| Type | Private company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Internet Software & Services |
| Founded | 2004 |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California, United States |
| Area served | Worldwide |
| Key people | Eric Klinker , CEO Ashwin Navin Bram Cohen |
| Products | Consumer Freeware Content Delivery Embedded Software |
| Employees | 60 (2011) |
| Website | BitTorrent.com |
BitTorrent, Inc., headquartered in San Francisco, California, is a privately held American company that is responsible for the ongoing development of the BitTorrent peer-to-peer protocol, as well as the ongoing development of µTorrent and BitTorrent Mainline, two clients for that protocol.
Today, files transferred using the BitTorrent protocol constitute a significant slice of all Internet traffic. The company was founded on September 22, 2004 by Bram Cohen and Ashwin Navin.
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The company offers popular free consumer software such as μTorrent and the original BitTorrent Mainline client. The clients use the BitTorrent peer to peer protocol, by which files are distributed in small pieces without the need for centralized data centers.
BitTorrent, Inc. also offers BitTorrent DNA (Delivery Network Accelerator),[1] a free content delivery service based on the BitTorrent protocol that allows content providers to distribute their content using the bandwidth of their users.
Additionally, BitTorrent Inc. licenses its technology and brands to corporate customers. The BitTorrent Software Development Kit (SDK) for Devices enables partners to integrate BitTorrent technology into their hardware products.[2]
In April 2006, BitTorrent was selected as 2006 Red Herring 100 North America Finalist.[3]
In June 2007, the company received CNET’s 2007 Webware 100 Award.[4]
In June 2007, BitTorrent was the recipient of 2007 DCIA Innovator’s Award.[5]
In November 2007, BitTorrent received Streaming Media Readers’ Choice Award.[6]
In May 2010, BitTorrent was recognized as one of the “2010 Hottest San Francisco Companies” by Lead411.[7]
BitTorrent Inc. also promotes development of the BitTorrent protocol through R&D and open specifications. Open source contributions are linked from http://www.bittorrent.com/opensource and protocol development discussions are hosted on http://www.bittorrent.org. BitTorrent Inc. also contributes through more broadly focused standards bodies like the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) at the LEDBAT working group http://www.ietf.org/html.charters/ledbat-charter.html
According to the company's website, BitTorrent Inc. has announced partnerships with many companies, including, for venture capital, Accel Partners and DCM, technology partners ESA Flash Components, NTL:Telewest, Opera Software, and device partners Buffalo Technology, D-Link, I-O Data, Marvell Semiconductors, Netgear, Planex Communications Inc., and QNAP Systems Inc.[8][9]
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