/servers, but which also are woven together into caches with something like PNRP as the location service (and perhaps an innovative content producer/ distributor acting as a billing overlay prover a la FON in order to monetize same, leaving the SP with nothing). The advantage of providing caching services is that they both help preserve scare resources and result in a more pleasing user experience. As already pointed out, CAPEX/OPEX along with insertion into the network are the current barriers, along with potential legal liabilities; cooperation between content providers and SPs could help alleviate some of these problems and make it a more attractive model, and help fund this kind of infrastructure in order to make more efficient use of bandwidth at various points in the topology. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Roland Dobbins <rdobbins@cisco.com> // 408.527.6376 voice Technology is legislation. -- Karl Schroeder