IBM Acquires Ustream To Expand Its Cloud Platform

IBM on Thursday announced the acquisition of Ustream, Inc., a provider of cloud-based live video streaming services, in a move to extend the IBM Cloud platform to help enterprise clients utilize the unparalleled value of video streaming. The terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

Ustream, headquartered in San Francisco, offers its services to enterprises and broadcasters and streams live and on-demand video to nearly 80 million viewers per month. Its clients include Sony, NASA, Samsung, Facebook, Nike, The Discovery Channel, and many others.

As a result of the deal, Ustream joins the newly-created IBM Cloud Video Services unit that combines assets from IBM's R&D labs and strategic acquisitions such as Clearleap, Aspera, Cleversafe. IBM has over 1,000 patents in areas such as visual analytics and indexing and searching large collections of videos and digital images.

By combining these innovations, IBM is developing a Cloud platform that simplifies storing and managing live and on-demand video, enhances them through analytics, applies rights management and language capabilities, and distributes them consistently across the globe.

The unit will be led by General Manager, Braxton Jarratt, and will target the $105 billion opportunity in cloud-based video services and software, according to IBM estimates.

“Through this latest acquisition and the creation of a new cloud business unit, IBM will provide an end-to-end suite of digital video solutions for the first time under one roof,” said Jarratt. “As a result, clients will be able to take advantage of every stage of the video life cycle through advances in customization, digital access, visual analytics and more, all to enable the consistent delivery of video content globally.”

The Ustream portfolio offers a number of video solutions, including:

• Ustream Demand – which enables marketers to collect and automate leads into marketing workflows and manage live and on-demand videos from a single dashboard
• Ustream Align – which enables secure internal employee communications
• Ustream Pro Broadcasting – which offers live video streaming at scale.

“I’m excited to announce the acquisition of Ustream by IBM.  This partnership was a natural choice as IBM is expanding its video portfolio offerings and Ustream has distinguished itself as a leader in video solutions for media and enterprises”, said Brad Hunstabl, Founder and CEO, Ustream, in a blog post.