Re: [kNT] Multicasting [was -- akamai]

["Scott Pollard, BIBC" <scott.pollard@xxxxxxxx>]

 

Well, it *is* getting a little bit technical...   Daniel, maybe there's scope for a 'techie' list?

 

But... isn't the problem with multicast two-fold?  First one is technical -- all intervening routers need to be multicast enabled, and if the operator doesn't control the end-to-end network then that might be [is] difficult to co-ordinate.  Second is financial -- if the operator is paid by connectivity required [megabits/second per month], or gigabytes transferred, what is their incentive to reduce the amount of traffic.  After all, we're hearing there is a glut of fibre and so sending 1000 identical streams of 300 k each is a good way of being paid to fill it... isn't it? 

 

Well, no it's not.

 

a] because it is so manifestly inefficient and unreliable that content owners are looking for something better to ensure reliable service they can charge for

 

b] operators themselves have to pay for, or lay, their own dark fibre to be filled with these identical streams so that reduces their margins

 

I believe that some of the more imaginative operators are implementing multicast and mcast peering but I suspect it will be a long while before it gets really close to the 'last mile' router. 

 

But I don't understand Nick's comment about "making content multicastable" -- surely the actual content is irrelevant as long as it is a stream [like a TV channel] rather than VoD?

 

Does any content owner/broadcaster have a live multicast operation in use 24*7?  I would be very interested in making contact.

 

Scott

 

----- Original Message -----    

From: Nick Bryant

To: k-networktrial@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sent: Thursday, November 08, 2001 11:57 PM

Subject: RE: [kNT] akamai

Ya see Marshall,

 

I got to disagree. MSDP PIM and MBGP are all working fine… but to be honest until BGMP and IGMPv3 with PIM-SSM are widely deployed then its not really the content your waiting for…  it’s the ease of  making content multicastable ™ that is holding everyone up. There is plenty of content there… kinda like the chicken and the egg…

 

Just my thoughts anyhow…

 

Nick

 

PS is this a “geek” group and should be subjecting people to this?

 

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-k-networktrial@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-k-networktrial@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Marshall Eubanks
Sent: 08 November 2001 17:40
To: k-networktrial@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [kNT] akamai

 

John McHugh wrote:

Nick,

What you say here is uncannily very close to the truth! Wait and see what

AOL/TIME/WARNER comes out with in the near future, another idea stolen from

the pram of youth.

Multicast is something I've been around since 1987 and I think there is

something we don't know....... like big brother has always kept hold of the

last bit of the jigsaw so at the end he can say "look I finished it" and

then declare that it was just a bespoke version of Quake XIIVI and was a

test to see how far we got?

Realistically as the consumer connectivity builds then I think so will a

multicast peering model. What's required is an early leader in the

subscription based revenue space to be "got on board" and then just leverage

the rest with money! (by the way this is in the vernacular in case you

thought I was a bread head)

John

Or even better still a multicast peering solution. Media would then no

longer be an issue and some very clever people could write some

protocols for distributing bulk data reliably over a multicast

infrastructure. Or maybe we already did.... ;)

But I've given up the whole multicast thing now as it seems to be making

sod all progress... unless someone knows something I don't?

Nick

Dear John, Nick;

   Multicasting is far from stagnant - in fact, it is more and more seen as the way to stream
cost-effectively. Particularly for video streaming (where a 2 hour movie might cost $5
per copy to stream on the commodity Internet at a reasonable bit rate), multicasting is
seeming more and more compelling.

   On a technical side, things have settled down a lot. PIM-SM, MBGP & MSDP are
widely deployed and work pretty well. People are also much less afraid of multicast peering than
they were a few years ago. The biggest thing that is missing is content.

-- 

                                 Regards

                                 Marshall Eubanks

T.M. Eubanks

Multicast Technologies, Inc

10301 Democracy Lane, Suite 410

Fairfax, Virginia 22030

Phone : 703-293-9624       Fax     : 703-293-9609

e-mail : tme@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

http://www.on-the-i.com  

Test your network for multicast : http://www.multicasttech.com/mt/

 Check the status of multicast in real time :

 http://www.multicasttech.com/status/index.html