A System for Robust Peer-to-Peer Communication with Dynamic Protocol Selection

Continued growth in peer-to-peer (P2P) networking is introducing new challenges for network designers and administrators. P2P communication is no longer the sole domain of the home-based, technically savvy user. Instead, corporations are now starting to investigate the use of P2P communication as a valid technology for distributing data to a large user base. Existing network protocols that support P2P communication, such as UPnP, do not scale well to larger corporate and institutional networks. This paper introduces a new, dynamic system that is capable of supporting P2P communication in a large array of networks designs ranging from smaller home networks to larger corporate networks that contain multiple layers of firewalls and proxies.