The use of IP-anycast for building efficient multicast trees

In this paper, we show that substantial improvement in multicast performance and reliability can be achieved by regarding a multicast group as a network region and using anycast to access it along the shortest path. We introduce the anycast-based tree (ABT), a novel architecture for building efficient shared multicast trees. ABT is a non-core tree; thus, it does not suffer from the traditional problems exhibited by core-based trees, such as traffic concentration or poor core placement. Moreover, ABT exhibits greater robustness and lower bandwidth consumption than other shared muiticast trees. Our simulation shows that ABT reduces traffic concentration by 60% and decreases average bandwidth consumption by 25%. In addition, the paper extends the core based tree multicast routing protocol with an ABT mode. The result is a new intra-domain protocol, called ACBT, that conserves the desirable features of the original protocol while reducing bandwidth consumption and alleviating traffic concentration.