ABSTRACT
This chapter describes briefly the main characteristics and the basic components and various architectures of the IP/Video-on-demand (VOD) system. It presents the peer-to-peer (P2P) pervasive architecture and access mechanisms that have been proposed for VOD networks. The chapter provides the mathematical model developed to estimate the VOD network bandwidth requirements. It illustrates the advantages of VOD P2P pervasive networks by presenting a case study that introduces a comparison of a centralized system to the P2P VOD architecture bandwidth requirements as a function of the key parameters of the P2P pervasive network design. As illustrated by the case study, the P2P technology for distribution of multimedia streams provides an efficient and common platform for provisioning of pervasive computing Services. The comparison of the centralized multimedia server system to the P2P pervasive system showed that P2P pervasive networking approach provides better scalability through mesh networks nodes cooperation whenever there is a demand growth.
