Logo

Synopsis As the Internet has increasingly penetrated into all walks of human life, the use of web-related services has also increased by leaps and bounds. After the web, Peer-to-Peer (P2P) is the next big thing that has happened on the Internet, almost redefining the way computers are networked the way services are delivered, and the way users are connecting/communicating/collaborating with other users on the net. The initial super success of P2P-based file-sharing service like ‘Napster’ and the likes have triggered enough interest among web service providers and corporates to adopt P2P as a networking model for distributed computing so much so that today it is considered to be the most preferred way of networking in a distributed environment The user of P2P will have a high degree of autonomy and control over the services they utilize. Sharing content files containing audio, video, data or anything in digital format is very common, and real-time data such as telephony traffic is also passed using P2P technology. The most popular P2P networks are KaZaA, BitTorrent, Shareaza and Gnutella. Using these applications the data content can be transferred quickly. These capabilities of P2P computing networks have made them the most sought-after technologies in community-building applications on the web, search engines and lots of other e-business applications today. P2P technologies are making inroads into even corporate networks reducing the cost of computing and increasing the computing resources utilization. This book presents interesting insights into the concepts, evolution, technologies, applications, and issues and risk related to P2P networks.