Vuze, Inc. (formerly Azureus, Inc.) is an American media-services provider founded in 2006 by some of the core developers of the

open source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use and view the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open source model is a decentrali ...

BitTorrent client The following is a general comparison of Glossary of BitTorrent terms#Client, BitTorrent clients, which are computer programs designed for peer-to-peer file sharing using the BitTorrent, BitTorrent protocol. The BitTorrent protocol coordinates se ...

Azureus. Based in

San Mateo, California San Mateo ( ) is the most populous city in San Mateo County, California, United States, on the San Francisco Peninsula. It is part of the San Francisco Bay Area metropolitan region, and is located about south of San Francisco. San Mateo border ...

, Vuze provides on-demand content watchable on a computer monitor or a connected TV. It bills itself as "the company behind Azureus".

History

The company claimed to have "distribution deals with 12 television, film and media companies". Vuze has attracted and featured content from global television networks such as the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Showtime Showtime or Show Time may refer to: Film * ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film * ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur Television Networks and channels * Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

, A&E, or

National Geographic Channel National Geographic (formerly National Geographic Channel; abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo or Nat Geo TV) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by the National Geographic Global Networks unit of Disney Enter ...

, along with production studios and content creators. In December 2006, the

announced that hundreds of episodes of its programs will be made available through Vuze (restricted by

DRM DRM may refer to: Government, military and politics * Defense reform movement, U.S. campaign inspired by Col. John Boyd * Democratic Republic of Madagascar, a former socialist state (1975–1992) on Madagascar * Direction du renseignement militair ...

). In January 2007, the company launched an Azureus-powered open entertainment platform called

Vuze Vuze (previously Azureus) is a BitTorrent client used to transfer files via the BitTorrent protocol. Vuze is written in Java, and uses the Azureus Engine. In addition to downloading data linked to .torrent files, Azureus allows users to view, p ...

(formerly Zudeo), which is intended to enable content providers to easily distribute their content over the Internet. In November 2007, Vuze filed a petition with the

U.S. Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains ju ...

to restrict Internet traffic throttling by Internet Service Providers (ISPs). Vuze filed its “Petition for Rulemaking” to urge the FCC to adopt regulations limiting Internet traffic throttling, a practice by which

ISPs ISPS may refer to: * Isoprene synthase The enzyme isoprene synthase (EC 4.2.3.27) catalysis, catalyzes the chemical reaction : prenyl pyrophosphate \rightleftharpoons isoprene + diphosphate This enzyme belongs to the family of lyases, specifical ...

block or slow the speed at which Internet content, including video files, can be uploaded or downloaded. The same month, PBS and Vuze launched a content Alliance. In December 2007, Vuze secured $20 million in its C round of funding. This round was led by

New Enterprise Associates New Enterprise Associates (NEA) is an American-based venture capital firm. NEA focuses investment stages ranging from seed stage through growth stage across an array of industry sectors. With over $25 billion in committed capital, NEA is one of t ...

(NEA), with existing investors

Redpoint Ventures Redpoint Ventures is an American venture capital firm focused on investments in seed, early and growth-stage companies. History The firm was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Menlo Park, California, with offices in San Francisco, Los Angel ...

, Greycoft Partners, BV Capital, and Jarl Mohn participating. As a result of the investment,

TiVo TiVo ( ) is a digital video recorder (DVR) developed and marketed by Xperi (previously by TiVo Corporation and TiVo Inc.) and introduced in 1999. TiVo provides an on-screen guide of scheduled broadcast programming television programs, whose fea ...

Co-Founder and former CEO Mike Ramsay joined the Vuze Board of Directors.

References

External links

* {{bittorrent Free software companies Companies based in San Mateo, California Software companies established in 2006 Online mass media companies of the United States Software companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area 2006 establishments in California