Power-Proxying on the NIC: A Case Study With the Gnutella File-Sharing Protocol

Edge devices such as desktop and laptop computers constitute a majority of the devices connected to the Internet today. Peer-To-Peer (P2P) file-sharing applications generally require edge devices to maintain network presence whenever possible to enhance the robustness of the file-sharing network, which in turn can lead to considerable wastage of energy. The authors show that energy can be saved by permitting edge devices to enter into standby state and still maintain network connectivity by proxying protocols in the Network Interface Card (NIC).