The multicast service makes it possible to send large amounts of data such as video, TV and streaming between many different users at the same time without putting excessive strain on the network. The philosophy behind multicast is that data only once has to pass one link – regardless if there are 1 or 100, who wish to receive the data.
Forskningsnettet supports multicast, but as there often are many obstacles like firewalls, multicast does not play any important role among the services. The obstacles also mean that you have to make a thorough test before using it.
A multicast concert has been held using forskningsnettet. The data from a foreign symphony orchestra was reproduced at an auditive and visual concert at the University of Copenhagen.
IP multicast on Wikipedia
