Adero Inc., a privately held Boston firm that outsources content distribution for e-businesses, has acquired Fast Engines, a Cambridge startup that makes software designed to allow servers to work more efficiently and speed online content delivery.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Through partnerships and its own technology, including a website traffic manager, Adero aims to help e-commerce and content firms deliver fast and reliable service for customers across the world. The purchase of Fast Engines brings Adero a technology that speeds interactions at high-traffic websites, which the company said would improve service across its network, which reaches more than 30 countries.

Websites running on distributed servers can use Fast Engines' main software, Fast.Serv, to run several times faster than on conventional servers. The software, which works with Java code and older Web languages, is designed to balance demand on different servers within a network, allowing them to process data faster and more reliably. Fast Engines customers include The New York Times, Delta Air Line, ZDNet and Morgan Stanley.

"The Fast Engines capability will enable Adero to provide content providers and e-businesses the ability to take the intelligence and one-to-one interactivity that the Web provides to the edge of the network," said Adero CEO Jonathan Crane. "E-businesses can then effectively meet local needs by delivering content and applications that are customized for specific markets."

Fast Engines CEO Semyon Dukach said, "As e-businesses expand their reach to global markets, they will be required to deliver a high-quality Web experience for customers through distributed and reliable applications at the edge of the Internet. Adero and Fast Engines will combine efforts to make distributed applications at the edge a reality."