ntl, one of the UK's leading consumer broadband providers and BitTorrent, developer of the world's most popular peer-to-peer (P2P) application will launch a technical trial to evaluate ultra high-speed, legal video downloads in the UK.
The trial download service will feature a large variety of licensed video content including popular movies, music videos and television programmes.
Central to the trial will be a unique proposition. It will combine the assets of BitTorrent's file-swarming P2P client to maximise distribution with CacheLogic's P2P content caches to further accelerate delivery and off-set the network costs normally associated with P2P, and utilizing ntl's ultra-high speed access network. It will provide ground-breaking download speeds of broadcast quality content.
Kevin Baughan, director of network strategy at ntl, said,
"Ntl is delighted to be working with its technology trial partners, BitTorrent and CacheLogic, in order to extend its high-quality video experience from the set top box to the media player. The trial will be a unique combination of BitTorrent's P2P client closely coupled with CacheLogic's network based content caching and ntl's deep fibre network in order to offer a transformational video downloading experience."
Ashwin Navin, co-founder and president of BitTorrent, added,
"As the world's leading P2P application, we are engaging artists and ISPs to build a consumer-friendly ecosystem around our protocol that allows all involved to benefit from P2P. We are pleased to announce our work with ntl and CacheLogic, as both entities share our vision for the future of content distribution."
The technology trial is designed to utilize CacheLogic's market leading P2P caching products to ensure the highest quality of service (QoS) by improving network efficiency, mitigating the cost of traffic and accelerating downloads.
The trial is expected to start in April 2006.