Imagine Communications announced this morning that it had acquired Digital Rapids for an undisclosed sum.
Digital Rapids will add a range of IP and file-based media processing systems and software-based workflow management technologies to Imagine’s TV Everywhere war chest. The addition of Digital Rapids also gives Imagine additional multi-screen encoding and transcoding abilities.
“Imagine Communications is laser-focused on leading the industry to a future defined by IP, software, the cloud and TV Everywhere, with an architecture vision for delivering and monetizing multi-screen content,” said Charlie Vogt, CEO of Imagine Communications. “We have made major investments in developing our TV Everywhere portfolio, MediaCentral platform, and MultiService SDN frameworks to deliver service-oriented, software-based architectures for our customers. The addition of Digital Rapids’ advancements in software-based workflow management and transcoding strategically complements our pillars of innovation and rounds out our capabilities. Additionally, their expert team, which is based just miles from our development center in Toronto, brings a rich history in pioneering software solutions for high-end media processing applications that strengthens our TV Everywhere business and company.”
In order to beef up its TV Everywhere platform, Digital Rapids’ software-based workflow management, transcoding and encoding solutions will integrate with Imagine Communications’ existing mezzanine quality origination encoding, adaptive bit rate (ABR) transcoding technology and content delivery network. The combined platform is on display this week at the 2014 NAB Show in Las Vegas.
“Imagine Communications is strategically positioned to transform the media and entertainment industry through innovations in IP, software-defined workflows and virtualization,” said Brick Eksten, president and CEO of Digital Rapids. “Their senior management team understands that flexible, software-defined workflows are essential for media companies to efficiently scale to new opportunities and quickly launch new, differentiated services. We are thrilled to join the Imagine Communications team in empowering customers by not only smoothing their transition from hardware-based infrastructure to software, but by also fueling a next-generation approach to software that puts the customer in control of advances in technology.”
The two companies didn’t say how many employees from Digital Rapids would make the transition to Imagine Communications, or whether Eksten would have a new role.
Last month, Harris Broadcast split the company up into two new operational units, Imagine Communications and GatesAir, under the portfolio of The Gores Group.
Harris Broadcast bought Imagine late last year. Last week Imagine launched a new version of its traffic and billing system that tied in with the company’s own cloud-based system for media management.