Motorola announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Israel's BitBand Technologies, a provider of content management and delivery systems specializing in video-on-demand for IPTV.
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. BitBand will be integrated into Motorola's Home & Networks Mobility business.Separately, Motorola is reportedly considering selling off the Home & Networks Mobility unit for upwards of $5 billion.
BitBand, based in Netanya, Israel, claims to have more than 60 commercial IPTV deployments worldwide, including Holland's TELE2, Italy's Fastweb and Russia's Swyazinvest.
According to Motorola, BitBand will complement its existing on-demand portfolio by adding products tailored for IP video as well as solutions for content delivery networks (CDN) and over-the-top video delivery services. Motorola expects to close the acquisition before the end of the year, subject to certain customary closing conditions.
"Motorola is committed to investing in our video infrastructure solutions as our customers evolve their networks to handle the explosion in consumer demand for video," John Burke, senior vice president and general manager of the Broadband Home Solutions unit within Motorola's Home & Networks Mobility business, said in a statement. "BitBand has a leading share in IPTV video on demand and a strong base in Europe that we plan to leverage as we continue growing our infrastructure business in the EMEA region."
BitBand's investors include Sequoia Capital, Apax Partners, Aviv Venture Capital, The Challenge-Etgar Fund, Ascend Technology Ventures and Portview Communication Partners. The company was founded in January 1999.
