P2P Tests Show Speed Boost on Cable, Telco Networks

Comcast CTO Werner Calls Initial Results ‘Promising’

By Todd Spangler -- Multichannel News, 4/9/2008 9:55:00 AM

A technology designed to improve the performance of peer-to-peer applications sped up file transfers 235% on cable networks in the United States, according to a wide-scale test by a P2P software company.

Pando Networks, a New York-based company that offers a free P2P client and sells content delivery services to content owners and service providers, released details of a test analyzing the results of video-based content delivered to more than 1 million broadband users served by 3,000 service providers.

The test culled data from users on networks operated AT&T, Bell Canada, BT, Cablevision Systems, Comcast Corp., Cox Communications, Time Warner Cable and Verizon Communications, among others.

The results show the technology used by Pando, dubbed “P4P,” increased delivery speeds by up to 235% across U.S. cable networks and up to 898% across international broadband networks.

In a prepared statement, Comcast chief technology officer Tony Werner said: “These newly released test results demonstrate the applicability of P4P to cable ISP infrastructures. The initial results are promising, and we look forward to continuing our mutual efforts with P2P companies distributing legitimate content in order to improve the efficiency of their applications on our network.”

Comcast, which has been under fire for throttling back peer-to-peer traffic, last month announced it would work with BitTorrent and others to make P2P run more efficiently on its network.

Among U.S. cable operators, Pando increased the percentage of data routed across internal networks from 2.2% to 43.4% of all downloads. That reduced inter-ISP data transfers by an average of 34%, according to the firm.

P4P technology, based on research from Yale University, more intelligently directs peer-to-peer traffic to local peers instead of letting software like BitTorrent pull data indiscriminately from anywhere in the world. The P4P protocols and specifications are being shared within a working group sponsored by the Distributed Computing Industry Association.

For some of the networks, including Verizon’s, Pando used provider-supplied topological data. Others, including Comcast and AT&T, used Pando’s proprietary servers to deliver content.

Initial results of the test, reflecting data exclusively for Verizon Communications’ broadband network, were presented March 14. Verizon claimed that using Pando’s P4P, 58% of peer-to-peer traffic came from nearby P2P users on its network, compared with 6% before.

“We are certainly thrilled with the results from our global test,” Pando CTO Laird Popkin said in a statement, adding that the company is “now ready to help ISPs deploy 'carrier-grade' P2P technologies.”

Pando, founded in late 2004, is backed by Intel, BRM Capital and Wheatley Partners.