PRO-FLOW

SOS – Slow Internet

The Internet keeps getting slower. One of the culprits is the increase in multimedia-rich, interactive Web applications consisting of ever more and ever larger source files, each time with more functionalities. Meanwhile, there are also more and more options for circulating files over the World Wide Web: from CDN systems for online data distribution to P2P networks in which two end-users share media files. By optimizing those network technologies in a targeted way, the Internet speed effectively experienced by users could substantially increase. 

Drastic Cuts to Video-Rich Online Portals

The PRO-FLOW project aims to drastically curtail the Internet delay experienced at online portals with a lot of video data. The sequence and priorities in delivering the various component files seem crucial if optimal, fast user experience is to be achieved. By equipping networks with intelligent components and using new network protocols and Web standards, such as HTTP/2 and HTML5, the orchestration of such delivery can be greatly optimized. PRO-FLOW is pursuing a two-pronged objective in this respect. Firstly, the project aims to build a CDN network with a component that predicts and orchestrates the delivery of application files. Secondly, it proposes to develop a P2P network with a functionality to configure video collaboration in a decentralized and scalable way. 

PRO-FLOW is therefore studying both real-time and non-real-time aspects of video-rich portals and online video collaboration: 

• Which mechanisms are necessary to store the components of online applications in network nodes beforehand? And how do you take into account forecasts of user demand in this process?
• Which strategies should you define to store and to fragment dynamic data in an HTML5 environment? 
• How do you enable scalable video encoding, to deliver video in real time for instance? 

These are just some examples of questions that PRO-FLOW plans to answer.

"PRO-FLOW is researching the building blocks for a CDN component that predicts and orchestrates the delivery of application files, and for a P2P functionality to configure scalable video collaboration. Both can contribute significantly to a drastic increase in the Internet speed experienced by users."

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