Ericsson has bought encoding firm Envivio $125 million. The acquisition will strengthen Ericsson’s video compression position, combining its leading position in broadcast and contribution with Envivio’s leadership in multiscreen cable and telecom. Envivio’s cloud-centric and software-based video capabilities will be a key addition to Ericsson’s extensive portfolio of media enrichment, processing, publishing, delivery, and TV […]
Ericsson has bought encoding firm Envivio $125 million. The acquisition will strengthen Ericsson’s video compression position, combining its leading position in broadcast and contribution with Envivio’s leadership in multiscreen cable and telecom. Envivio’s cloud-centric and software-based video capabilities will be a key addition to Ericsson’s extensive portfolio of media enrichment, processing, publishing, delivery, and TV platforms, enabling TV experiences on any device.
Envivio is known for its software-based video encoding with an installed base of over 400 TV service provider and content owner customers in all markets globally.
Tier one Envivio customers include Comcast, Cox Communications, Liberty Global, Sky, Telstra and Time Warner Cable. Envivio’s advanced software solutions for pay TV and TV Anywhere applications perform software-based video encoding/transcoding, processing, packaging and ad insertion. Envivio’s cloud-centric pure software video processing is available on Intel-based appliances or IT blade servers.
Commenting on the deal, Per Borgklint, Senior Vice President and Head of Business Unit Support Solutions at Ericsson, said: “Our consumer research clearly shows that viewers are demanding TV on their terms on any device, and expecting experiences that continually evolve. We are committed to offering our customers a clear path towards fully agile cloud agnostic platforms that delight TV consumers. I look forward to welcoming the market leader in pure software-defined video encoding, processing, and packaging into Ericsson. The combination will strengthen our encoding position with both custom silicon and pure software encoding, delivering performance and flexibility.”
The acquisition is believed to enhance Ericsson’s software video encoding capabilities and its virtualised encoding concept, which enables abstraction of video processing functions from architectural and functional boundaries, enabling the flexibility to use both hardware and software based video compression, as well as any deployment architecture.
Under the terms of the definitive agreement, Ericsson will commence a cash tender offer to purchase all of Envivio’s outstanding shares, with a merger following the completion of the tender offer which would result in all shares not tendered in the tender offer being converted into the right to receive $4.10 per share.
The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter, 2015, subject to customary closing conditions.
