Mobile P2P: Turning Heterogeneity to an Advantage

Peer-to-peer content-distribution networks have a large user community in the fixed Internet today and cause a noticeable part of Internet traffic. Enabling popular peer-to-peer applications on mobile devices in cellular networks is an interesting opportunity for both, customers and operators. However, when mobile devices join peer-to-peer networks, the networks become heterogeneous (e.g. differing link capacities, CPU power, etc.), leading to disadvantages for all peers in the network. Consequently, mobile devices need some kind of support to be integrated properly in content distribution networks. In this paper, the heterogeneity in peer-to-peer networks is not only considered as disadvantage but also as new opportunity. Mobile devices are identified as providers of advanced mobile features and services, being usually not available in the fixed Internet. Instead of considering mobile devices as bottlenecks, they are regarded as valuable partners in content distribution networks. Mobile features and services are made accessible to fixed peers, facilitating the integration of mobile devices into popular peer-to-peer networks.