Peer-to-peer

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Peer-to-peer (P2P) computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads between peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the network, forming a peer-to-peer network of nodes.^[1] In addition, a personal area network (PAN) is also in nature a type of decentralized peer-to-peer network typically between two devices.^[2]

Peers make a portion of their resources, such as processing power, disk storage, or network bandwidth, directly available to other network participants, without the need for central coordination by servers or stable hosts.^[3] Peers are both suppliers and consumers of resources, in contrast to the traditional client–server model in which the consumption and supply of resources are divided.^[4]

While P2P systems had previously been used in many application domains,^[5] the architecture was popularized by the Internet file sharing system Napster, originally released in 1999.^[6] P2P is used in many protocols such as BitTorrent file sharing over the Internet^[7] and in personal networks like Miracast displaying and Bluetooth radio.^[8] The concept has inspired new structures and philosophies in many areas of human interaction. In such social contexts, peer-to-peer as a meme refers to the egalitarian social networking that has emerged throughout society, enabled by Internet technologies in general.