Olivier Bastard, Director, Media EMEAR at Cisco, has clarified the future of the company’s Service Provider Video Software Solutions business, which it agreed to sell to private equity firm Permira on May 1st, suggesting that the deal was likely to close late summer to early autumn 2018.

Delivering a Welcome Address at the Cisco Future of Media Summit 2018 in London, Bastard told delegates that the deal included all the businesses that were acquired from NDS in March 2012 and further developed by Cisco. “All the content security and conditional access for Sky, for example and DRM for Sky Q; the Infinite Video Cloud Platform … which addresses satellite, IPTV, cable and OTT for all devices. It’s the Cloud DVR platform, as well as video processing; it’s set-top box middleware for the pay-TV market, which is progressively moving towards Android, as we have seen recently,” he explained.

“What remains in Cisco, is ‘all the rest’,” he suggested, noting that the day’s sessions would address what Cisco’s portfolio for the media industry would offer in the future.

Noting that the deal was subject to regulatory approval, he suggested that between August and October was the targeted closure, and suggested that some 3,000 engineering staff were moving into the new company, plus sales staff.

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