"Personal computers will become the Home Entertainment Hub in five years," predicts Robert Mayer, CEO of PeerApp, developer of advanced technology that more than doubles broadband cable capacity. Once reviled for encouraging online piracy, movie and TV producers now embrace peer-to-peer file sharing to distribute content. This will turn every broadband-connected PC into the go-to source for entertainment, news and games.
Downloading a two-minute version of "The Office" or Beyonce’s latest hit to your laptop is only the start of a technological revolution that will turn every PC into a Home Entertainment Hub – changing forever the way local TV affiliates and cable companies are paid for delivering movies and TV programs to viewers.
PC to TV Transfer is Coming Wave
"Entertainment formatted for PCs, IPods and PDAs has everyone talking. But the real impact will be the PC-TV transfer. Within five years, you will download high-quality, feature-length movies and TV programs from the Internet for transfer to your large-screen, Hi-Def TV. That means instant access to just about anything that has been produced worldwide, be it a Bergman classic, Bollywood creation, an episode of "24", or football from Brazil. Far more choice and cheaper than today’s limited offerings," Says Robert Mayer, PeerApp CEO, adding that the industry is wrestling with new business models that will compensate cable companies, overburdened ISPs and local TV affiliates for their role in distribution.
Mayer’s PeerApp, Newton, MA (www.peerapp.com) is at the vanguard of technology that is making this happen. PeerApp has developed a next-generation P2P solution that provides an efficient and scalable infrastructure for distribution of digital content through existing broadband networks that connect the world’s population to the World Wide Web.
Look at these trends:
Hollywood studios are beginning to see the benefits Internet-based distribution of movies, TV, music and games, and they are looking for ways to better harness broadband connected PCs to bring their product to their customers.
Warner Bros.’ and its alliance with Bertelsmann AG to sell movies online in Germany banks on the P2P Internet-based file transfer technology.
Disney CEO, Robert Iger, blasted the music industry for fighting music downloads instead of embracing them — Iger wants to sell individual episodes of Disney’s ABC Television programming via the Internet – bypassing network, cable and local affiliate
A movie studio or TV producer can use the Internet to distribute entertainment by renting space on a server and directing customers to this single, often-crowded, source that can be thousands of miles away. P2P file transfer spreads out storage by turning millions of Internet connected PCs into "mini-servers" that store high-demand content and help its distribution. PeerApp’s technology further enhances the process by sensing high-demand content and caching on temporary centralized storage, at the Internet Service Provider's facility.
"Peer to Peer file transfer began as a convenient way to pirate movies and music – resulting in protracted legal battles with the entertainment industry. No more. With the advent of Digital Rights Management, copyright owners and producers can now be compensated when consumers use P2P file sharing to download entertainment from the Internet at say $1 for an individual song or $5 for a movie," says Mayer.
Mayer adds, "Though PC-delivered entertainment is only in its infancy, movies, music and games already take up 70 % of all Internet bandwidth capacity. Consequently, ISPs such as AOL, Verizon, and Comcast that deliver the Internet to consumers have had to lease increasingly more bandwidth to meet demand for high-speed downloads."
PeerApp's advanced P2P caching technology squeezes 60 % more bandwidth capacity out of existing cables. The company is now targeting markets in Asia where cable capacity cannot keep up with demand for entertainment as well as South America and Africa where capacity is minimal.
Robert Mayer, CEO of PeerApp is an outspoken visionary and technology leader, For an interview contact Dick Pirozzolo at 781-235-9911.
