Internet infrastructure giant Cisco Systems will acquire a small content-management firm in a bid to help clients stream video to multiple screens. “Today, we are pleased to welcome ExtendMedia to the Cisco family,” wrote John Earnhardt, Cisco’s social-media director on the company’s blog Thursday.
A privately held company based in Newton, Mass., with most of its employees in Toronto, Canada, ExtendMedia is a leading provider of software-based content-management systems that “manage the entire life cycle of video content through monetization for pay media and ad-supported business models.”
‘Video, Video, Video’
“ExtendMedia will enable Cisco to help service providers deliver multiscreen offerings as the market transitions to IP video,” Earnhardt wrote. “In English: Video, video, video and more video on any screen, on any network, on any device.”
Cisco didn’t release the terms of the deal, which is expected to close in the first half of the next fiscal year. The majority of ExtendMedia employees will be integrated into Cisco’s Service Provider Video Technology Group. Cisco said the company’s software team “understands the complexities of delivering multiscreen video over IP networks,” and its CMS software will be a core component of Cisco’s next-generation video architecture
The deal is consistent with efforts by a growing number of companies to get ready for an age in which mobile devices like tablets, smartphones and laptops become receivers for a variety of content from cable companies, movie rental firms, YouTube, TV networks, and others.
“Everyone has been looking at different methods for managing content and distributing that content via different delivery methods,” said Jason Blackwell, digital home analysis director at ABI Research.
“This puts [Cisco] in a more competitive position against companies that do content management like Brightcove and Limelight networks,” he added. “Cisco is already positioned well with cable and electronics in terms of set-top boxes. But those same…