Business and technical aspects of mobile peer-to-peer social networks

Abstract

Introduction of mobile high-capacity networks, as well as the widespread penetration of powerful mobile handsets provide a good basis for the development of peer-to-peer applications in the mobile environment. However, it is not certain if the P2P services that were well adopted in the fixed In-ternet can also be successfully launched in the mobile environment.

This article dissertation presents research results of mobile community service provisioning using P2P technology. The study was carried out on two levels: technical and business. On the business level the dissertation discusses the mobile P2P service provisioning ecosystem including analysis of stakeholder needs as well as potential scenarios for mobile P2P services. The dissertation presents the results of a user survey and a literature study. The presented material reveals that there is room for P2P services in the mobile environment, however user requirements are different than in the fixed environment. The dissertation also presents a scenario planning methodology that proposes the Schoemaker’s variant of scenario planning as a suitable method for evaluating emerging mobile services. Consistent and coherent learning scenarios that were developed using the proposed methodology are also presented.

On the technical level, the dissertation presents P2P system architectures, protocols, and algorithms that enable the provision of community services in the mobile environment. In particular, the dissertation describes the world first resource sharing system that works on top of SIP networks. The system enables mobile phone users to share resources with each other and does not require any changes to the basic SIP infrastructure. A Social DHT architecture that allows for efficient formation of mobile communities is also presented. The dissertation shows how the P2P infrastructure can become a feasible cost efficient replacement for a mobile infrastructure by presenting a Distributed IP Multimedia Subsystem as well as a pioneering new mobile P2PSIP system for real-time communication services. The dissertation discusses an implementation of a P2P system that allows mobile phone users to search for knowledge in their trusted social communities overcoming the problems identified in the business study of the dissertation. The results of measurements and trials conducted show the technical feasibility of mobile community service provisioning using P2P technology.