Free broadband purveyor Broadband
Digital Group Tuesday bought browser accessory Winfire in the hopes of connecting clients
with its network more efficiently.
Financial details were not disclosed Tuesday.
The deal more than doubles the number of BDG employees, which now totals
more than 90, in addition to filling some key management positions at BDG
that remained unfilled. In the new company, Chad Steelberg, former Winfire
chief executive officer, will become CEO and chairman of Broadband Digital
Group, while Ryan Steelberg will serve as BDG’s president. Richard Shields,
Winfire chief financial officer, will step into that same role for BDG.
BDG decided to incorporate Winfire’s popular personalized browser assistant
as its core technology to deliver advertising to its users and create
desktop branding opportunities for its partners.
BDG will also expand Winfire to become an open applications development
platform for any e-business wanting to build a branded desktop application
to strengthen the relationship with their users. Partners that distribute
their own branded browser assistant also can create their own high-speed
communications network through FreeDSL, offering tailored broadband services
to their users.
“This is a natural migration for the two companies,” said Steelberg. “Not
only did the Winfire development platform and its browser assistant
application enable Broadband Digital Group to become fully operational in
just a few months, its represents the core technology that will enable BDG
to develop one of the nation’s largest broadband, interactive networks.”
In early January, Broadband Digital Group teamed with Winfire to launch FreeDSL, a high-speed Internet service.
For FreeDSL, Winfire developed a customized browser assistant, which was
displayed as a small navigational bar on users’ computer screens while they
are online.
Winfire, which released its first public browser assistant in August 1999,
had quickly established itself as the market leader in the
category, having signed more than 100 content and distribution partners.