GridNetworks, a two-year-old Seattle startup led by Internet veterans Jeff Payne and Bo Wandell, today plans to unveil a new content delivery service that streams full-screen “DVD-quality” video on behalf of entertainment companies.
Inspired by another Seattle network delivery service — namely BitTorrent — GridNetworks taps the power of individual computer users who download the company’s software to share portions of movies over the network. As reported in the P-I, a movie viewer in Kansas who downloaded the software and watched “Goodfellas” would have six-second segments of the movie stored on his or her computer.
Those segments can be reassembled with others in the network to provide the entire film to a person in Chicago who requests “Goodfellas.”
The company competes against established content delivery companies such as Akamai Technologies and Limelight Networks.
GridNetworks’ board of advisers includes former Expedia and AtomFilms executive Matt Hulett, Isilon Systems co-founder Sujal Patel and others. It has raised about $500,000 to date.
The company believes it can cut the delivery cost of a full-length feature film in half, slicing the delivery cost for a 1.2-gigabyte film at about 25 cents to 50 cents — a price point that could change the rules of online video.
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