Open source technology bittorrent to be focus of Nov. 16 talk at NJIT

The NJIT student chapter of the Association of Computing Machinery has invited NJIT College of Computing Sciences Associate Dean Barry Cohen to speak on Nov. 16, 2011, about the Open Source file distribution technology BitTorrent. Cohen will take a closer look at this very popular 10-year-old upstart technology, which now accounts for a substantial share of all Internet traffic.

"BitTorrent organizes peer-to-peer cooperation on the Internet on a really huge scale, democratizing access to distributing big files of any kind," says Cohen.

His talk will detail how a disruptive software technology is conceived and what drives the direction of its continuing development. Cohen will answer questions like how a technology can function at Internet scale, plus whether Open Source technology, such as BitTorrent, can be the basis of a successful business.

The talk, which is open to the public, will take place at 3 p.m. in Room 1100 of the Guttenberg Information Technologies Center (GITC) Building, which is located on the NJIT Campus at Central Avenue and Lock Street.

Cohen's research interests include computational biology, algorithm design and cryptography. He received his doctorate in computer science from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Reservations for this event are recommended. Contact Serena Branson, 973-596-5646, for more information.

Provided by New Jersey Institute of Technology