The LionShare project is dedicated to harnessing the promise of peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing and the integration of P2P with organizational services to create a collaborative environment for use in academic communities.  The LionShare Peer application is built around the themes of collaboration, security, personal responsibility, and access control of shared resources, along with access to large digital repositories. 

Additionally, it is an open source application, meaning any programmer can read, redistribute, and modify the source code.  This will allow for the evolution of Lionshare after its release since programmers around the world will be able to freely improve, add new functionality and customize it components.

Designed to meet the goals discussed above, the LionShare Peers operate within a P2P network using code originating from the Limewire 4.0 Open Source project (http://limewire.com).  Limewire uses the Gnutella protocol for the basic search and retrieval functions. 

LionShare goes far beyond this basic functionality by providing extensive additions to the Gnutella base. The advanced features include

1)    A private and secure P2P network

2)    nServers for providing persistent file sharing and some centralized management

3)    Advanced security and networking features, such as obtaining authentication related credentials, requesting certified attributes about users, and access control to files.

4)    Built-in collaboration tools.

5)    Searching of independent digital repositories outside the LionShare network.