In a deal using Skype’s parent company eBay, the VoIP provider has planned to acquire the San Francisco-based Sonorit Holdings and its US subsidiary, Camino Networks. This deal will give Skype direct access to technology that it currently liscenses from a third party.
Sonorit and Camino specialize in technology to enhance the quality of VoIP calls, which is considered to be trailing behind copper wire telephone connections.
The deal is roughly estimated to be worth $27 million and Skype will make the payment with 700,000 eBay share stocks. With this deal, Skype will have access to a world-class technology team and the expertise of online voice engineering.
Market sources believe that the fact that Skype has decided on such a publicized deal can be seen as evidence that the parent company eBay intends to let the firm grow on its own - akin to the strategy it used to establish PayPal as a dominant online transaction processing firm. Since its founding in 2002, Skype has grown to become the world’s largest VoIP provider. Skype was acquired by eBay last September in a deal worth US $2.6 billion.
Camino’s expertise lies in voice processing on the Internet. This acquisition will relieve Skype of renewing the licenses for voice processing technology from its third party, Global IP Sound. The acquisition will also boost the VoIP and other voice services that Skype delivers over the Internet.
While Skype has no immediate plans to change its voice processing provider from Global IP Sound; it does plan to enlist engineers from Camino and Sonorit to refine its own technology.
In a deal using Skype’s parent company eBay, the VoIP provider has planned to acquire the San Francisco-based Sonorit Holdings and its US subsidiary, Camino Networks. This deal will give Skype direct access to technology that it currently liscenses from a third party.
Contact the author.
