Multicast WWW (mcwww)
---------------------

 Charter
 Last Modified: 06/05/2000

 Current Status: Concluded Working Group

 Chair(s):
     Bernard Aboba  <aboba@internaut.com>
     Ross Finlayson  <finlayson@cs.stanford.edu>

 Applications Area Director(s):
     Ned Freed  <ned.freed@mrochek.com>
     Patrik Faltstrom  <paf@cisco.com>

 Applications Area Advisor:
     Ned Freed  <ned.freed@mrochek.com>

 Mailing Lists: 
     General Discussion:
     To Subscribe:      
     Archive:           

Description of Working Group:

Many Web sites that distribute popular, frequently updated content
experience problems with "flash crowds": thousands of access per
minute to the same Web page overload the Web server or the network
link leading to the server. Moreover, with the increasing growth
of "push" technology, it is likely that these problems will get worse,
not better. 

It is possible that integrating IP multicast with the 
transport protocol used by the Web (HTTP) may be used
both to solve serious existing operational problems like "flash
crowds", and to avoid creating new problems due to "server push"
applications. Several applications (i.e. cache stuffing) appear to be
naturally amenable to use of unreliable multicast. Thus, moving ahead
on unreliable webcasting will serve to advance these applications as
well as to potentially provide short-term solutions for other
applications.

The primary goal of this BOF will be to see if there is enough
agreement on the problems to be solved, and enough
interest in moving forward to form a working group on the 
subject of unreliable multicasting of Web content.

 Goals and Milestones:


 Internet-Drafts:

  No Current Internet-Drafts.

 Request For Comments:

  None to date.