Multi-torrent: a performance study and applications

Empirical evidence suggests that most nodes in BitTorrent (BT) participate in multiple torrents, but surprisingly little research exists on this topic. Here, we focus on a multi-torrent system, and specifically on (a) what incentives could be provided for nodes to contribute resources as seeds in a multi-torrent environment, and (b) what are the resulting performance consequences. We show why the current BT lacks incentives for nodes to stay as seeds. Motivated by that, we propose a cross torrent based method to encourage nodes to stay as seeds and present an extensive performance study to illustrate the benefits of our approach.