Quiet achiever hits the bullseye

By ADAM GIFFORD

One of New Zealand's most low- key software success stories, Bulletproof FTP, has been sold to United States software reseller DigitalCandle for an undisclosed price.

Well over 4 million copies of the Bulletproof FTP file transfer protocol tool have been downloaded from the web for a 30-day trial over the past four years, with a significant number of users stumping up the US$29.95 ($63.87) fee to keep the software running.

It has proved popular among webmasters who maintain websites through the transfer of files to web servers and the sharing of files between internet users.

Former marketing manager Thomas Scovell said profits last financial year "were seven figures".

Scovell has been appointed DigitalCandle's vice-president of marketing, but will continue to work in Auckland.

Company founder Andrew Connell, who retains a 15 per cent stake and will continue to get royalties, said he did not want to talk about the financial side of the deal.

"It's just money. I'm motivated by money but have no desire to be really wealthy. What I intend to do now is have a break and do some travelling," Connell said.

A dance music fan, he wrote the program because he wanted to download large music files from the internet.

"To write it I had to learn Delphi, which I had never used before. I made a working program and then thought I would see how other people liked it, so I released it as a free time-limited beta."

Connell got so much positive feedback he gave up his day job as a lab technician and worked full time refining and extending the program.

He has been looking to sell for more than a year, after losing his enthusiasm for ongoing maintenance.

"Hopefully DigitalCandle can inject some more life in it. I lost interest in the development. It needs more effort, and could probably do with a complete redesign."

Connell, who has been programming since he got an Amiga at age 11, said what set Bulletproof FTP apart was that he used to be a heavy ftp user and the companies producing ftp clients were not.

"All the programs I make are ones I want for myself."

He maintains his interest in HTML Defender, a program which encrypts web pages so rival designers cannot steal the source code. It can also prevent people copying text or pictures from pages.

DigitalCandle, based in Bellevue, Washington, has also bought other leading FTP tools Rocket Download and the free Go!Zilla Download Manager.

Bulletproof FTP

DigitalCandle

HTML Defender