Leigh Miller for GlobalAtlanta
Norcross-based Paalam Inc.’s software team in India has developed a system for Dunwoody firm INTENT MediaWorks Inc. to legally download music from shared online networks, according to Paalam’s CEO and co-founder, Narsi Narasimhan.

Paalam’s six-person team in Bangalore, India, is part of a still-growing $20 billion phenomenon of outsourcing software development to India. The industry is expected to grow 30 percent per year over the next five years, he said.

“These are evolving technologies. If the offshore workers know the issues involved, they can learn to solve any problems that may arise, plus they are developing new uses of the technology all the time,” Dr. Narasimhan said.

Dr. Narasimhan’s team will continue to work with INTENT MediaWorks over the next several years to develop new ways of distributing MP3 music files over the Internet.

The initial project began two years ago, but since the newest phase of the project began four months ago in Bangalore, the Indian team has developed a close relationship with INTENT and its staff in Georgia, Dr. Narasimhan noted.

Paalam also has development teams in Canada, Jamaica and Malaysia.

He added that Paalam wants the INTENT MediaWorks software that it is developing to be open source someday, making it available among an international community of programmers who share solutions freely. “We want to be downloaded by lots of people,” he said.

The Paalam team in India will roll out subsequent versions of the INTENT MediaWorks software and other peer-to-peer music download programs.

The INTENT MediaWorks system is similar to LimeWire LLC’s program, LimeWire, which allows users to share their MP3 music files for free with listeners around the world.

“It is like an underground Napster, but this is legal,” Dr. Narasimhan said, referring to the first peer-to-peer music download system that was originally shut down in 2001 after a Supreme Court decision determined it violated artists’ copyrights. A new authorized version of Napster has since been relaunched.

INTENT MediaWorks’ peer-to-peer download system allows users to download music 20 times faster from multiple sources, but it also protects artists’ rights, Dr. Narasimhan said.

Listeners pay a fee to use INTENT MediaWorks’ system, which guarantees that each song downloaded has been licensed and approved by the artists, who then receive royalties for the use of the songs.

INTENT MediaWorks has more than 5,000 artistic works of music, books and film that it distributes to more than 80 million global consumers each month.

Dr. Narasimhan is a former faculty member at the Georgia Institute of Technology’s College of Management, founder of the Indian Professionals Network and co-founder of the Georgia Indo-American Chamber of Commerce.

To download music, visit a sample INTENT MediaWorks file at www.mypeer.com/shared/NouvelleFrontiere-LoverDrifter-OTP.wma.

For more information about Paalam, contact Dr. Narasimhan at (770) 209-9700. For more information on INTENT MediaWorks, visit www.INTENTmediaworks.net.