How practical is network coding?

With network coding, intermediate nodes between the source and the receivers of an end-to-end communication session are not only capable of relaying and replicating data messages, but also of coding incoming messages to produce coded outgoing ones. Recent studies have shown that network coding is beneficial for peer-to-peer content distribution, since it eliminates the need for content reconciliation, and is highly resilient to peer failures. In this paper, we present our recent experiences with a highly optimized and high-performance C++ implementation of randomized network coding at the application layer. We present our observations based on an extensive series of experiments, draw conclusions from a Wide range of scenarios, and are more cautious and less optimistic as compared to previous studies.