Chapter 3. Peer Services

"Peer-to-peer computing is the revolution that could change computing as we know it."

Patrick Gelsinger, Chief Technology Officer, Intel

Peer services, or peer-to-peer computing, represent an emerging technology that has a host of potential applications within the business, mostly related to knowledge management and collaboration. Sample applications include distributed computing using spare computing cycles, file sharing, collaboration, intelligent agents, and distributed storage sharing. Peer-to-peer computing allows devices at the "edge" of the network such as desktops to communicate directly with one another in order to share their computing resources without going through a centralized server. The concept of peer-to-peer computing has been around for quite some time, but only relatively recently has it started to gain acceptance as a potential business enabler beyond simple networking of computers, as was the case in the early local area network days.

Peer-to-peer is particularly well-suited as a companion to traditional server-centric, or centralized, computing models and not as a replacement. In fact, the two computing models can easily coexist within the business environment, providing a best-of-breed solution that benefits both business end users and IT systems administrators. Peer-to-peer technologies have their own unique set of advantages and disadvantages that should be carefully considered before embarking upon collaborative application deployments. While server-centric computing is good for highly structured, controlled collaboration and for information publishing and broadcasting, peer-to-peer computing is good for ad hoc collaboration where end users need to have the control and flexibility to manage their own communications and information exchanges in a more cost-effective manner. It effectively frees the business from the expense of having dedicated systems administrators to manage and monitor collaborative applications.

Peer-to-peer computing presents benefits of cost effectiveness and increased productivity for end users. By offloading the administration of ad hoc collaborative networks to end users, the business can reduce the costs of centralized support and maintenance. Additionally, end users can become more productive by having the tools on their own desktops to create and manage collaborative workspaces and to invite participants to join these groups. This frees them from the time lag inherent in making requests for server-centric collaborative hubs to be created by systems administrators. These hubs typically contain collaborative applications such as content management, discussion forums, and shared whiteboards.