While not really an interdomain multicast setup the ADSL company I work for
is using multicast to deliver content (tv stations) to the 50,000 adsl
users.
Originially there weren't many options but they did have ESPN - which was
pretty cool. I haven't looked lately but I know they have several different
stations now.
After some more time we got another system which doesn't do multicast but
allows for On-Demand movie and television show selection. I can simply
click on two buttons and be watching a large selection of movies (news one -
pretty much the same time Blockbuster gets them) or tv shows (some saturday
night live specials, etc). I believe that this On-Demand system is probably
more popular but I think the multicasting of television stations is
beneficial to a lot of our users as well.
-John
----- Original Message -----
From: "Howard C. Berkowitz"
To:
Sent: Sunday, June 24, 2001 11:40 AM
Subject: Re: Multicast on the Internet - what is the status [7:9655]
> >hello gang:
> >
> >I hope some experts like Howard Berkowitz can respond:
> >
> >question - what is the status of multicasting on the Internet today?
Both
> >technically, and non-technically?
>
> Well, my area of specialization is unicast. I don't routinely read
> the multicast routing lists, but my general impression is that
> intradomain multicast is indeed used with increasing frequency, but
> interdomain still has major problems of billing, security, resource
> impact on unwitting operators, and resource location.
> >
> >But now I've noticed yet another group of technologies emerging - BGMP
> >(which I am told is supposed to be better than MSDP/MBGP, but I don't yet
> >understand how it is better), bidirectional PIM (which seems to be
another
> >name for CBT), and SSM with IGMP V3 (which still leaves open the question
> >that how would you know who to block and who not to block?). Plus, I
seem
> >to see less emphasis on CGMP, and more emphasis on RGMP and IGMP
snooping.
>
> While IEEE has a CGMP-like function being defined, doing things at
> layer 3 tends to optimize multivendor interoperability. I like the
> idea of CGMP myself, and I wonder if it might some day evolve to
> something controlled by MPLS setup protocols.
>
> >
> >
> >But the bottom line is that I still don't see too many widespread
> >consumer-uses of multicasting. I only see real-world uses of
multicasting
> >within companies (financial information in investment companies), or,
across
> >the Internet, meetings of standards bodies.
> >But, for example, I don't see anything like the Superbowl or the World
> >Series being delivered via multicast.
>
> Yes and no. ESPN does use multicast to deliver such content to
> subscribing television stations, but not to end users.
>
> >OK, OK, that's because of corporate
> >licensing restrictions, but I think you see my point, I don't see a whole
> >lot of multicasting that delivers information of interest to the average
> >user.
>
> One of the things that I personally find flawed in using multicast in
> distributing video to end users is that the channels are synchronized
> in time -- in other words, a given program starts at a given time,
> and if you're late, you miss it. I think a VCR-like function has
> more commercial appeal, where multicast is used to distribute content
> to video caches at the provider edge or even in set-top boxes, but
> the end user then can access the content on random-access storage.
Message Posted at:
http://www.groupstudy.com/form/read.php?f=7&i=9687&t=9655
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