Chip Off the Old Swap

Chip maker Intel Corp. said it has been inspired by song-swapping Internet service Napster Inc. and free operating system Linux to overhaul some of its technology infrastructure.

The world’s largest semiconductor company often needs to send large multimedia computer files to its employees across the globe, containing information such as manuals or video messages.

But Intel cannot afford to send all these files from its California headquarters over the worldwide Internet, running up huge telecom bills, said Intel’s vice president for information technology, Doug Busch.

Shortly after Napster began breaking through, 18 months ago now, Intel began to develop its own software to let employees download certain files from one another’s computers.