> -----Original Message----- > From: Ryan Barrett > Sent: Saturday, November 11, 2006 9:24 AM > Subject: latency vs bandwidth (was RE: [p2p-hackers] Cross- > platformdevelopment) > > david patterson [1], a berkeley cs prof who "wrote the book" on computer > architecture, did a study [2] on this recently and concluded that > bandwidth has been increasing with the *square* of latency since 1980 (!).
Just to make sure I understand the implications of this, are you saying that bandwidth *improvements* have been increasing with the square of latency *improvements* since 1980? (I assume this must be what you mean, as bandwidth has gotten faster while latency has gone down.) Also, do you mean that this standard rule applies to all data transfer mediums (internet, LAN, wireless, CPU bus, etc) about equally? A sort of Moore's law for the relationship between latency and bandwidth improvements? I guess it kinda makes sense because latency can only improve so much -- there's an asymptotic approach toward instant -- while bandwidth can improve infinitely. What would you say are the consequences of such a trend? With TCP on my mind I'd say this affects the core algorithms of the internet as even an infinite bandwidth connection will take a long time to ramp up if the latency is slow. But in a broader sense, what does this mean for the future? Greater use of decentralized caching over central serving? Or is this observation true but not relevant? It's an interesting point, just trying to figure out what it all means. -david _______________________________________________ p2p-hackers mailing list [email protected] http://lists.zooko.com/mailman/listinfo/p2p-hackers
