Hybrid P2P Technology
The Abacast Hybrid P2P is a combination of the best features of peer-to-peer delivery together with the best features of central server or unicast delivery. We have taken the security, high quality, and control of unicast technology and combined it with the extreme efficiency of peer-to-peer delivery. The result is a very secure, high quality, stable, quickly adaptable network that uses up to 98% less bandwidth. This makes it better than unicast and better than pure peer-to-peer. It also creates proven higher quality connections.
The Hybrid P2P Network uses a central server to communicate with each user. However, the actual stream may be provided by either the server itself or, more likely, by another user or users who simply redirects the stream or portions of the stream. The Abacast server continually monitors the network, and changes the distributed streaming hierarchy as necessary to optimize user connections. This creates a closely monitored network that provides true end-to-end Quality of Service and real-time network healing creating a stream with less skipping, buffering and breaks than other streaming technologies.
Further, in the Abacast Hybrid P2P the "peers" are simply distributing (or relaying) the real-time stream based on direction from the Abacast Server. The "peers" do not know anything about each other, nor do they store any information or files for each other.
Abacast offers this technology through hosting from our own servers. If you are a company that has its own server infrastructure our technology is also available for licensing.
Abacast technology will only use client upstream bandwidth when the client is actively connected to the stream and only for the purpose of distributing the stream to which they are connected. Further, if the client disconnects or needs to use their upstream bandwidth, for any reason, all Abacast distribution of the stream is stopped and any clients receiving the stream are redirected without interruption or skipping.
Abacast does NOT collect nor share any information about individual clients or users. For more information please see our privacy policy.
Efficiency varies by audience and source stream bitrate between 98% and 52%. You can see example efficiency graphs below for both a 32Kbps audio stream and a 200Kbps video stream. Please note these efficiencies are based on US and Western Europe broadband connections. Efficiencies in many countries with better broadband service will be even higher. In Japan, for example, our 200Kbps stream would be 98% efficient.
*Average U.S. upload speed: 371Kbps, download speed: 1.9Mbps - Broadband Reports.com, May 23, 2007
Abacast Compared to Unicast
