Why INKT, BCST technology is important... following article:
BCST to send it; INKT to cache it near you
Primer: Here's how IP multicast works
By Matt Broersma, ZDNN
February 12, 1999 2:21 PM PT
URL: zdnet.com
IP Multicast was invented in the 1980s by Steve Deering, now Technical Leader of Cisco
Systems Inc. It was first widely tested in the research-oriented IP Multicast Backbone
(MBONE), an experimental network created by Deering and Steve Casner in 1992.
The innovation was to build a switching system into the network
hardware and software itself that would replicate copies of a file as
needed, taking that burden off of the servers of the company originating
the Webcast.
In practice, that means Webcasters can send only one copy of a file,
such as a video or audio clip, or even a piece of software, and the network will make a copy for
each user that requests it.
Billions of bits of information
Right now, a copy has to be sent across the network every time a request comes in, and network
capacity, or bandwidth, is used up very quickly.
"It's a bit of a solution in search of a problem," said analyst Jae Kim of Paul Kagan Associates. "It
was worked on by a lot of forward-looking people who knew someday it would become
necessary. But they didn't know what for. The proliferation of video on the Web ... is what's really
going to drive it going forward.
What do you need to watch a Webcast over IP multicast? Nothing special. You can use standard
media players, such as RealNetworks Inc.'s RealPlayer or Microsoft's Windows Media Player. |
