AUSTIN, Texas -- Plans for secure, high-powered, peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing technology for academia has come one big step closer to fruition when today Penn State and Internet2(R) announced the release of open source code for their collaborative software project, LionShare.

Funded by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, LionShare merges electronic file-exchange capabilities with information gathering tools into one dynamic application.

Gary Augustson, Penn State's vice provost for information technology said, “This is a technology that promises to significantly improve the way institutions collaborate and support each other's academic endeavors, while simultaneously ensuring a secure authenticated computing environment for researchers who use its file-sharing capabilities."

This week's LionShare source code release will provide all interested programmers and developers with the opportunity to contribute valuable feedback and suggestions. At the same time, Lionshare partners including: Internet2, Simon Fraser University of Canada; and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology will continue to fine-tune the project software which is slated for official beta release for universities and institutions this upcoming January.

"We knew we had something special here, but there was no way we could have anticipated the enthusiasm that LionShare has generated,” commented Michael Halm, the project's lead architect and manager. "Organizations from around the world have contacted us with questions about the technology and requests for the open source code release date, and many groups have expressed interest in collaboration. We're pleased that the code is now available."

Several educational and research institutions have expressed interest in Lionshare’s unique capabilities for resource exchange - including its ability to transfer audio, video, scientific simulations, text, documents, research papers, Web resources and a variety of other learning activities.

“LionShare has enormous potential," remarked Loukas Kalisperis, professor of architecture at Penn State. "With this single application, collaborating faculty can build digital repositories such as 3-D architectural image collections, Web-based video archives and art collections. Faculty will also have a range of tools at their fingertips for managing and exchanging their own personal collections, in addition to having access to large-scale data repositories throughout the United States and Europe."

LionShare

Internet2