BITS: Background Intelligent Transfer Service

BITS, commonly known as Background Intelligent Transfer Service, is an element of the modern Microsoft Windows operating system. Mainly used for the effective prioritization and asynchronous file transfer between devices that utilize idle network bandwidth and also for the delivery of software updates especially by modern versions such as Microsoft Update, Windows Update, Windows Server Update Services and the more contemporary Systems Management Server. Other versions such as Microsoft antivirus scanner – Microsoft Security Essentials also use it for fetching signature updates and file transfer particularly by the instant messaging products by Microsoft.

Transfer of files by BITS is done through an asynchronous system. The application makes a request for the Background Intelligent Transfer Service for a transfer and once this has been done, the element will then either terminate or be available for another function. The transfer that had been requested will then proceed in the background though this will depend on the availability of network connection and also whether or not the job owner is signed in. In the event of loss of the network connection, the transfer is suspended until at a later time when the reconnection has been successfully achieved.

Transmission and processing of BITS is usually carried out in various modes. For instance, in modern computing gadgets, Background Intelligent Transfer Services are usually represented by either current pulse, electrical voltage or by the electrical state of a circuit, usually a flip-flop type. On the other hand, for gadgets that utilize positive logic, a true or high value with a digital value of 1 is usually represented by a positive voltage that is relative to the ground voltage (electrical) of 5 volts. A digit value of 0 (low or false value) is represented by 0 volts.

BITS are available in various versions. One is version 1.0. Invented in 0ctober, 2001, the initial release of Version 1.0 was included with the WINDOWS XP RTM. The other version is Version 1.2. Unlike version 1.0, version 1.2 was released in July 2002 and included with the modern Windows XP Service Pack together with Windows 2000 Service pack. Version 1.5 is the other version of Background Intelligent Transfer Services. Unlike the other two, this version was included with Windows Server 2003 and was made available as a detached download for Windows XP and Windows 2000.

Version 2.5 is the other version of Background Intelligent Transfer Services. This form usually adds support for certificate-based client validation for custom HTTP headers and safe HTTP transports. It also helps add peer caching for computers that are domain-joined allowing them to download content from various peers. This is usually available for download for Windows Server 2003, Windows XP and is incorporated with Windows XP Service Pack 3.

Our company is an outsource software development expert in BITS. Diatom Enterprises’ developers effectively used BITS in building projects as Digital Library of Latvian National Library.