NUI Galway s Digital Enterprise Research Institute (DERI) recently hosted the 7th International Peer-to-Peer Conference which was attended by over 100 researchers and experts from industry. Peer-to-peer (P2P) technology has come into the limelight recently with applications like Skype and collaboration applications like Groove.

These applications critically depend on peer-to-peer technology which enables global scalability and robustness against failures at much lower costs than traditional data centre solutions as an application can make use of the computing resources of all participants. The next stage in its development will see the application of semantics to P2P technologies which will enable more effective inter-business communication and personal collaboration.

The International Peer-to-Peer Conference is the flagship conference gathering for leading international experts from both academia and industry. High profile speakers at this year s conference included: Dr Sandeep K. Singhal, Director Windows Networking, Microsoft Corporation, who gave a tutorial on the Peer-to-Peer and Collaboration Platform used in Microsoft s Windows operating system; Dr Wolfgang Kellerer, Senior Manager Future Networking Lab, NTT DoCoMo Euro-Labs, whose keynote speech addressed The Bright Future of P2P: a Telecom Operator s Perspective; and Prof Karl Aberer, Director of the Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research - Mobile Information and Communication Systems, who discussed how P2P can be used to improve search engines.

The uptake of P2P technologies by companies such as Microsoft and Skype clearly shows the relevance of P2P technology for modern software development. This significance is further emphasised by the sponsorship of the P2P conference by local industry including Cisco, Nortel and Storm Technologies.

Local industry can benefit from such conferences showcasing the latest scientific developments in a cutting edge technology domain by networking with leading experts in the field as well as a place to recruit engineers with the relevant skills.

Professor Manfred Hauswirth, Vice Director of DERI Galway, program chair and local organiser of P2P2007, said: "Local companies sponsoring and attending the conference have the opportunity to see what these highly qualified individuals have to offer. This in turn delivers a desperately needed injection of know how given the dramatically low numbers of Irish students in the ICT area."

ENDS