1989
RFC 1112 describes IP multicast host extensions
Network / Tech History
The Story of Multicast
Why send identical data to a hundred receivers individually when the network can distribute it selectively?
The Problem
Unicast scales poorly when many receivers need the same stream. Broadcast reaches everyone, including devices that cannot use the data.
The Story
IP multicast was developed to make group communication more efficient. RFC 1112 described host extensions and the idea of multicast groups.
The Technical Idea
Senders transmit to a group address. Receivers join groups. IGMP tells the network which ports need which groups; IGMP snooping helps switches distribute traffic.
What Survived Until Today?
Group addresses, IGMP, snooping and queriers are central terms. Multicast is powerful, but not automatically self-healing.
Why Event Technicians Still Care
sACN, Dante multicast, discovery protocols and streaming can use multicast. Wrong switch configuration quickly creates unnecessary load.
Eventhacker Field Example
An sACN system sends many universes. Without IGMP snooping, ports receive data they do not need.
Timeline
1990s
IGMP becomes more common in IP networks
2000s
multicast becomes practically relevant in media and lighting networks