Akamai Technologies plans to acquire Verivue, whose investors include Comcast and Arris Group, a developer of software for letting MSOs and other network operators create their own content delivery networks.
Akamai said it is paying all cash for Verivue but did not disclose the amount of the transaction. "The cash transaction is immaterial" from a balance-sheet perspective, Akamai spokesman Jeff Young said in an email.
Operators that have deployed Verivue’s CDN software include Cox Communications. Westford, Mass.-based Verivue, founded in 2006, has approximately 60 employees.
The acquisition will complement Akamai's Aura Network Solutions and accelerate its time to market in providing a comprehensive, licensed CDN solution for network operators, according to Mick Scully, vice president and general manager of Akamai's carrier products division.
"Verivue has done an impressive job of building a licensed content delivery infrastructure and getting it deployed with several important operators," Scully said in a statement. “Akamai has relationships with hundreds of network operators, and we offer them instant federation with our global Intelligent Platform. We believe joining forces with Verivue will allow us to help operators maximize content revenues and network efficiencies as the flood of media and video traffic increases.”
The companies expect the acquisition, which is subject to customary closing conditions, to close by the end of 2012.
"Together with Akamai, we believe we will be able to offer the industry's most powerful, extensible and fully integrated operator CDN platform," Verivue CEO James Dolce said in a prepared statement. "This is an exciting step for our two companies. Operators are looking for services to drive revenue, such as advanced cloud capabilities or by providing licensed content to users on a variety of IP-connected devices."
Verivue’s original product line comprised high-scale video-on-demand servers. But the company last year shifted gears to sell CDN software after it had difficulty selling the VOD systems and identifying content delivery networks as a larger opportunity.
The OneVantage Content Delivery Solution, available in either appliance or software form, is based on Verivue's 2010 acquisition of CoBlitz, a 15-employee startup spun off from Princeton University that developed high-performance caching software.
Verivue had raised about $85 million to date from Comcast, Arris, and venture-capital firms Sigma Partners, Matrix Partners, Spark Capital, North Bridge Partners and Accel Partners.
