Content delivery network provider Velocix has come up with a hybrid-P2P protocol for live video streaming that uses both peer-to-peer technology and live streams from its own network caches.

The development has been made to counteract the loss of quality or reduction in audience size that often occurs when networks cannot cope with the demand for live online services such as news reports, sporting events or music concerts.

The Velocix system relies primarily on multiple cache servers to deliver video streaming, but it can also speed up content delivery by adding peer-to-peer sharing.

This means that each participant viewing the content is not only watching or listening to the live broadcast but is also effectively relaying the signal to other audience members at the same time.

This community distribution process is managed in real-time by control and routing algorithms hosted on the Velocix Network.

P2P streaming depends on users installing a client or plug-in, which means a high adoption rate is vital. Velocix will partner with major industry players such as Adobe to try to achieve this.