Online video streaming software specialist Ankeena Networks is being acquired by Juniper Networks, the second-largest maker of networking technology after Cisco, for "less than $100 million," Juniper announced today. The definative agreementgives Juniper access to Ankeena's new media infrastructure technology that helps deliver online media content at massive scale, while providing a television-like viewing experience for media with dramatically reduced delivery costs. Juniper said it would integrate Ankeena's technology with its own as part of its vision for the "New Network."
The ties between Ankeena and Jupiter are not new; Ankeena in October began a partnership with Juniper to develop streaming solutions for telcos, MSOs and ISPs. At the time, Ankeena CEO and co-founder Rajan Raghavan told FierceOnlineVideo that Juniper was investing in the company "at a fairly good level." Ankeena was founded in 2008 as Nokeena Networks, and quickly made its mark in the adaptive streaming market, launching its Media Flow Director in April 2009 and following up with a 2.0 version in November that took the infrastructure solutions company to three-screen delivery capabilities. The company's software works on off-the-shelf servers and is a relatively low-cost solution for companies--like ISPs--looking to get into the CDN space on a local level.
As an addition to the Junos Ready Software business group, Juniper will leverage the Ankeena software to offer high-performance content delivery networking and "3 Screen" media delivery solutions for the next-generation service provider network, capitalizing on the explosive growth of video traffic on both mobile and fixed networks worldwide, Juniper said.
"Juniper's acquisition of Ankeena reflects our commitment to transforming the experience and economics of networking--this case by delivering an enhanced TV-like user experience of both fixed and mobile video traffic, while enabling crucial TCO reductions for operators," said Manoj Leelanivas, EVP and GM of Junos Ready Software at Juniper Networks. "The combination of Ankeena's new media infrastructure solution with Juniper's high-performance networking platforms will take our existing partnership to the next level to meet the bandwidth and cost of delivery challenges facing service providers as IP video continues to accelerate. We are excited about Ankeena's technology and its talented team playing important roles in the future of Juniper Networks."
The company said Ankeena's senior management team has agreed to join Juniper following the acquisition and will assume leadership roles within the Junos Ready Software business group.
For more:
- see this release
- see this Bloomberg report
Related articles:
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Ankeena Networks - Top Online Video Company: FierceOnlineVideo, Fierce 15