While other people were using Napster to download pirated songs, Randy Saaf had a bigger idea for sharing files over the Internet.
Saaf, then a first-year student at the UCLA Law School, wondered why not use the same kind of software as Napster to transfer files for business, not just fun? He called his friend Octavio Herrera–who had just been accepted to business school–and spun the idea to him.
The two, who met while working in software development at Raytheon Co. in El Segundo, Calif., got so excited that each abandoned the security of an advanced degree.
Almost nine months later, Saaf’s idea has turned into InterFriendly.net, a company started by six friends who are betting their careers on an idea called “peer-to-peer networking,” also known as P2P.
They’re not alone. Peer-to-peer networking is rapidly becoming the next big thing in the tech world.
P2P networking uses software to create “virtual networks” across the Internet. Like Napster or Gnutella–the music services that enable people to trade digital sound files online–P2P sends files over the Web between people who agree to share them. P2P software doesn’t require a central server, which means it turns any home PC with a modem into a network hub, accessible by anyone who is authorized to use it, from anywhere on the Net.
P2P got a stamp of approval in August from no less than Intel Corp., the world’s largest maker of computer chips, which unveiled its own initiative to push the use of the technology at its Intel Developer Forum in San Jose, Calif.
In a keynote speech, Intel’s chief technology officer, Pat Gelsinger, called P2P “the next computing revolution.” Intel’s newest chip, the Pentium 4, due out later this year, also is aimed at speeding up P2P applications.
“Everyone is getting into this now, and we had the idea six months ago,” Saaf said. “Six months in the world of the Internet is a lifetime.” InterFriendly.net started with just Saaf, Herrera and several other friends from Raytheon: Jason Neu and Ron Paxson of Laguna Beach, Calif., and Stefan Kaczmarek and Jay Mares of Los Angeles. All except Paxson, 52, are in their 20s.
“We have the vision that private, business-to-business networks are the future,” said Herrera, who serves as the company’s chief financial officer.
“This is a technology that’s going to change the Internet. That’s why we’re here.”
