Announcing a newly published Informational document in the GGF document series: Title: Peer-to-Peer Requirements on the Open Grid Services Architecture Framework Author/editor: Karan Bhatia GFD #: GFD-I.049 Download link: http://www.ggf.org/ggf_docs_final.htm Abstract: As the next generation of grid computing protocols centered on web services and the Open Grid Services Architecture (OGSA) are developed, the Peer-to-Peer community must determine how these protocols can be used for building Peer-to-Peer applications. Such applicability is not immediately obvious since Peer-to-Peer systems have significantly different properties compared to traditional server-based grid systems. For example, Peer-to-Peer systems exhibit different models of security and trust (machine user is typically also the administrator), have different connectivity characteristics (machine IP addresses may change due to mobility or firewalls/nats), and different usage models (instant messaging, file sharing, and collaboration). Because of these differences, Peer-to-Peer applications are likely to require different capabilities in the infrastructure than server-based grid applications. Yet despite these differences, the shear numbers of desktop systems available today make the potential advantages of interoperability between desktops and servers into a single grid system quite compelling. Hence, the focus of this document is on developing a set of requirements for OGSA to be used to build Peer-to-Peer applications. -- Greg Newby (GGF Editor)