Dr Abe Peled
Former NDS chairman and CEO Abe Peled will be the chairman of a new company created after Cisco sold its Service Provider Video Software Solutions (SPVSS) business to the private equity firm Permira.
The as yet unnamed holding will include Cisco’s Infinite Video Platform, cloud digital video recording, video processing, video security, video middleware, and services groups.
“This is a unique opportunity to lead and shape the video industry during its transition with the flexibility as a private company,” said Dr Peled. “The new company will have the scale, technology innovation, and world-class team to deliver outstanding go-to-market execution, customer engagement, and new end-user experiences. Cisco has built a profitable business in the video space with innovations to capitalize on IP distribution and cloud-based services. These combined assets provide a significant new opportunity for the new company”
Terms of the deal have not been announced, but are believed to be in the region of $1 billion. A fifth of the price paid when Permira sold the former News Corp company NDS to Cisco in 2012.
“We are proud of our innovation in video and the customer momentum that the Service Provider Video group has built,” said Chuck Robbins, Chairman and CEO, Cisco. “With the leadership team and Abe as Chairman, the new company is well-positioned to drive this work forward and continue to deliver the solutions that meet the current and future needs of service provider video customers. Service providers remain a key customer segment for Cisco, and we look forward to continuing to partner with them to deliver new revenue-generating services and experiences.”
As NDS, and through its acquisition of Canal+ Technologies, Dr Peled’s former company was responsible for many innovations including the development of the personal video recorder that was branded as Sky+. The challenge will be whether post-Cisco the new operation can be as nimble as the market now requires.
