Imagine sells Digital Rapids streaming tech to new company

Antix Digital, a newly formed company, has acquired Imagine Communications’ live streaming and compression technology solutions portfolio.

Antix is led by Tony Huang, the former head of product management at Digital Rapids, which was acquired by Imagine in 2014. The company said it plans to accelerate future development of the solutions while taking over service and support for existing customers and systems.

The deal includes software-based compression, processing and streaming solutions for platforms including mobile, OTT, linear broadcast and pay TV.

“Imagine Communications has been a great steward of the technology and solutions it acquired with Digital Rapids, but the ubiquity of multiscreen media consumption creates opportunities beyond Imagine’s core focus, from social media streaming to immersive, interactive training,” said Huang in a statement. “Transitioning the product family to Antix lets each company focus on their strengths, primary markets and best opportunities. We are excited to kick-start a new era for these solutions while bringing their powerful benefits to new customers and applications.”

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As part of the transaction, Antix will return to the portfolio’s original StreamZ product branding including:

  • The StreamZ Live family (previously re-branded by Imagine Communications as SelenioFlex Live) of multiscreen live/linear encoders for streaming and OTT applications
  • The StreamZ Ingest (previously SelenioFlex Ingest) multi-format ingest and encoding platform for live-to-VOD and archive applications
  • The StreamZ ONE (previously Selenio One) unified compression platform for traditional linear and multiscreen distribution

Imagine will continue to sell the Antix-acquired products to their customers as a non-exclusive reseller, while Antix will honor Imagine Communications’ existing customer support contracts for these solutions.

Huang is uniquely qualified to run the product portfolio, having served as global director of product line management for compression at Imagine Communications following his time with Digital Rapids.

“This alliance with Antix is a win-win-win for Imagine Communications, Antix Digital and users of these solutions,” said Steve Reynolds, president at Imagine Communications, in a statement. “For Imagine, it enables us to sharpen our focus on helping media enterprises make and monetize TV across platforms, while still offering these powerful solutions to our customers. Antix Digital will be able to bring the portfolio’s rich benefits to broader markets, and the team’s deep familiarity and passion for the products ensures support continuity and a forward-looking development roadmap for users.”