Sorry, folks--P2P isn't going make it in the enterprise. P2P had its chance a dozen years ago and never scaled beyond the workgroup. P2P had its chance a dozen years ago or more and never scaled beyond the workgroup. Anyone remember Artisoft? Ten years ago its LANtastic was the premier peer-to-peer network operating system. That was before Microsoft added P2P to Windows for Workgroups and drove the company completely out of the market. (LANtastic is still limping along under the corporate umbrella of network connectivity vendor SpartaCom Technologies.)
Novell, which uses a client/server model for its NetWare network OS, spanked Artisoft's butt in the battle for corporate desktops. Why? Because putting your critical resources in one carefully watched basket makes business sense.
Management is one part of why client/server is a better model for corporations. Centrally located resources are easier to manage than assets distributed across a company. Efficient backup, fault tolerance, and security are easier to manage on a centralized server.
Cost is another part. If each client acts as a server for every other client, you need faster desktop hardware and a faster network infrastructure.
P2P makes a fine consumer model, especially given the pervasive nature of the Internet. It's useful for exchanging files and messages, à la Napster and AOL's Instant Messenger, neither of which is an especially useful business tool. It might be useful to employ clients for their unused CPU cycles, like SETI@Home, but so far no one has put forth a workable product in that area, and when it does come, it won't really be peer-to-peer, but "server/client"--that is, a server will coordinate all the clients' resources.
Today, server-based computing is firmly entrenched in the business computing world. Even workgroup collaboration platforms, which might seem a natural for P2P applications, generally sport a client/server architecture. If there are going to be any pervasive changes to that model, it will be from products that give IT users compelling new features--and P2P doesn't measure up. Want further proof? The P2P Computing & Development conference scheduled to be held in New York next week was canceled due to lack of interest.
I'll be keeping an eye out for useful P2P products, and I'll let you know if I see anything that makes me change my mind--but right now, P2P in business is mostly hype.
Have you put P2P to work effectively in your organization? Talk Back below. Lee Schlesinger is executive editor of ZDNet's Business & Technology Channel.
