Presence and IntComm WG

[Candace Holman <>]

In this article, Tolly studied Skype peer-to-peer traffic to evaluate 
the impact on network bandwidth.  He quoted the Skype Web site on what 
peer-to-peer means: "A true [peer-to-peer] system, in our opinion, is 
one where all nodes in a network join together dynamically to 
participate in traffic routing-, processing- and bandwidth-intensive 
tasks that would otherwise be handled by central servers." Interesting 
view.  Tolly suggests that this means your Skype-enabled workstation may 
be functioning as a traffic relay for otherwise-centralized call 
processing, conferencing, voice mail, etc.  He gave one example that two 
physically adjacent workstations sent traffic "peer-to-peer" by routing 
through other Skype stations in another continent. 

Any comments from those of you with a significant Skype deployment?

Skype: Hazardous to Network Health?
http://www.networkworld.com/columnists/2005/092605tolly.html?l8

Candace Holman