Journal of Computer Science 8 (7): 1134-1142, 2012 ISSN 1549-3636 © 2012 Science Publications Corresponding Author: Alhamza Munther, National Advanced IPv6 centre of Excellence (NAv6), University Sains Malaysia, 11800 Penang, Malaysia 1134 Peer-to-Peer Video Conferencing Using Hybrid Content Distribution Model Alhamza Munther, Salah Noori, Azlan Osman, Ayad Hussain, Imad Jasim and Ali Shanoon National Advanced IPv6 Centre of Excellence (NAv6), Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Penang, Malaysia Abstract: Problem statement: Multimedia Conferencing System (MCS) is a server-based video conferencing system. One of the most critical limitations faced by this approach is the scalability issue. In the MCS, the outgoing bandwidth of the server is shared among all concurrent clients. Thus, the more clients there are, the lesser the bandwidth each client can have. The performance of this approach therefore deteriorates rapidly as the number of simultaneous clients increases. In addition, a pure server- based solution is expensive. Approach: In this research, the server-based infrastructure is modified into a peer-to-peer video conferencing system while preserving the same functionality and features of the existing MCS. This modification can be achieved using a hybrid content distribution model, which is a combination of fluid and chunk content distribution models to distribute parts of the video stream fairly among participants. The hybrid content distribution model offers a better way of handling heterogeneous networks because it can distinguish between a fast peer and a slow peer, dealing with each one according to its capabilities. Results: In our proposed system, the function server will not be used for video distribution. Instead, it will only be used for monitoring and controlling the peers to reduce the burden on the servers. Experimental results conducted in the nation advanced IPv6 center as a real environment and live conferencing. Conclusion: This will lead to overcome the problem of scalability and a bandwidth bottleneck on the main server and achieve good way to distribute video chunks. Key words: Peer-to-peer, content distribution, heterogeneous network, widespread applications, video conferencing system INTRODUCTION Video conferencing applications are scalability issue limitation. Therefore, the overlay network is used to overcome all other limitations through the utilization of peer resources. An overlay network is a computer network built on top of another network. Nodes in the overlay are considered connected by virtual or logical links each corresponding to a path, perhaps through many physical links, in the underlying network (Andersen et al., 2001). Three kinds of overlay networks transfer the content parts: the Application Layer Multicast (ALM) network similar to (Pendarakis et al., 2001), the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) network such as Napster (Saroiu et al., 2003) and the Content Distribution Network (CDN) such as. Implementing multicast functionality at the application layer of the ALM network is feasible. CDN deploys servers in multiple, geographically diverse locations distributed over several Internet service providers. The client is requesting for the content directly from the nearest available server. P2P is an extremely popular method in which nodes in the network, called peers, offer resources such as bandwidth, processor and storing capacity to other nodes. Consequently, as the number of users increases, the global resources of the network also grow. Peers that serve another peer can also be chosen using proximity network criteria to avoid bottlenecks. On the other hand, there are generally two types of content distribution models as classified in (Saleh et al., 2011): Fluid model and Chunk Content Distribution model. Fluid model provides continuous transferring of the content from the source to the multiple receivers (Liu et al., 2003; Hossain et al., 2009). This model has a tightly coupled connection (directly distributed bit by bit continuously from source to destination) between adjacent peers; therefore, it is considered as an optimal distribution model to utilize bandwidth for fast peers while causing congestion for slow peers. The second type, Chunk content distribution model, chops the content into equally sized pieces (called chunks) and subsequently distributes each chunk. A peer not