Telestream, the provider of Flip4mac, Episode and FlipFactory content repurposing and workflow automation products, today announced that it has completed the acquisition of European-based Vara Software Ltd., a privately-held company. The acquisition adds the products, technologies and employees of Vara Software to those of Telestream, Inc., a privately-held US-based company. Vara Software brings successful, award-winning live production and streaming products to the Telestream product family. The acquisition expands Telestream's reach beyond encoding-based media workflow solutions for leading broadcast, media and entertainment companies to include powerful tools for real-time creation and distribution of video content over the Web for a broad range of businesses.Vara Software provides real-time production tools, including webcasting, screencasting and rich media presentation products for entertainment, corporate communications, education and training. Webcasting allows companies to reach large, dispersed audiences by distributing content over the Internet, either live or on demand. Screencasting combines screen captures, video recordings and audio narration to provide cost-effective software training and sharing of computer desktop activity over the Internet.
"Vara Software is a highly-regarded, award-winning company that has been recognized by industry leaders such as Apple, Inc.," said Dan Castles, CEO of Telestream. "The ability to quickly capture live events, create and distribute content for Internet-based content delivery is experiencing explosive growth. We believe the live element is going to be even more important going forward. While Vara Software products currently target individual users and departments within larger organizations, the technology is well suited to easily migrate to enterprise-level solutions."
The acquisition moves Telestream into the real-time production end of the digital media supply chain. Vara Software products are an ideal fit for the millions of Telestream Flip4Mac Windows Media component and Episode desktop encoder users who might benefit from these powerful yet easy-to-use video production tools. Telestream is well positioned to leverage this innovation for its higher-end enterprise-level applications. The company also plans to leverage its existing technologies to add greater value to Vara Software products.
Full Disclosure: Author, Derrick Freeman, serves as a consultant for Telestream.
