This article will explore recent advancements in internet transmission technology, as well as the historical development and challenges of Thunder. While we may not be fully confident in using technology to question new business models like Thunder, it's important to understand why it rose to prominence 15 years ago. To do that, we need to look back at the evolution of the internet itself.
The way data is transmitted over the internet has gone through three major transformations.
First phase: Early Internet – Centralized Servers
In the early days, files were stored on centralized servers. When a user wanted to download something, they would connect to the server and retrieve the file. Protocols like HTTP and FTP were used for this purpose.
HTTP was primarily used for downloading content, while FTP allowed users to both download and upload files—commonly used in government and academic networks.
However, HTTP and FTP had two major limitations:
a) The availability of resources was limited by the storage capacity of the central server.
b) The server’s transmission capacity was limited, causing slow speeds when many users tried to access or transfer large files simultaneously.
Back then, the internet had very little content. Twenty years ago, there were no platforms like iQiyi or NetEase Cloud. Users had limited access to digital media, and the backbone network infrastructure was underdeveloped. Dial-up modems and early fiber optics meant slower speeds and higher costs, which further restricted the spread of online content.
Although HTTP and FTP solved the basic problem of “having a channel,†the growing demand for “accessibility†and “speed†remained unsolved.
Second phase: Thunder’s First Gold – Decentralized P2P
P2P, or Peer-to-Peer, is a decentralized transmission method where each user acts as both a downloader and a server. This means that when you download a file, you also help others download it from your device.
The P2P transmission process works like this:
The entire file is split into smaller parts → BT seeds are created, containing information about the file and tracking details → users get the seed file → the download tool parses the file info and tracks other users’ IP addresses → connections are initiated → multiple users download different parts of the file directly from each other (no need to go through a central server).
P2P solved two key issues left by HTTP/FTP:
I. “Can’t Get Itâ€: Without a central server, users could share resources via seeds, greatly increasing resource availability. Many individuals had dozens of gigabytes of movies and TV shows on their hard drives, which helped drive the growth of external storage devices.
II. “Fast and Fastâ€: Each P2P user acted as a mini-server. The more users joined, the more servers were available, resulting in faster download speeds.
In the third stage, we’ll discuss what happened next. But first, let’s take a closer look at what Thunder did during this time.
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