Cisco Systems Inc. Monday made a rare step out of the networking world, taking a $100 million stake in Liberate Technologies.
Cisco will pick up a 3.88 percent stake in Liberate,
which specializes in the delivery of digital television
content. The networking giant will also strengthen product, marketing and
sales ties with Liberate.
The companies will co-sell set-top boxes, game players, thin clients and
mobile wireless devices to network operators around the world, reducing time
to market and enabling both companies to deliver open standards for digital
television.
Cisco’s core broadband offering will be integrated with the Liberate TV
Platform software, which consists of the Liberate TV Navigator client
software, and the Liberate Connect server software. The combined
architecture will include Cisco directory services, and DOCSIS and network
software stacks.
The deal makes Cisco the third-largest investor in Liberate, joining other
Liberate investors such as America Online
Inc., Hambrecht &
Quist and Sun Microsystems Inc.
Cisco is a member of Liberate’s PopTV program, which addresses the needs of
key players in the interactive TV market. These include hardware developers
porting the Liberate software platform to a variety of set-top boxes and
infrastructure partners who provide technology integration.
Anticpating the growing demand for the delivery of faster services over
broadband networks to grow, Cisco and Liberate aim to extend IP-based
services to emerging consumer devices and networks.
Last week, Cisco inked a deal with Oracle
Corp. . Cisco will bundle Oracle
11i, the database software giant’s latest suite of Web-based business
management applications, with Cisco’s voice-over IP capabilities and
customer call center software.