End System Multicast

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End System Multicast or ESM is a project started at Carnegie Mellon University. It is a peer to peer network for video and audio streaming.

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[edit] History

The project was founded in 1999. It was used to broadcast SIGCOMM 2002 and 2003, NOSSDAV 2004, the 2004 DARPA Grand Challenge, and INFOCOM 2005. [1]

[edit] Current Use

As of 2007, ESM has roughly 10 thousand users. The viewer (which works on both Windows and Mac OS X) can be downloaded freely by anybody. Broadcasters must first apply for an account before they can broadcast.

[edit] Advantages

ESM allows any user with a DSL or broadband connection or higher to broadcast good quality video to a large number of people. Since it is a peer to peer network, a broadcaster need only broadcast the video to one person for any number of people to view it. [1]

[edit] Disadvantages

Due to the nature of peer to peer multimedia networks, skips can become common.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b "End System Multicast (ESM): About." Retrieved on May 28, 2007.

[edit] Other Links

ESM Home Page