Akamai Buys P2P Startup

Akamai Technologies acquired Red Swoosh, a developer of peer-to-peer distribution software, in a deal worth $15 million in stock net of cash acquired.

Santa Monica, Calif.-based Red Swoosh, founded in 2001, develops client-based software for managing and distributing media files “in a controlled fashion,” according to Akamai. The Red Swoosh technology can more efficiently deliver large files than centralized Web servers can by transferring data among a group of individual users’ PCs.

Investors in Red Swoosh included Mark Cuban, billionaire backer of HD programmer HDNet and owner of the National Basketball Association’s Dallas Mavericks.

Akamai said Red Swoosh’s employees would be combined with the content-delivery-network company’s existing engineering team in California.