[wsfii-discuss] Bandwidth Optimization book sprint project launched!

[Rob Flickenger]

Hello, all--

It looks like another project originally conceived at WSFII London is  
ready for release.  I wish I could join you in Dharamsala!

Cheers,

--Rob

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Trieste, Italy-- The BMO Book Sprint Team is pleased to announce the  
release of the new free book, "How To Accelerate Your Internet: A  
practical guide to Bandwidth Management and Optimization using Open  
Source Software".  The book was released in October 2006 under a  
Creative Commons license, and was written in an effort to help  
network architects understand and troubleshoot problems with managing  
Internet bandwidth, which often result in unnecessarily high  
operational costs in the developing world.

Network connections are very expensive in most parts of the world,  
and it is often costly and difficult to add additional network  
capacity.  Therefore, effective management and optimization of  
bandwidth is crucial.  Research and education benefit significantly  
from Internet resources, yet the majority of institutions take little  
or no action to manage their bandwidth usage.  This waste results in  
high operating costs, slow network connections, and frustrated  
network users.

The goal of the book is to provide practical information on how to  
gain the largest possible benefit from your connection to the  
Internet.  By prioritizing certain kinds of network activity,  
reducing the impact of spam and viruses, providing local content  
caching, and performing extensive monitoring and analysis of network  
usage, Internet consumption can be brought to manageable levels.   
This makes it possible to provide equitable access for all users,  
even when the available bandwidth is quite small.

But technical solutions only solve part of the problem.  In order to  
prioritize network traffic, an organization needs to have a clear  
idea of the intended purpose of the network connection, as well as  
insight into how the connection is being used.  The book addresses  
this complex topic by covering the three major components of  
effective bandwidth management:  Effective policy, extensive  
monitoring & analysis, and solid network implementation.  In  
addition, troubleshooting techniques, advanced performance tuning  
tips and tricks, and real-world case studies are also provided.

The Book Sprint began with online correspondence via email, which led  
to an initial face-to-face meeting of bandwidth management experts  
from around the world in May 2006.  Intense online collaboration  
followed over the next few months, which then culminated in the  
production of the 300 page printed book, as well as a PDF and HTML  
version.  The book was sponsored by the International Network for the  
Availability of Scientific Publications (http://inasp.info/), and was  
produced in association with the Abdus Salam International Centre for  
Theoretical Physics (http://www.ictp.it/), Aidworld (http:// 
www.aidworld.org/), and Hacker Friendly LLC (http:// 
hackerfriendly.com/).   By releasing this work under a Creative  
Commons license, the Book Sprint Team hopes to disseminate it as  
widely as possible, bringing this information into the hands of  
people who need it most.

The book can be downloaded for free, or a printed copy may be  
purchased at the book's website: http://bwmo.net/