New File-Sharing Tech to Bring Faster Web Video and Downloads

NEW YORK — A new approach to Internet downloads announced Friday promises to speed the delivery of online videos and reduce network traffic jams that increasingly plague access providers as people share large files.

Some consumers could see faster downloads within months from this method, according to companies that unveiled it at a New York meeting of the Distributed Computing Industry Association.

While many Internet providers are interested in the technology, it is uncertain how widely it will be embraced. The first consumers to experience it may be Internet customers of Verizon Communications Inc. who view TV shows from an NBC Universal online service.

The advance is an enhancement of peer-to-peer file-sharing technology, which provides Internet users with faster downloads by gathering up pieces of a large file from the computers of many users and then cobbling them together.

File sharing is best known from systems such as BitTorrent and early versions of Kazaa and Napster.

Researchers found that file sharing can work more efficiently if an Internet service provider, such as a phone or cable company, and a peer-to-peer company share information about how data zips around from computer to computer.

That information lets companies guide the download process, so Internet users don't randomly reach out all over the world for videos and other files. Instead, they grab them from closer to home.

"It makes no sense for a customer to arbitrarily download a file from Singapore, consuming bandwidth on high-cost, high-traffic routes like Pacific undersea cables, when the file is stored right down the street and can be accessed more quickly and cheaply," said Douglas Pasko, Verizon's senior technologist.

Verizon shared its network information as host of the experiment, which was conducted with Yale University researchers and software from Pando Networks Inc., a provider of peer-sharing technology.

Sending files with the new technique along faster, cheaper paths resulted in download speeds that were an average of 60 percent faster, Pasko said. He said with Verizon's fiber-optic FiOS service, the speed increase was up to 600 percent.

The new method, dubbed "P4P," is being freely shared across the industry.

Pasko and a Pando executive co-chair a 50-member corporate and academic working group studying the technology with members including AT&T Inc., Cisco Systems Inc. and BitTorrent Inc. Members described as "observers" include Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable and Cox Communications.

Atlanta-based Cox, a corporate sibling to Cox News Service, is open to exploring ways to improve network efficiency, but needs time to study the new approach, said David Deliman, product communications manager.

A coming step for the group is to create industry standards for the file-sharing method, Verizon said.

AT&T, based in San Antonio, Texas, said P4P simulations based on its network showed similar promising results last year.

The company is very interested in speeding up peer-to-peer transmissions so they consume fewer resources, said James Cicconi, AT&T's top policy executive.

"With the dramatic growth of Internet traffic, this is important in order to keep the Internet functioning smoothly," he said.

Corporations have often viewed Internet file sharing as a major headache.

Media companies assail it as the main channel for online piracy as people share copyrighted videos, music and software. Internet providers complain that it clogs up networks as a few file-sharing customers account for a majority of Internet traffic.

Federal regulators are investigating complaints that cable leader Comcast limited customer file sharing. Time Warner Cable said in January that it would test bandwidth caps in Beaumont, Texas, charging subscribers extra for downloading more.

But as high-speed connections become common and online video grows increasingly popular, media companies have begun to embrace a more controlled, closed form of peer-to-peer technology as a cheaper way to deliver content while protecting copyrights. They hope to supplant illegal downloads.

NBC Universal said last month that it would use Pando's peer-assisted technology to deliver video for its NBC Direct service, featuring free, ad-supported downloads of NBC shows such as "The Office" and "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno."

Since Pando and Verizon conducted the recent experiment, Verizon customers viewing the NBC service may be the first to experience the accelerated download speeds, said Pando CEO Robert Levitan.

Levitan said peer-to-peer was once a "rogue" technology, but now "everybody can win."

On the Web:

DCIA: www.dcia.info

Verizon: www.verizon.com

Pando: www.pando.com