Motorola bites at BitBand

Motorola is to purchase the Israeli IPTV specialist BitBand in a deal expected to close before the end of the year. It will be integrated into Motorola’s Home & Networks Mobility division, the future of which is thought to be under discussion, amid reports that Motorola might be preparing to spin-off the unit.

“Motorola is committed to investing in our video infrastructure solutions as our customers evolve their networks to handle the explosion in consumer demand for video,” said John Burke, senior vice president and general manager, Broadband Home Solutions, part of the Motorola Home & Networks Mobility business. “BitBand has a leading share in IPTV video on demand and a strong base in Europe that we plan to leverage as we continue growing our infrastructure business in the EMEA region.”

BitBand boasts more than 60 clients including Holland’s Tele 2, Italy’s Fastweb and Russia’s Swyazinvest. It will sit with Motorola’s existing on demand product line that includes the Adaptive Media Management framework for content management and high-performance streaming servers for centralised and edge-based on demand networks.