Cisco has now officially closed one of its largest acquisitions ever. Back in March, Cisco announced a $5 billion bid to acquire video software vendor NDS. The acquisition is now a done deal, clearing all the required regulatory and shareholder approvals worldwide.
NDS is now going to be absorbed into the Video and Collaboration Group at Cisco that is led by Marthin De Beer. The former CEO of NDS Dr. Abe Peled, is now the senior vice president and chief strategist for Cisco’s Video and Collaboration Group.
With the NDS technology in-hand Cisco now has a more robust end to end offering in the service provider video space.
“Simply put, almost everyone loves video,” Jesper Anderson, senior vice president and general manager, Service Provider Video Technology Group, said in a blog post. “The video entertainment industry is in the midst of a major market transition with consumers demanding high quality video experiences that are inherently more immersive, engaging, mobile, and social.”
The NDS technology will complement Cisco’s Videoscape TV services delivery platform. Cisco first announcedvideoscape back in January of 2011 at the Consumer Electronics Show.
While Cisco is pushing forward on video, the company hasn’t had the best of success in other consumer oriented products in recent years. Cisco acquired the Flip camera business for $590 million and then ended up closing that business in 2011. Cisco has also failed with its Cius tablet, which also fell under the chopping block.
Other video focused efforts at Cisco however have pushed forward. On the enterprise side, Cisco acquired telepresence vendor Tandberg for $3.3 billion in 2010 and has been expanding that platform ever since. In March of this year Cisco rolled out new video capabilitiesthat leverage Tandberg technologies.
Cisco also continues to have a strong stake in the set top cable box business. Back in 2005, Cisco acquired set-top box maker Scientific Atlanta for $6.9 billion.
Sean Michael Kerner is a senior editor at InternetNews.com, the news service of the IT Business Edge Network, the network for technology professionals Follow him on Twitter @TechJournalist.
