The "guy" of P2P says:

"Distributed computing is an exciting technological area"

That's the NEXT HOT THING (The latest saying in Silicon Valley)

Jorge Nascimento Rodrigues with Gene Kan before his "acquisition" by Sun Microsystems (2001)

The emergent "buzzword" in 2001 of Silicon Valley is called peer to peer - abbreviated, P2P.

It is a technological platform that allows direct relations between peer of the same net without the need of passing through a centralised mechanism.

In technological dialect: distributed computing. Among us, we have just started hearing about B2B - business to business -, that is, transactions on the web between companies of the same platform directed by an aggregator and is already knocking on the door a new technology that will turn that model of digital business upside down.

One of the guys of Silicon Valley in the middle of this revolution is Gene Kan, a recent graduated of the University of California in Berkeley, that, at 24, created, six months ago, with two friends, the Infra Search, whose model are still secret in many aspects.

Three young programmers - Gene Kan, Cady Oliver and Yaroslav Faybishenko - little more than twenty years old are risking their skin in a project that is already considered the next hot thing, in the euphoric Californian language of beginning XXIst Century.

The cynics will say that it will be another flop, like the one of the push technology, another star of the Valley two or three years ago.

Gene Kan is the leader of something with a pinch of secret, as the reader will see. In the web, you get in the world of Infra Search through a domain appropriately called gonesilent ( www.gonesilent.com). [Some months after this interview, Infrasearch was acquired by Sun Microsystems, and Gene and the others integrated the "Juxtapose" Project, the last creation of Bill Joy, the chief scientist of Sun].

"Many companies these days claim to be P2P, but in reality they have nothing to add"

When did you have the idea of creating a search engine in the Web different from the existing ones?

G.K. - That is something that many people have been trying to do in the last years. But only recently, the idea started to walk in a distributed form.

What is the difference with Napster? And what do you do in the name of P2P?

G.K. - The Napster is centred around music. And many companies nowadays claim to be P2P, when, in reality, they have nothing to add to that technology. It's a pity, because the peer to peer is an excellent example of an exciting technological new area - the distributed computing.

Your technology of search will blow the existing engines - like Google - or is it going to complement them? What is the difference between your model of search and the engines of the first wave?

G.K. - I think that the distributed search is highly complementary to what these engines do. They are very good in searching static contents - while our technology is for the search of dynamic content. More and more, the dynamic content rules in the Internet. I think we will offer an excellent plus for the traditional search engines.

When you started testing the idea you didn't have the intention of creating a company, and you never thought of quitting your job of programmer in the WeGo - a software house of Redwood City, curiously the same city where the Napster headquarters are. What made you take this step?

G.K. - I wanted to dedicate myself 100% to the Infrasearch project, to pursue this possibility. I decided to look for investors and to create the company with Cady and Yaroslav.

What was the role of some business angels and initial investors like Mark Andressen, and Graham Spencer, co-founder of Excite?

G.K. - They gave us a very important help in the way of thinking our technology in a business way - to jump from programming to the market.

The present down turn cycle of Nasdaq will affect your strategy?

G.K. - It affects everyone. Nobody here in the Valley is immune to what is happening in the stock market.

And the present legal action against Napster won't be negative for the distributed computing projects?

G.K. - It is evident that the regulations many times have impact on creativity. But in this case I don't think that the decisions about the Napster have any influence in the sharing of files, in the use of the MP3 and particularly on creativity and expression of the technologists. It would be a shame if it happened.

Going back to the impact of the distributed computing in the actual establishment of the Web. The suppliers of software for the B2B platforms, like Ariba and Commerce One, will be in trouble with the take off of this new technology?

G.K. - I don't think so. I think that, on the contrary, it will make their lives easier.

What about the suppliers of business solutions like ERP, which are being attacked by so many sides?

G.K. - I don't think that we affect them negatively. The offer value of the ERP is still standing. It can be at its best with application of distributed computing.

What is the core segment of clients for your product?

G.K. - That is "top secret"!

People talk about the application of your technology to the B2B platforms...

G.K. - No comments.

When will we have a commercial version of your software?

G.K. - Soon.

Will it be possible to use your solution inside safe intranet solutions?

G.K. - The safety in the intranets is a myth! Anyhow, what we are preparing is as safe as anything you can use behind a firewall.

Note: Other start ups born in 1999 and 2000 can be referred in this area of P2P in Silicon Valley; Open Cola (www.opencola.com) in San Francisco; Kalepa Networks (www.kalepa.com) in Palo Alto; Lightshare (www.lightshare.com) in Mountain View; and Flycode (www.flycode.com) in San Francisco. InfraSearch is in Burlingame and was bought by Sun Microsystems after this interview was done.