March 14, 2008

Verizon will use methods developed by the P4P Working Group within the Distributed Computing Industry Association (DCIA) that allow broadband service providers to minimize the bandwidth burden of P2P protocols by 60% while speeding up P2P services by nearly a third. The techniques, developed by P2P tech provider Pando Networks and researchers at Yale University, help localize the content and minimize costs by using nearby Verizon customers as peers, cutting down on the global search for files that most P2P applications entail.

But, to accomplish the increased efficiencies, Verizon has to share information about its network with file-sharing companies, something that few other broadband service providers are probably willing to do. Moreover, even at efficiently reduced levels, P2P traffic can chew up a lot of bandwidth, which is the main concern by most other network operators.

Still, Verizon's embrace of a P2P-enabling solution might be the smarter strategy in the long run. It's not likely that the hundreds of P2P applications out there will ever disappear and content piracy is almost impossible to snuff out (one studio executive recently told me that it's like playing whack-a-mole.)

AT&T (ed. note: AT&T has been extensively with P4P. See post on 3/18/08.), Comcast and most of the other U.S. broadband service providers have sought to tamp down P2P usage through traffic shaping or other technology constraints. In the end, however, hackers will always be able to evade these kinds of technological barriers and, as Comcast's public battering attests, messing with the Internet makes consumers and public officials angry.