Gap Analysis in IP Multicast Dissemination

IP multicast is advantageous for high quality streaming applications and future needs in the Internet. However, it is generally recognized that IP multicast requires significant routing coordination and configuration, and hence its routing protocols are non-scalable. Recently, Source-Specific Multicast (SSM) has been standardized and proposed as the deployable IP multicast communication architecture. SSM basically works for the one-to-many communication, and eliminates many of the complexities the traditional many-to-many multicast communication has. While SSM gives advantages for the IP multicast deployment, there is still a gap between what is reported as the state-of-the-art in the literature and what could be implemented in practice. In this paper, we analyze the deployment barriers SSM creates, and consider how we can ease some of the barriers. To define the possible approaches, we discuss the functions SSM requires, and the necessary components network operators and application developers need to know for fulfilling the demand.