Comcast this week launched a new division that combines three of its media and tech businesses – Comcast Wholesale, thePlatform and This Technology.

That unit, now called Comcast Technology Solutions, is led by division SVP and GM Matt McConnell.

Comcast acquired This Technology, a vendor that is playing a role in its IP video transition, in 2015. Comcast acquired thePlatform, a Seattle-based online video publishing specialist, back in 2006 for what’s believed to be about $100 million.

Earlier this year, Comcast Wholesale and thePlatform rolled out theVideoPlatform, billing it as a unified system for the distribution of broadcast and digital video to multiple screens, a move that placed it in more direct competition with companies such as MLB Advanced Media, Verizon Digital Media Services (VDMS), NeuLion, and Ooyala, Akamai, Amazon Web Services, and IBM (which recently bought Clearleap and Ustream), among others.

The newly-formed unit recently won a deal to underpin Time Inc.’s new ad-supported, multiplatform People/Entertainment Weekly Network (PEN). Comcast Technology Soltuions said it worked with Perfect Sense Digital to create PEN’s user interface.

“Comcast Technology Solutions is at the nexus of broadcast and IP convergence. By bringing our technologies together, we provide the greatest breadth and depth of media distribution, management and monetization solutions in the industry,” McConnell said in a statement. 

Comcast has struck a deal to acquire This Technology, a multiscreen video company that has specialized in dynamic ad insertion and scaled IP video back-office systems, including an alternative content delivery platform called “SwitchStream” that enters play in TV blackout situations.

Financial terms were not announced, but This Technology CEO Jeff Sherwin announced on his company’s Web site that its products and services will continue to be developed, supported and sold as part of the solution portfolio of Denver-based Comcast Wholesale, a unit that runs the company’s content delivery network and multiscreen video services. It was not immediately how many This Technology employees will be joining Comcast.

Update:  Most of This Technology's team (it has 63 employees total) will be joining Comcast’s Colorado-based VIPER team, and a portion will be joining Comcast Wholesale. VIPER, an acronym for Video IP Engineering and Research, is Comcast’s home-grown video infrastructure for IP-delivered multiscreen video services and apps.

This Technology is headquartered in Denver, and also operates an office in Beijing. This Technology had become an increasingly important technology partner to Comcast and its platform will further enhance Comcast’s transition to IP video, the MSO official added.  

“We are thrilled that THIS TECHNOLOGY is becoming a part of Comcast,” Comcast EVP and chief technology officer Tony Werner said, in a statement. “THIS TECHNOLOGY’s innovative video infrastructure platform and dynamic team of technologists have long played critical roles in our ongoing mission to evolve our video delivery infrastructure. Integrating THIS TECHNOLOGY into our advanced video group will accelerate our development cycles and strengthen our ongoing transition to IP video.”

“THIS TECHNOLOGY has been focused on helping MVPDs and programmers navigate changing business and technical landscapes with solutions that ensure the right content gets to the right people on the right devices,” Sherwin said. “These efforts align squarely with Comcast’s ongoing work to help the industry move to an all-IP environment.”

Founded in 2006, This Technology raised a $7.5 million “A” round in 2012 led by General Catalyst Partners. Its known customers include Comcast and its corporate cousin, NBCUniversal, Verizon Communications and ABC.

Execs on This Technology’s advisory group and tech advisory board include Jeffrey Binder, the CEO and co-founder of Denver-based virtual MVPD startup Layer3 TV, and fellow Layer3 TV co-founder and CTO David Fellows.

This Technology, once a rumored acquisition target of SeaChange International, is the latest IP and ad-tech vendor to be acquired by Comcast. Comcast recently acquired targeted and programmatic advertising company Visible World, and closed its purchase of online video ad-tech firm FreeWheel last May.

Multiscreen video and advanced advertising company This Technology has unleashed an upgrade to its cloud-based SwitchStream Alternate Content Delivery System for QAM and IP environments.

Version 3.0 of SwitchStream, a platform that helps MVPDs and programming partners distribute regionalized content and alternate content when blackout scenarios or scheduling changes arise, adds several new features for MVPDs and programmers, including Audit Central for event verification and audit reporting, Map View (pictured above) for zone creation and event execution mapping, and an Event Dashboard for event execution status and system health management.

“SwitchStream changed the alternate content delivery game last year, supporting both existing QAM and IP delivery in one system for MVPDs and programmers” said Denise MacDonell, vice president of product management for This Technology, in a statement. “SwitchStream 3.0 is a generational leap, featuring full auditing and verification support, and an extensive graphical operational dashboard, delivering tremendous benefits to our deployed customers.”

This Technology, which is showing SwitchStream at this week’s NAB show in Las Vegas, said has deployed the new version with a tier-1 MVPD in partnership with Harmonic. This Technology and Harmonic announced a partnership in February aimed at helping MVPDs and programmers  deliver regionalized content, such as sports or local programming, to the correct audience on a range of devices. That integration links This Technology’s SwitchStream alternate content delivery system with elements of Harmonic’s video product line, including the ProStream 9100 stream processor and Electra 9200 universal multiservice encoder.

This Technology’s  announced customers include Comcast, Verizon Communications, NBCUniversal and ABC. 

This Technology, a Denver-based multiscreen video company, said it has landed a patent tied to dynamic ad insertion, while also announcing that it now counts three of the nation’s top five cable operators as customers.

The patent – U.S. No, 8,949,882 – describes a “system and method for enabling content providers to identify advertising opportunities.” 

According to the company, the patent, obtained on Feb. 3, 2015, describes how to identify dynamic ad inventory and defining attributes such as ownership, length and interactivity -- elements that are critical to the delivery of targeted advertising.

“The present invention relates generally to service provider video networks, and more particularly to a method and system for identifying advertisement opportunities in a service provider video data stream,” This Technology notes in the patent.

Without that method, the company said, MVPDs and programmers would not be able to identify inventory ownership when preparing to insert each of their dynamic ads into the same video stream.

“THIS TECHNOLOGY’s latest patent dates back to an application we made 2007, when the delivery of targeted and relevant ads to any device existed only as an idea on the back of napkins,” Jeffrey Sherwin, This Technology’s CEO, said in a statement. “We were early to recognize MVPDs would ultimately require freedom and flexibility in their advertising architecture to effectively deliver DAI. This patent demonstrates our commitment to delivering technology that levels the DAI playing field for Internet video and service provider video ad decisioning systems."

With the new one factored in, This Technology said it has secured eight patents so far.

Its announced customers include Comcast, Verizon communications, NBCUniversal and ABC, and now claims to have deals with three of the top five cable operators.

This Technology, a provider of dynamic ad insertion and alternate content software, has launched the Congruity Intelligent Signal Processor, a system designed to manage SCTE-35 cues for all delivery platforms.

The new, cloud-based software product normalizes the wide variances of SCTE-35 messages MVPDs receive from programmers, the company said.

 SCTE-35 is a standard to signal an ad insertion opportunity in a transport stream, but variances in usage of SCTE-35 messages has exceeded the standard due to usage for advertising, regionalization and measurement across both adaptive bit rate and digital TV, for video on demand, cloud-based DVR and linear viewing, This Technology said.

That means every programmer uses SCTE-35 differently, requiring MVPDs to standardize the messages for their internal infrastructure.

"As programmers enable the next generation of television, consistent practice for SCTE-35 formatting is lacking, which challenges MVPDs who have to adjust for this disparity," said Denise MacDonell, vice president of product management and marketing for This Technology, in a statement.

Features of Congruity include signal processing, Web-based configuration and provisioning, and data storage.

This Technology’s announced customers include Comcast, Verizon Communications, NBCUniversal, and ABC. In February, Canoe, the advanced advertising J.V. backed by Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications and Bright House Networks, certified This Technology’s metadata asset management platform.

This Technology, a company that specializes in advanced ad systems and “alternate content” delivery, has expanded its executive team with the hiring of Rick Hamilton to VP of global sales, and Peter Faubert to chief financial officer. Both will be based at This Technology’s Denver headquarters.

Hamilton, a video industry vet late of SeaChange International, will head up This Technologies’ sales organization, and will be focused on direct sales development in the Americas. Prior to SeaChange, Hamilton was VP of Asian Pacific sales at C-COR (now part of Arris), and has also held exec slots with PartMinder, Telewire Supply (also now part of Arris), Bell Industries and Avnet.

Faubert most recently was CFO of Vision Government Solutions and was CFO and acting COO for MoCoSpace and Turbine Inc., and corporate controller and chief accounting officer at Viisage Technology. He began his career as a consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers and Deloitte & Touche.

This Technology said the additions come as its headcount grows to more than 65 employees in Denver, New York City and Beijing.

“This Technology's continued growth will be driven by a focused sales strategy, solid financial planning, strong channel partner relationships and tight professional services integration,” said Jeffrey Sherwin, CEO of This Technology, in a statement. “Rick and Peter both bring proven track records to their new roles and will be instrumental that continued growth.”

This Technology confirmed that former VP of sales Sean Rooney is no longer with the company, and that Faubert is This Technology's first-ever CFO.

This Technology, a company founded in 2006, has a customer stable that includes Comcast, Verizon Communications, NBCUniversal, and ABC. In 2012, the company raised a $7.5 million series A round led by General Catalyst Partners.