BitTorrent Acquires µTorrent

WebKnowHow
Friday, December 8, 2006; 03:02 AM

BitTorrent, Inc., home to the world’s leading peer-assisted digital content delivery platform, today announced it has acquired µTorrent, a lightweight and efficient implementation of the BitTorrent protocol. The objective is to combine BitTorrent’s expertise in networking protocols with µTorrent’s high-performance design and compelling user interface (UI). This collaboration of best-of-breed technology will significantly benefit the BitTorrent ecosystem, including hardware partners, content creators, content distributors, and a thriving end user community. Together, the combined install base now exceeds 135 million worldwide.

“BitTorrent recognizes µTorrent’s exceptionally well-written codebase and robust user community,” said Bram Cohen, CEO and Co-Founder of BitTorrent. “Ludvig Strigeus, the developer of µTorrent, clearly put a significant amount of time into optimizing the client, which has already been widely adopted by the BitTorrent community as a safe and efficient implementation of the BitTorrent protocol.”

“By teaming with BitTorrent, we will benefit from a truly global reach and technology leadership to deliver the best experience for our users,” said Ludvig Strigeus, developer of µTorrent. “Combining µTorrent with the important developments BitTorrent, Inc. already has underway will allow us to forge a business model and enjoy an even larger user base than we currently enjoy as separate entities.”

Following the acquisition, patented content delivery innovations made by BitTorrent, Inc. will be integrated in the µTorrent client in a manner that will remain seamless to the community of users. Ultimately, the integration of best-of-breed BitTorrent technology will result in an improved client and an enhanced user experience. It will also accelerate BitTorrent’s plans to provide high-performance content delivery services that power websites seeking the most efficient platform for distributing large, high-quality files. Lastly, the incorporation of µTorrent’s lightweight codebase strengthens the adoption of BitTorrent technology in embedded systems, including televisions, mobile phones and other non-PC platforms.