Coobol, the new p2p R&D firm, mapped Skype supernodes earlier this week. (Full size image, 1.1MB) A Coobol spokesman explained it like this:

A Skype supernode is a dynamic peer-to-peer server in SkypeNet. A supernode is one of Skype’s users. Powered by these unknown supernodes or users across the world, Skype is able to provide the super world telephony communication system for free. However, this is not something new. As we all know, this is just the basic theory of peer-to-peer technology. Inspired by p2p mechanism, Coobol will provide our partners with software, solutions and Internet platforms for them to build a variety of applications, such as P2P network security, content publication, streaming media, global VOIP network, virtual office, SNS (Social Network Service) etc. We are determined to be a world-class peer-to-peer research and development company.

Coobol is a peer-to-peer technology specialist. They focus on the research and development of software, network communication platforms and tools based on peer-to-peer technology. They "bring ordinary people together to create miracles." The name Coobol was created initially by team members during a tea party. Their office is in Hong Kong.

There are many things we don't know about Skypenet, that I would hope technical R&D firms like Coobol might be paid to investigate. For instance,

• What is the frequency distribution of Skype supernode lifespans?
• Why are Chinese Skype supernodes not shown on the map? Where else are these factors at play?
• How does the number of supernodes vary by time, for example by time of day and day of week?
• How many supernodes are being operated by Skype itself instead of its users?
• How many supernodes would an attacker have to disable to cause the remaining supernodes to overload?
• What is the range of Skype users supported by supernodes? Does this vary a great deal?
• Any way to tell how many supernodes are being run over dial-up connections?
• Do all the regions have similar ratios of nodes to supernodes? Or do they vary?
• Are the number of supernodes keeping up with the number of active Skype users? With the the number of minutes served?
• If you can identify Skype supernode IP addresses, can you measure the amount of cloud traffic a supernode passes along? The amount of chat/voice/video/data relay bandwidth?