Software firm's chief is out as Vidius narrows its focus. (Technology).Two-year-old software developer Vidius Inc. has parted ways with its chairman and chief executive over a difference of opinion over the direction it was taking. Derek Broes, who joined the North Hollywood company within two months of its founding in 2000, said the split was mutual, based in part on his desire to continue what he was hired to pursue. "That comes with the territory of being with a startup," Broes said. Broes said he was charged with nurturing proprietary technology to track digital files among peer-to-peer networks (1) A network of computers configured to allow certain files and folders to be shared with everyone or with selected users. Peer-to-peer networks are quite common in small offices that do not use a dedicated file server. for record industry groups and the movie studios. That work led to the development of a software product called Port Authority, which allows administrative officials in a company monitor and restrict movement of sensitive documents out of the company network. Broes said the board was more interested in pursuing Port Authority than peer-to-peer work, in part because it was generating revenues. "We had to make a transition for the sake of the company," he said of the change of focus to push Port Authority. Broes said he hopes to work with vidius on his next venture: unified standards for moving entertainment across the Internet. Peer-to-peer networks are the next generation in Internet file swapping See peer-to-peer network and file sharing protocol. , allowing PC owners to transfer digital files -- predominantly pre·dom·i·nant adj. 1. Having greatest ascendancy, importance, influence, authority, or force. See Synonyms at dominant. 2. containing music -- to one another without going through a clearinghouse like Napster. Because the files are swapped, not sold, the artists and their labels aren't compensated. The Motion Picture Association of America, concerned about the impact on the nascent nascent /nas·cent/ (nas´ent) (na´sent) 1. being born; just coming into existence. 2. just liberated from a chemical combination, and hence more reactive because uncombined. digital film business, and the Recording Industry Association of America are now relying on Broes, who has resigned his posts as chairman and chief executive of Vidius and created the Distributed Computing (1) The use of multiple computers networked throughout a wide geographical area, or the world via the Internet, in order to solve a single problem. See grid computing. (2) The use of multiple computers in an enterprise rather than one centralized system. Standards Coalition. He said the group would operate on two fronts: develop standards for availability, reliability and security of digital distribution of copyrighted material, and then the ethics ethics, in philosophy, the study and evaluation of human conduct in the light of moral principles. Moral principles may be viewed either as the standard of conduct that individuals have constructed for themselves or as the body of obligations and duties that a surrounding sur·round tr.v. sur·round·ed, sur·round·ing, sur·rounds 1. To extend on all sides of simultaneously; encircle. 2. To enclose or confine on all sides so as to bar escape or outside communication. n. that distribution. The goal is to eliminate the legal scrambling See scramble. that occurs whenever a new threat to copyrighted material emerges on the Internet. "We have so many peer-to-peer networks being built in the shadows," Broes said. "(Battles) will happen if there are no standards in place because there's no such thing as a legal network." Having already found himself a liaison between content owners and the Internet companies that facilitate content distribution, Broes said, "I became the centerpiece for these discussions. Staff reporter Christopher Keough can be reached at (323) 549-5225 ext. 235, or at ckeough@labusinessjournal.com. |
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