CloudShield Blog » Skype http://blog.cloudshield.com Fri, 03 Apr 2009 21:39:31 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Internet Traffic Report: Mounting IP Pressures http://blog.cloudshield.com/2009/03/20/52/ http://blog.cloudshield.com/2009/03/20/52/#comments Fri, 20 Mar 2009 17:48:05 +0000 Peder http://blog.cloudshield.com/?p=52 Continue reading →]]> Peer-to-Peer (P2P) traffic levels are starting to lose out to streaming , according to a recently released reports. John Timmer from Ars Technica discussed the findings (http://arstechnica.com/web/news/2009/02/internet-traffic-report-p2p-porn-down-games-and-flash-up.ars) a few weeks ago discussed some of the findings.  While they are from a small subset of regions and locations, the interesting point appears to be that the traffic mix is changing.  While the report indicates that while P2P is still the main source of Internet traffic, regardless of which geographical region, it is starting to grow at a slower pace. This can be expected as direct download and streaming video services are becoming more popular. While Web traffic ranged from 16 – 34% of all Internet use growth seems to be driving heavily upwards for different types of streaming media and direct download distribution methods.

For years we saw the growth of web traffic being the key focus prior to the rapid turn to P2P as consumers surveyed the Internet for content of interest.  As content appeared the migration to P2P protocols surged and the race to control the usage of upstream bandwidth became a key concern in the telecom and cable environments.  As privacy and copyright owners battled heavily in the P2P space, it is particularly interesting to see how fast these new forms of direct download and streaming delivery are growing in usage.  Just a couple months after hulu (www.hulu.com) launched reports from service providers like AT&T (http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/ATT-Backbone-Sees-20-P2P-Drop-96602) began showing changes in the usage patterns.  In addition, new network management tools like DOCSIS 3.0 are able control upstream usage without digging into privacy waters.

At CloudShield, we understand the importance of helping service providers consider ways to deal with increases in network traffic stemming from multimedia, full-HTML Web browsing, P2P file sharing, streaming videos and Internet video services. The most effective way of handling the traffic from these services is to ensure that smarter, scalable technology is in place. What has become interesting to watch is how fast the market has turned from one of being able identify protocols (such as Skype, BitTorrent and eDonkey) to hunt out hidden offenders to being more concerned about how to help drive customer experience.  As legal and high quality content is being pushed into the Internet, migrating from finding the content owners to being able to be aware of them and focusing on how to actually increase benefits through the use of cache technology, boosting QoS priorities and enabling peering relationships between content owners and the service providers delivering content to end users is a very different world for DPI and controlling services from what was raging just a few years ago.  In addition, service providers are starting to migrate to billing models (think mobile style billing in broadband) and content delivery agents (think IPTV) that seem to actually enable to continued growth for consumers in a viable model.  It feels like the rise of the CDN’s all over again and this time with the aid of an intelligent network ushering traffic through to end users.  The traffic mix is changing rapidly again, and this time the new source of growth doesn’t seem to have a lot of enemies!

]]> http://blog.cloudshield.com/2009/03/20/52/feed/ 0 The Data Center War Is On, Should We Care? http://blog.cloudshield.com/2008/12/15/the-data-center-war-is-on-should-we-care/ http://blog.cloudshield.com/2008/12/15/the-data-center-war-is-on-should-we-care/#comments Mon, 15 Dec 2008 17:34:17 +0000 Peder http://blog.cloudshield.com/?p=7 Continue reading →]]> When I think of the big battles for market share in technology, what comes to mind is Microsoft versus Apple, IBM versus HP, and Intel versus AMD.  We have watched these come and go and be drawn out to move the marketing messages and market share needles.  But many of these are very much like title fights where two giants are fighting in their weight class against the expected contenders in a controlled arrangement.  Once in a while we see new players enter the market who want to take on the establishment in new and different ways similar to Skype taking on the long distance industry.  Rarely, however, do we get to see two dominant forces in adjacent and often complementary markets turn their focus on one another.  Enter the new Internet data center and how 12 months can dramatically change the landscape.  Networking incumbent Cisco is leading the charge expanding ownership of the data center by targeting the bread and butter of its partners, IBM and HP.  Likewise, IBM and HP have seen the opportunity to help drive revenue and efficiency in telecom sector by driving servers further into the network core.  So is this a good thing and should we care?

Cisco Nexus

http://gigaom.com/2008/03/21/coming-soon-the-cisco-blade-server/

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps9402/index.html

IBM Bluehouse targets Webex:

http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=10296

https://bluehouse.lotus.com/front/webfront

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