Peer-to-peer computing has moved beyond music file swapping to
offering business users a secure environment for collaboration and
sharing data.
Several technologies that exploit peer-to-peer-based
infrastructures are gaining traction on the enterprise desktop,
enabling functions such as secure collaboration and thwarting
unwanted e-mail messages.
Dana Gardner, research director at Aberdeen Group, believes
companies are increasingly looking to peer-based technologies for
solutions to specific problems, such as improving
collaboration.
One example is TrueDisk.com's Extempo server-based software which
is designed to create virtual extranets for secure file sharing and
ad-hoc collaboration. Commenting on how the product works Doug
Pollack, president and CEO of TrueDisk, said: "The idea is to tie
together peer-based technologies and a very strong security
architecture to enable people to remotely but securely get access
to corporate files."
Peer-based technologies offer a simple, yet powerful way to provide
secure remote access to files, e-mail, and other desktop
applications, according to Pollack. Using P2P technologies in the
enterprise makes it very easy to empower people to share in a
dynamic environment, according to Pollack.
Furthermore, P2P provides a way to securely share files with
trusted partners from different companies. "Peer-based technology
gives you that added ability to do [secure file sharing] at a finer
level of granularity than with other technologies," Pollack
said.
Another firm, Cloudmark, is tapping P2P to support a
community-based network for fighting spam. The company's SpamNet is
a Microsoft Outlook add-in tool designed to allow users to block
unwanted e-mail from their in-boxes and notify the SpamNet
community that the message is spam. Once a user chooses to block a
spam message and to alert the community, the notification is sent
through the SpamNet network. The system uses algorithms and
cryptography to identify a stream of content and attach an
assertion with it, such as the number of people who think a
particular message is spam.
Jordan Ritter, founder and CTO of Cloudmark said: "SpamNet allows
people to collaboratively take part in a distributed network and
share information about what they think is spam."
Similar to the idea of using Napster to share music, SpamNet allows
users to share preferences about what they think is spam. "We are
trying to fight a socially distributed problem in a socially
distributed way," Ritter said.
Another vendor, Advanced Reality, recently rolled out an adapter
that allows enterprise users to launch secure P2P-based
collaborative sessions within Microsoft PowerPoint.
The Presence-AR Adapter for Microsoft PowerPoint aims to allow an
unlimited number of users to collaborate in interactive
presentations over LAN and WAN links using a standard version of
the PowerPoint application.
According to Derek Ruths, co-founder and CTO of Advanced Reality
tapping P2P allows the adapter to provide what the company calls
"mutability". This allows a collaborative presentation to persist
even when the host of the session signs off or is disconnected.