In this paper, we propose a Two-tier Overlay Multicast Architecture (TOMA) to provide scalable and efficient multicast support for various group communication applications. In TOMA, Multicast Service Overlay Network (MSON) is advocated as the backbone service domain, while end users in the access domains form a number of small clusters, in which an application-layer multicast protocol is used f...

Multipoint communication allows information transfer within a group of peer entities and is becoming more and more relevant in distributed environments. For distributed or replicated data, it ensures an efficient communication without overloading the network. Multicast is defined as a subset of multipoint where a single sender transmits data to a group of receivers. Several classes of multicast...

A scalable multicast session announcement system is a key component of a group communication framework over the Internet. It enables the announcement of session parameters (like the {source address; group address} pair) to a potentially large number of users, according to each site administrator’s policy. This system should accommodate any flavor of group communication system, like the Any-Sour...

Advanced applications, such as distributed multimedia applications, require efficient communication subsystems providing a variety of services. Existing communication systems face increasing difficulties in fulfilling these requirements. In particular, the efficient provision of reliable group communication services in ATM-Networks remains a major unresolved issue. This paper presents a novel f...

We investigate the relationship between multicast routing algorithms and reliable multicast communication. To capture the impact of the multicast tree topology onto reliable multicast, we consider two performance measures, namely the probability mass function of successful receptions and the expected number of retransmissions needed to successfully deliver a packet from the source to all receiv...

My current major research focus is on multicast-based scalable data dissemination methods. Any casual user of the Web knows that there is a critical need for scalable data transfer methods. Web servers and networks can be brought to their knees by hot-spot access patterns. Examples of Internet hot spots include news sites such as CNN after the 2000 presidential elections, the NASA site after th...

We propose and analyze a hierarchical agent-based secure and reliable multicast (HASRM) algorithm for efficiently supporting secure and reliable mobile multicast in wireless mesh networks, with design considerations given to minimize the overall network cost incurred by reliable multicast packet delivery, mobility management, security key management, and group membership maintenance. HASRM dyna...

This paper addresses the problem of multiple multicast in WDM networks. It presents three efficient algorithms to construct an optimal/sub-optimal multicast tree for each multicast and minimise the network congestion on wavelengths. The first two algorithm achieve an optimal network congestion for a specific class of networks whose all wavelengths are globally accessible and convertible at a un...

The recent success of multicast applications such as Internet teleconferencing tools and distributed simulation illustrates the tremendous potential of applications built upon wide-area multicast communication services. However, in order to fully realize this potential of these applications, many technical challenges must still be met. This paper presents the issues and potential solutions surr...

Recent growth of the Internet and the introduc tion of new network services have led to the increased complexity of network protocols and protocol interac tion In particular the advent of IP multicast has con tributed to this added complexity Multicast enables group communication in an e cient manner Unlike traditional unicast protocols a multicast group may involve multiple senders and receive...