Title	Peer-to-Peer Networking Goes Back to the Future
Date:	5/25/2001
Author:	Nikki LaCrosse
Source:	Silicon 2.0

So the question is, what exactly is peer-to-peer? The answer is far from simple and every person has a different definition.

Kelly Truelove, CEO of Clip2, a Palo Alto, Calif. company doing research and development on several aspects of peer-to-peer defines it as, "computers talking to each other without regard for the distinction of client and server."

Randy Saaf, president and CEO of OnSystems in Venice, Calif., calls peer-to-peer, "directly networking two PCs together using the Internet." And Clay Deanhardt, president and general counsel for Epidemic Networks in Santa Barbara explains that "Peer-to-peer is a technology. It's also a mindset. It's an understanding that there is value in having a direct connection between people."

What most people do agree on is that peer-to-peer networking is not a new idea.

"This is what the Internet was really all about, " Deanhardt explains. "It goes back to the original idea of the Internet, where everyone was an active participant."

The Internet was originally an academic tool used by researchers to reach out to each other and exchange information. Each computer stayed on and was "online" constantly to allow other computer users access to its files.

The shift away from this direct networking occurred with the advent of the Web browser, which relies on the client-server model. One computer, the client, "pulls" information, and another one, the server, "sends" it. It is a one-way street.

It also requires a lot of dedicated hardware and a complex infrastructure to maintain. While virtually every company with a Web presence is captive to this model, the headlines of the peer-to-peer based Napster case reminded businesses that there was an alternative.

Peer-to-peer, sometimes called distributed networking, works like this: a group of computers are networked together, either via the Internet, if they are geographically separated, or via cables if they are in close proximity. The computers can communicate with each other, and files of virtually any type can be transferred between them.

Possible applications include instant messaging, file transfers, video conferencing, and collaborative work areas. Each user can pull information from others and can also push information by placing files in folders that other users are allowed to see and take.

There are different levels of peer-to-peer networks; some are pure and use only a private network, while others, such as Napster, use a server in addition to the peer network.

Peer-to-peer proponents all agree that the high profile Napster case is what opened the door for a resurgence of interest in peer-to-peer and that for the most part, the end result to peer-to-peer networking is positive.

"Napster made everyone aware that we have at least reached a point where, in the power of our computers and the amount of bandwidth we have, we can make meaningful connections, " Deanhardt notes. "It proved that PCs have enough power and we have enough bandwidth to make desktops and laptops part of the active network."

Saaf agrees that "Napster is a great program and it opened people's eyes," but goes on to note that Napster "has no legitimate use. It's a music piracy system."

The moral and legal questions about Napster do leave a mark on peer-to-peer networking, according to Deanhardt, a lawyer.

"On the bad side, Napster made peer-to-peer synonymous with two very bad things; one is piracy and the other is a lack of a business model. The number one phrase among consumer type peer-to-peer applications is ‘legal Napster.’ If you have to start any conversation with a 'legal,' somehow that something has caused a problem."

However, Deanhardt emphasizes that "peer-to-peer is simply a technology. The legal aspects only come up in how you use it."

The benefits of peer-to-peer to a business include relatively low start-up costs, using existing infrastructure, and the freedom to send any type of file that the available bandwidth can handle.

"The nice thing is that peer-to-peer takes advantage of existing infrastructure," Deanhardt notes. "Let's take Napster, for example. If you took all those songs available on Napster and stored them on a server, the cost would be enormous and the bandwidth cost for all those people to access those files and pull them down to their computers would be ridiculous. This is the exact type of cost that is sending dot-commers to their graves."

Clip2’s Truelove agrees. "What people are talking about is how to get the most of the IP infrastructure that the business already has." He goes on to note that using peer-to-peer can preclude a company purchasing bigger computers or more bandwidth by utilizing existing processing power and disk space on company PCs.

Peer-to-peer companies are quick to emphasize that it is the peer-to-peer applications themselves that are key to making a peer-to-peer model work within a company.

Deanhardt explains, “The value is in the application, not in the peer-to-peer technology itself.”

And while there are several consumer-based peer-to-peer products available, such as instant messaging, Napster and Gnutella, business applications are just starting to emerge.

Both Windows 2000 and Macintosh have limited peer-to-peer capabilities that are restricted to networking computers of their own respective platforms. Corporate instant messaging is growing in popularity and knowledge management applications, which allow users to search a company's servers for specific files, are popping up in growing numbers.

Saaf's OnSystems currently offers a range of products and Deanhardt's Epidemic Networks expects to have an application out by the end of this quarter.

One concern that peer-to-peer companies repeatedly hear revolves around security, but Saaf feels that peer-to-peer offers better security than client-server communications.

"When you send an AOL e-mail or Earthlink e-mail, that (message) goes to some server they're hosting somewhere, and any random employee can go and look at your stuff. That is a huge security gap. Whereas with peer-to-peer networking, it's not going to some cloud in the sky where someone can tap into it."

Deanhardt emphasizes that peer-to-peer security is "as secure as anything out there. You can use the same technology to encrypt messages and documents to and from people."

He also notes that since nothing can be pushed to a user that they don't want, common sense is all the security a user needs.

"In a peer-to-peer environment, if I'm going out to get a file, I know I have a responsibility to check that file for viruses," Deanhardt said.

What remains to be seen is whether the hype about peer-to-peer is more than just that. While peer-to-peer proponents insist that new software programming and business models make peer-to-peer the next wave of the Internet, peer-to-peer is nonetheless a technology that has been used for years and was largely discarded for the client-server model.

The applications developed for the peer-to-peer model will be the proving ground for the second chance of the original Internet blueprint.

Deanhardt, for one, is betting that people, tired of the one-way street of the client-server world, will turn to peer-to-peer.

"Ultimately, it's person-to-person, whether it's a mobile device or a desktop. It's that direct connection or group direct connection that makes peer-to-peer valuable. How you get there is less valuable than the connection itself."