Peer to Peer Network Projects

Peer to Peer network projects  use a decentralized model in which each machine, referred to as a peer, functions as a client with its own layer of server functionalityPeer-to-peer (P2P) is an alternative network model to that provided by traditional client server architecture.

Characteristics of peer to peer network:

• Nodes are autonomous
• Nodes have widely varying capabilities
• Network is dynamic
• Nodes collaborate directly with each other
• Clients are also server and routers

Benefits of Peer to peer network projects:

• Built-in fault tolerance, replication and load balancing
• Geographic distribution
• Unused bandwidth, storage, processing power at the edge of the network
• Nodes are self organize
• Consumer of resources also donate resources
• No need to deploy servers to satisfy demand
• No single point of failure
• Aggregate resources grow naturally with utilization etc

Research on p2p network:

• Small, autonomous devices collaborating
• High bandwidth residential and wireless access
• Besides file sharing
• Online communities gaining importance
• Online gaming