P2P trends
In addition to collaboration and resource sharing, some vendors are leaping into entirely new areas. MyCIO, a division of Network Associates, is using P2P as a way to disseminate its virus updates and is addressing the inherent weaknesses of peer-to-peer (such as P2P overloading the network or Internet connection as many users try to hook up simultaneously).
Intel is aiming to facilitate more P2P products in the security industry with its recently announced Peer-to-Peer Trusted Library security code, which other companies can use when developing P2P applications. The release includes full application programming interface (API) documentation and provides support for peer authentication, secure storage, encryption, and digital signatures. Intel has made the API freely available to developers online.
In an enterprise environment, rather than forcing each client to go to a Web site for the most recent update, MyCIO's Rumor technology allows the first client to pass the update to the next client that logs on to the network, thus reducing demand for Internet and LAN bandwidth. Each system authenticates the next that logs on, and the system uses a time-based protocol so that users aren't deluged with offers of an update from multiple clients. In this scenario, rather than allowing any computer to hook to any other computer (as in traditional P2P), users are directed to the most direct and efficient source of the update; the remaining potential peers offering information are turned down.
The bottom line
CTOs will probably never utter the phrase, "I've gotta have P2P!" In fact, some industry veterans predict that the technology will simply evolve into a feature that exists within many different products, rather than be an application or a platform in itself. P2P provides key advantages when users want to move large files to many people, or when they want to engage in ad hoc rather than planned collaboration over the Internet. Although most companies won't be encouraging their workers to visit Napster for the latest download, P2P and derivative technologies are beginning to offer capabilities that will appeal to the enterprise.
