An optimized multicast-based data dissemination middleware: a demonstration

A major problem on the Internet is the scalable dissemination of information. This problem is particularly acute exactly at the time when the scalability of data delivery is most important. One proposed solution to this scalability problem is to use multicast communication. However, allowing multicast communication introduces many nontrivial data management problems, such as caching, consistency, and scheduling. We have built a middleware that unifies and extends state-of-the-art data management methods and algorithms into one software distribution. Its flexible and extensible architecture is built from individual components that can be selected or replaced depending on the underlying multicast transport mechanism or on the application needs. Particular care has gone into the design of the algorithms to optimize the user-perceived level of service. We demonstrate our middleware within the context of the RODS application.