Peer-to-Peer Networks

The development of network resources changes network computing models. P2P networks, a new type of network adopting peer-to-peer strategy for computing, have attracted world-wide attention. P2P architecture is a type of distributed network in which all participants share their hardware resources and the shared resources can be directly accessed by peer nodes without the necessity of going through any dedicated servers. The participants in a P2P network are both resource providers and resource consumers. This article on P2P networks will be divided into two issues. In this issue, P2P architecture, network models and core search algorithms are introduced. And the second part in the next issue will analyze the current P2P research and application situations, as well as the impact of P2P on telecom operators and equipment vendors.