Application Layer Multicast Extensions to RELOAD

Native multicast deployment is relatively slow and linked with a number of issues. However, there are a number of native multicast regions. Application Layer Multicast (ALM) can be used in areas of the network where there is no native multicast available. The SAM (Scalable Adaptive Multicast) Research group within the IRTF is investigating hybrid approaches to multicast, involving native deployments were available and ALM in other regions. SAM is using a P2P overlay to connect the nodes. Here we describe a protocol and API extensions to RELOAD for constructing Scalable Adaptive Multicast (SAM) sessions using hybrid combinations of ALM, native multicast, and multicast tunnels. The Automatic Multicast Tunneling (AMT) relay and gateway elements are employed for interoperation between native regions and ALM regions.