Application-Level Multicast Transmission Techniques over the Internet

In this dissertation, we introduce a proposal for building an alternative group communication service that shifts the multicast support from core routers to end-systems. Our proposal, called Host Based Multicast (HBM), operates at application-level and provides an e#cient multi-point data distribution service for one-to-many or many-to-many communications. With this approach end-hosts (running the application), dedicated servers and/or border routers automatically self-organize into an overlay distribution topology where data is disseminated. This overlay topology can be composed of both unicast connections and native multicast islands (e.g. within each site). Therefore it o#ers a group communication service to all hosts, even those located in a site that does not have access for any reason, to native multicast routing