P2P

abbr. E-com

peer-to-peer: a means of optimizing the networking capabilities of the Internet among groups of computers. Effectively it puts every computer on an equal footing, in that each can be both a publisher and consumer of information. The traditional model on the Web is the client-server one: the client is a computer that is able only to receive information; the server, on the other hand, publishes information on a Web site. Peer-to-peer makes a computer both a server and a client. Perhaps the best-known example of peer-to-peer is Napster, which enabled person A to search for and download music from person B’s computer, while person B could search for and download music from person A’s computer.

     There are several options for the use of peer-to-peer technologies. Information/ content: where the content on your computer becomes accessible to everyone else in the peer-to-peer environment, and vice versa. Processing sharing: where computers with spare processing capacity network together in order to combine resources. Using a large number of computers, this can create very significant processing capabilities. Services: a computer user can offer services to other people in the peer-to-peer network. File sharing: if person A downloads a file from a central server (an e-learning course from the Internet, for example), other people can use it from person A’s machine instead of having to download it again, significantly reducing strain on bandwidth.

     The main problem with peer-to-peer is the issue of security, and therefore it is essential to authenticate users. Many peer-to-peer interactions also use encryption, which ensures that the communication is secure as it is being passed from computer to computer.