Paper Review:
IP Multicast Channels: EXPRESS Support for Large-scale Single-source Applications

Reviewer: Robert Dugas

Problem

This paper addresses the problem of extending current IP multicast to become more scalable, accountable, and secure.

Contribution

The author proposes an EXplicitly REquested Single-Source multicast system which includes adaptations to address the problems mentioned above

Main Ideas

  • Multicast content should be divided into channels, delivery services designated by the sender and the channel destination address
  • Multicast recipients would subscribe to particular channels
  • Subscription protocol would account provide access control as well as user counting

    • Critique

    Significance:4
    Although not supported by extensive testing the multicast protocol proposed here could potentially become a widely used web content distribution and billing model

    Methodology:
    Although some simultion results were included at toward the end of the paper, the paper is largely theoretical, with algorithmic bounds serving as performance indicators.

    Limitation:
    As mentioned above, this paper lacks extensive real-world testing to show that the proposed protocol extensions would work on a large scale. In addition the cost calculations performed are somewhat sketchy such as the 18 cent per subscriber per year result.

    Lessons:
    The real lesson of this paper is that the current IP multicast model is not sufficient to support commercial, broadly distributed content delivery. The model proposed is a step in that direction.