IBM is acquiring Clearleap to boost its IBM Cloud platform and accelerate the delivery of video service as a strategic source of data for business. The acquisition is part of IBM’s moves to help clients improve access to “dark data” which, because it is unstructured and dark to computer systems, cannot be effectively managed or exploited.
With this acquisition, Clearleap will be integrated into the IBM Cloud platform to provide enterprises with a fast and easy way to manage, monetize, and grow user video experiences and deliver them securely over the web and mobile devices.
The news is part of IBM's broader strategy to help clients unlock the value of video as it grows in importance in business. IBM is advancing its cloud strategy to improve the performance and management of this tool, and help clients extract insight from it.
“Clearleap joins IBM at a tipping point in the industry when visual information and visual communication are not just important to consumers, but are exploding across every industry,” said Robert LeBlanc, senior vice president, IBM Cloud. “This comes together for a client when any content can be delivered quickly and economically to any device in the most natural way.”
Increasingly connected consumers want video delivered when they want it and to the multiple devices they use for entertainment and information, according to IBM, and, in business, video has also become a staple of communications across all industries as a primary method to engage with customers and employees for CEO webcasts, conference keynotes, training and education, customer care, and how-to videos. As a result, clients across industries are demanding a secure, scalable, and open cloud-based solution to manage their video services.
According to IBM, Clearleap's open API framework enables organizations to easily build video into applications and to adapt to specific business needs such as custom workflows and advanced analytics. The framework also enables access to key third-party applications that customers may already have in their environments.
Clearleap’s video services will be offered through IBM Cloud data centers around the world providing clients global 24x7 service and technical support for rapid problem identification and resolution capabilities. Clients will have the ability to securely share data and content across geographies and across hybrid clouds. IBM will offer the Clearleap APIs on IBM Bluemix in 2016 to enable clients to build new video offerings quickly and easily. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Today's news is the latest in a series of investments IBM has made in recent years in the areas of video and large data file management to help clients overcome those challenges. In 2014, IBM acquired Aspera Inc., which develops a technology to speed large data transfers over broadband networks. In November, IBM completed the acquisition of Cleversafe, Inc., a developer of object-based storage software and appliances that enable organizations to quickly store, manage and retrieve unstructured data. Also integrated into the IBM Cloud, the Cleversafe and Aspera technologies will be leveraged for use with Clearleap to help clients more quickly store, index, and retrieve video content through the cloud. In addition, IBM itself has developed video and digital media innovations and has been awarded more than 1,000 patents in the field since 1995, and has won four Emmy Awards for video related innovations.
For more information, go to www.ibm.com.
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