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Tag: video-service

  • Skype to Acquire Qik

    Skype has announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Qik, a provider of mobile video software and services. Qik has 60 employees, and is headquartered in Redwood City, California and has an office in Moscow, Russia. The transaction is expected to close in January 2011. The companies informed that terms of the acquisition will not be disclosed.

    Qik was founded in 2006 and offers solutions to capture and share video with anyone across mobile devices, the web, and desktop platforms. Videos can be shared in real time or stored so moments can be viewed later, allowing for video messaging, sharing and archiving. The Qik service is available on over 200 mobile phones across the Android, iPhone, Symbian, Blackberry and Windows Mobile platforms, and comes pre-loaded on a wide variety of mobile handsets.

    Both Skype and Qik have a common purpose of enriching communications and sharing with video, across any device. According to Skype, the acquisition of Qik "helps accelerate Skype’s leadership in video by adding recording, sharing and storing capabilities to Skype’s product portfolio. Through this acquisition, Skype will also be able to leverage the engineering expertise that is behind Qik’s Smart Streaming technology, which optimizes video transmission over wireless networks."

    "The Qik team has delivered exceptional video experiences for its mobile partners and millions of end users across a range of devices," said Tony Bates, Skype’s Chief Executive Officer.

    "Skype’s software enables an estimated 25 percent of the world’s international long distance voice calling minutes*, and approximately 40 percent of those Skype-to-Skype calls are happening over video. Qik’s deep engineering capabilities and strong mobile relationships will be an impressive complementary fit with Skype," he added.

    Vijay Tella, Chief Executive Officer of Qik, said: "Qik has worked very hard to solve complex problems that allow millions of people everyday to take advantage of sharing their lives with those people who are most important to them. Joining Skype allows Qik’s team to unite with Skype’s talented team to develop new and innovative products for our customers and partners."

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  • Fixed-Line VoIP Service as a Mainstay of IMS Deployments

    Communications market research firm Infonetics Research released results from its IMS Plans: Global Service Provider Survey, published last week as part of its Service Provider VoIP and IMS Continuous Research Service.

    The survey provides a strategic overview of service provider IMS network plans, service offerings, core product features and capabilities, drivers and barriers to deploying IMS, and ratings of 10 IMS vendors: Acme Packet, Alcatel-Lucent, BroadSoft, Cisco, Ericsson, HP, Huawei, Nokia Siemens Networks, Sonus, and ZTE.

    The research shows that the IMS market is advancing from early-stage services to the next phase. According to Diane Mayers, Infonetics’ Directing Analyst for Service Provider VoIP and IMS, the two most important indicators are:
    • the higher number of service providers planning to offer services beyond fixed-line voice—such as video and mobile services—by 2011;
    • the shift in IMS deployment drivers, which include the opportunity to offer converged services, deploy new applications and services, and consolidate networks.

    80% of Infonetics’ service provider respondents run fixed voice over IMS today or will by 2011, making fixed-line VoIP service the current mainstay of IMS deployments.

    More than half of the service provider respondents plan to deploy video telephony and converged mobile/fixed-line services over the next 12–18 months.

    The report also unveils that the top three IMS applications operators expect to offer over the next two years are mobile-related: FMC, mobile presence, and mobile messaging.

    "On the vendor front, Ericsson continues to be the leading IMS vendor, but Huawei has made the most progress in terms of deployments and vendor perceptions. Huawei poses a credible and serious threat to Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent, and Nokia Siemens based on the number of providers with Huawei IMS products under evaluation, and overall perception of Huawei across a broad set of criteria," said Myers.