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Internet multimedia distributors must make technical preparations for
the quantity of content to be delivered and for the projected audience
size. This planning is necessary to ensure there are adequate network
resources available for the content distribution. The resource
requirements for distribution can be determined by using the following
formula: the number of concurrent audience participants expected to
receive the data multiplied by the quantity of the data to be delivered
equals the bandwidth needed for the distribution of the content.
Bandwidth
is the measurement of the quantity of data that can travel between two
points in a specified time. It is a resource that is not infinite and
is controlled by several factors that include technical and hardware
limitations that can restrict it's availability. These limitations are
due to the design and implementation of the network data transfer
infrastructure.
Lower bandwidth costs can provide greater
network resources for content distribution, however, large amounts are
still required to distribute high quality multimedia content to large
numbers of people. Smaller amounts can be allocated for content
distribution for cost savings, which would result in the reduction of
either the quality of the multimedia being delivered or limiting the
number of people that can receive the content. Large network resource
requirements limit the ability of content distributors to provide a low
cost solution to distribute content to a large audience size.
Peer-to-Peer
content delivery allows the distribution of data without the need for
large amounts of network resources and specialized hardware. Bandwidth
is saved by sharing network resources among audience participants that
receive the multimedia. This allows the data to be distributed to
large numbers of audience participants, which lowers the distribution
cost of the content.
Peer-to-Peer data transfer is designed to
accommodate very large numbers of participants in a distribution
network. The only limitations for this method of content distribution
are the proper configuration of the client software and taking into
account the average available bandwidth within the distribution
network. This content delivery method can be used for both live or on
demand multimedia content.
The server / client distribution
model is very inefficient and resource intensive. Centralized data
distribution requires dedicated bandwidth for each audience participant
receiving the content. A content provider cannot exceed the bandwidth
limitations of the network server used for content distribution without
degrading the quality of the multimedia content. Groups of network
servers can be configured to adjust the bandwidth flow necessary for
distributing content to large numbers of audience participants. A major
issue with load balancing groups of servers is the additional expense
for more hardware and network resources.
Another economic factor
is security issues. Network servers are subject to such problems as
denial of service attacks or data filtering. Denial of service attacks
can overload servers and render them unstable and unable to properly
function. Content or IP filtering can allow groups / institutions or
governments to prevent audience members from accessing content deemed
unsuitable, similar to the deliberate jamming of radio and television
stations during the Cold War.
The cost per listener will never
substantially decrease with the server / client model, as opposed to
the Peer-To-Peer content delivery model. The Peer-To-Peer distribution
model can easily accommodate unlimited numbers of people and allow them
to receive the multimedia content; which will significantly lower the
cost of multimedia distribution through the conservation of network
resources. Eliminating the need for network servers also reduces the
overall cost per audience member by reducing the hardware requirements
for content distribution.