The company BitTorrent is about to begin terminating employees, according to a report in GigaOM. The last straw apparently was the failure to consummate a deal that would have spun off a consumer distribution initiative to retailer Best Buy for $15 million.
BitTorrent the company uses the open source BitTorrent P2P software to speed up copying large files such as videos over the Net and over mobile phone networks. It established an online video store where users could legally buy and download movies and TV shows from major studios.
BitTorrent software is considered the fastest P2P technology. Some major cablecos and telcos have tested using BitTorrent’s P2P software to lessen the burden that video downloads cause on their broadband networks.
BitTorrent’s main asset appears to be its ability to embed its technology in hardware devices such as digital media adapters, mobile phones and set-top boxes. Companies like Pace Micro and Netgear have products with BitTorrent technology built-in.
At the dawn of the mobile media era, it would seem that BitTorrent’s technology and know how would be worth keeping afloat. However, sometimes poor management causes good technology to fail in the marketplace.