All you need to know to deploy IP Multicasting now -- and optimize it tomorrow.-- Practical approaches to deploying IP Multicast in medium-to-large sized companies.-- Detailed coverage of routing, administration, security and quality of service issues.-- Reviews all top multicasting applications, including conferencing, whiteboards, news/information updates and enterprise-wide software distribution.With Multicasting, it's possible to send data, video and audio to many requesting clients at once, across the Internet or any other IP network. Multicasting is at the heart of a new generation of Web applications, from real-time stock updates to software distribution. This is the first book that closely examines the protocols which make Multicasting possible -- and the thorny routing issues that arise in enterprise Multicasting.Understand the rationale for Multicast and the fundamentals of IP technology, including the "host group" model and the Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP). Learn how to implement Multicast routing today, and the role of techniques such as Reverse-Path Multicasting, Distance Vector Multicast Routing Protocol, Protocol-independent Multicast -- Dense Mode, and Multicast Extensions to OSPF. Then learn how multicast is evolving. Preview Core Based Trees, and Protocol-Independent. Multicast -- Sparse Mode. Understand how MBone fits -- and where it's headed. Finally, watch IP Multicast at work in state-of-the-art case studies, including InteropNet and the Georgia Tech campus network.