TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Quickplay, the global expert in powering premium video to any device, today announced the acquisition of New Jersey based Roundbox Inc., the leading technology provider for the optimization of video and other data-intensive applications over mobile networks. The acquisition supports Quickplay’s strategy to enable the monetization of engaging premium viewing experiences on any device or network by using multicast (one-to-many), and unicast (one-to-one) technologies that leverage 4G LTE Broadcast – eMBMS, WiFi, 3G, and 4G to launch new services – or enhance existing services – with dramatically improved economics and scale.
Roundbox cloud-enabled solutions and software will enable Quickplay to offer unique benefits to service providers, content owners and device manufacturers; delivering a range of new capabilities and mobile media experiences, as well as optimized video and data delivery and spectrum utilization. Roundbox technology has been widely deployed globally at service providers such as KDDI and TIM.
For more than a decade, Quickplay has pioneered the enablement of premium video-on-demand (VOD) and Live TV over any network or device, with a managed service offering that addresses over 700 million end subscribers, nearly 700 Live channels and tens of thousands of hours of VOD content for customers such as AT&T U-Verse, Bell Canada, and Bloomberg. According to a Citrix 2014 Mobile Analytics Report, video now constitutes 52 per cent of mobile Internet traffic. This fact, coupled with the explosive growth of the Internet-of-Things (IoT) – predicted by IDC to grow to $7.1 trillion by the year 2020 – means that optimally utilizing bandwidth and spectrum to deliver content cost-effectively is critical to the profitable growth of these services. Addressing these needs makes Quickplay and Roundbox the ideal combination to efficiently accelerate the growth of these rapidly emerging services.
With the integration of Roundbox’s client and server technology into the Quickplay managed video service, Quickplay can enable mobile network operators to rapidly monetize key LTE Broadcast use cases, including:
- Live event streaming for efficient in-venue, local, or regional coverage of live events with multiple high-quality streams and rich, interactive experiences
- Live TV streaming to enable Over-the-Top (OTT) video services in the home and on the go, to devices such as smart phones, PCs, tablets, dongles, game consoles, and smart TVs
- Periodic push services including news, stock updates, sports highlights, special interest and weather clips to mass audiences
- Subscription broadcast music and radio services
- Connected car services to provide in-car infotainment, enabling operators to better leverage PAY TV investments with new services outside the home
- Off-peak media delivery and mobile CDN services including application and O/S updates
- IoT services such as digital signage for enterprises and media companies
“We believe that we are on the cusp of an explosion in the growth of applications and services related to premium mobile video and smart connected devices,” said Wayne Purboo, CEO and co-founder of Quickplay. “To create a premium customer experience and facilitate new IoT services affordably will require innovative approaches to the delivery of data over mobile networks. Quickplay and Roundbox will be at the forefront of enabling this revolution in mobility. We are thrilled to welcome the highly specialized and experienced Roundbox team to the Quickplay family.”
“The mobile Internet is the Internet,” said Dennis Specht, CEO and co-founder of Roundbox. “We are thrilled to join Quickplay – the company that pioneered premium video services on any device or network.”
“The IoT and LTE Broadcast are catalyst technologies that will enable an array of new services for consumers and businesses,” said Jim Nelson, co-founder of Roundbox. “With Quickplay we are ideally positioned to help service providers and media companies to monetize their significant network and content investments.”
About Roundbox
Roundbox enables service providers, content owners & device manufactures to monetize the explosive growth of wireless applications. Our cloud-enabled infrastructure leverages broadcast/multicast (one-to-many), and unicast (one-to-one) technologies. We combine the power of efficient video and data delivery, reliability, scale, and the ability to deploy services rapidly using any device or network.
About Quickplay
Backed by a decade of experience, Quickplay is the global expert in powering TV over any device, allowing premium video service providers to focus on growing their business. Quickplay’s proven services leverage an open platform, cloud economics, and best-of-breed partners so providers can move faster, operate leaner, and offer the best TV experience anywhere. With facilities and experts in Toronto, San Diego, Singapore, Chennai, and Frankfurt, Quickplay enables 700 million people around the globe to fast forward to a next generation of TV with over 700 live channels, 4,000 live events each year, and 2 million securely managed premium content assets. Quickplay has successfully launched multiscreen video services for the likes of Verizon, AT&T, Rogers, Bell and TELUS.
Quickplay, its marks, trademarks, and logos are the exclusive property of Quickplay Incorporated and may only be reproduced with the express written authorization of Quickplay.
Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The companies are privately held.