Using P2P Technology for Content Delivery

Peer-to-peer technology is driving force in new content delivery network software from Jibe Inc.

Jibe Inc. is aiming to use the advantages offered by peer-to-peer technology—including little or no hardware or monthly usage costs—in its new content delivery network software.

The Tampa, Fla., company on Monday released EdgeBurst Delivery System 1.0, which officials said will offer significant improvements in performance, scale and cost over more traditional hardware-based cache or streaming servers.

According to CEO Neal Ater, the convergence of expanding broadband connectivity, compression technology such as mp4, and greater encryption and other security for digital content has opened the door for peer-based content delivery for such uses as training and corporate communications.

It will reduce bandwidth costs while speeding up rich media downloads, giving enterprises a "TV-quality standard of user experience," said Jibe President Greg Schmitzer.

At the core of EdgeBurst, which is compatible with popular media players such as RealNetwork Inc.s RealPlayer, Microsoft Corp.s Windows Media Player and Apple Computer Inc.s QuickTime, is MediaScout, a Web-based centralized server component that gives the administrator control over the content delivery network. It provides a user interface into the peer network, controls user access to content, tracks content locations and gives users search results, company officials said.

FuseBox is a development kit that enables enterprises to integrate the system into their content and management software. It comes with integration points, custom Web site tags and application program interfaces. EdgeBurst enables content items to be downloaded from other EdgeBurst clients simultaneously, which increases download speeds, the company said.

EdgeBurst also enables users to view video playback during a multi-source download.

Key to the EdgeBurst Delivery System are its security features, which include encryption of all messaging between peers or between peers and the administrator, and all content is secured using Secure Sockets Layer encryption. Patent-pending hashing algorithms are used to verify the content, and another feature, PeerCommand, enables the system to be centrally managed using digital certificates.

The system can either be hosted by the enterprise or by Jibe, Ater said.

Pricing for the EdgeBurst Delivery System starts at $50,000 for up to 5,000 users/subscribers.

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