Workshop on Computer Networks: VoD over Peer-to-Peer Internet Systems

 time: Semester B, 2010/11

 Instructor: Prof. Hanoch Levy, School of Computer Science, Tel-Aviv Univeristy

 Abstract

 Peer to Peer networks (Bittorrent like), which originally were developed as an “innocent” mechanism for song sharing, have gone through tremendous success and became a major factor in the internet. In fact, P2P systems are believed to account for the majority (!)  of traffic in the Internet today.

      A P2P network is based on a simple principle: Clients which are interested in a resource (say a file) share their CPU/bandwidth/Storage resources and assist each other in downloading the file. That is – the success of the system depends on having each of its clients contributes its resources.

 In recent years there has been a growing interest in using P2P networks for serving Video on Demand (VoD) applications. In this workshop we will aim at understanding the principles of P2P networks in this context by attempting to make a P2P client operate efficiently for VoD.

Prerequisites: Operating Systems is required. Either Communications Networks 0368-3030-01, or equivalent background, or “Peer to Peer Networks and Performance” is highly preferred/recommended.  Interested students with other background – may consult the instructor.