Subject: [alto] About relay in realtime communication use case in alto problem statement

From: Tao Ma <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 2 Apr 2009 11:21:18 +0800

Hi,

I have interests in where ALTO can be used and how. The use case of alto
problem statement mentioned how ALTO would be used in realtime
communication. It is described that the ALTO can help users which have
limited access to Internet to find media relays with public address. Does
relay only helps the users which have limited access to Internet? I think
relay can help improve VoIP quality for users even fully connected to
Internet, according to Interent anti-triangle phenomenon and AS
relationships which is proven in by some papers and experiments. I doubt
whether ALTO should ignore this requirement and only consider finding relays
to help traverse NAT or firewall? Can the broader relay application(not only
for NAT traversal) be integrated into ALTO?

Tao Ma

Beijing University of Post and Telecommunications, Moblie life and new media
Lab

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From: "Jan Seedorf" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 2 Apr 2009 11:49:38 +0200

Dear Tao,

What you say is correct: considering real-time communications, ALTO can not only be beneficial for peers behind middleboxes, but also in other cases. 

> for NAT traversal) be integrated into ALTO?
The problem statement draft gives examples for use cases to motivate the need for ALTO. I think for that purpose the example of NAT traversal for real-time communications is sufficient.

If you think your additional use case affects ALTO requirements (i.e., it motivates additional requirements not yet included in the requirements draft [draft-kiesel-alto-reqs]), this needs to be discussed, of course. Currently, I do not see how the example you give below asks for additional requirements for an ALTO client-server protocol which are not already included in [draft-kiesel-alto-reqs]. But please elaborate on this list if you think so and specifically what those requirements are.

 - Jan

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Tao Ma [mailto:[email-masked]]
> Sent: Donnerstag, 2. April 2009 05:21
> To: Jan Seedorf; [email-masked]
> Cc: [email-masked]; [email-masked];
> [email-masked]
> Subject: [alto]About relay in realtime communication use case in alto
> problem statement
> 
> Hi,
>