Re: Google wants to be your Internet

[Roland Dobbins <rdobbins () cisco com>]

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.

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Roland Dobbins <rdobbins () cisco com> // 408.527.6376 voice

                    Technology is legislation.

                        -- Karl Schroeder