Intellectual Property Law

AT&T: We Embraced P2P Through P4P Too

By Cynthia Brumfield

Verizon got a lot of positive PR last week by announcing its plan to deploy a new technology called P4P that facilitates more efficient P2P service delivery, in contrast to some broadband providers who seek to modulate P2P traffic through network management practices. Some of the press reports (including my own blog post) noted that AT&T and most cable operators have opted for the network management solution.

Not true, an AT&T representative said in a note to me seeking a correction to my blog post.

"There is nothing inherently wrong with P2P applications, which are advanced, and legal technologies that are used and welcomed on our network. We in no way disparage the application itself," he wrote. "We are attempting to make it more efficient."

He also sent along this white paper (PDF) which documents simulations of the P4P technology that AT&T has been running on its network in collaboration with researchers from Yale and Washington Universities.

So, the two top telcos in the U.S. plan to work with P2P applications, it seems. The telcos' tentative embrace of P2P has not only public policy ramifications, but might also emerge as a marketplace competitive issue. If phone companies don't "throttle" P2P applications but cable operators do, is that a selling point to consumers?

Full post as published by IP Democracy on March 18, 2008 (boomark / email).