Microsoft’s UK division is developing its own form of peer-to-peer file sharing software similar to BitTorrent, but considerably faster.

The software giant hopes its new program, codenamed Avalanche, will be used to legitimately distribute licensed media and software.

Unlike BitTorrent, where users must wait for “chunks” of a file to be downloaded from peers who share the identical data, Avalanche can rebuild missing parts of a file using a technology called “network encoding.”

Once specific parts of a file have been downloaded to a user’s computer, Microsoft’s peer-to-peer file sharing program has the ability to generate missing data on its own. According to Microsoft, this will speed up the download process by up to 70 per cent.

As well, Avalanche is designed to automatically share files on a user’s computer, increasing a file’s availability to the public.

Recently, US courts have worked to shut down major websites that contain links to torrents as the entertainment industry seeks to minimize illegal file sharing.

However, proponents argue BitTorrent provides an affordable means of content distribution because large files do not have to be stored on a central server. Instead, all users who download the file share it with others, deferring bandwidth costs from the distributor.

Microsoft says it will include a digital rights management system in Avalanche, allowing the software to share purchased content with other users who buy identical music, movies, or software.

The company has not announced when Avalanche will be available to the public.






Related Stories: