A tutorial and description of the core concepts and real-world applications of IP multicast, one of the most effective solutions for alleviating network and server congestion. The author, one of the key technologists in multicasting, describes a series of multicast applications and shows how they can help avoid infrastructure overload.

Seen as the next great leap in Internet technology, multicast is a set of Internet protocols and related technologies that enable the distribution of data to multiple individual hosts--without causing network and server overload. Multicast is at the heart of many new networking applications being developed today, such as multimedia events, software and critical data distribution through networks, and distance learning. This session will provide a broad overview of multicast technology, a detailed discussion of different multicast applications, and true case studies by commercial organizations including Microsoft, 3Com, Smith Barney, General Motors, and Toys "R" Us. It also discusses barriers to deployment, as well as different network infrastructures and their relative ability to support multicast. Some specific areas discussed include:

• link layer versus network layer multicast

• multicast IP addressing, IGMP, and multicast routing protocols

• network infrastructures, including frame relay, virtual private networks, satellite networking, high-speed permanent links, switched links, and how each can support multicast

• replication, mirroring, and caching of Web sites today and how multicast technology can make improvements.