Citrix Systems, Inc. announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire privately-held Bytemobile, Inc. for an undisclosed sum. While not the first deal of this nature in 2012, it does represent one of the more meaningful as cloud platform providers seek to aggressively target telecom network operators in support of “carrier cloud” service offerings. Along these lines, it also points to the absolute requirement of having an effective video strategy as part of a carrier cloud offering.
Key Points
- The deal gives Citrix access to Bytemobile’s customer base which includes 130 mobile operators in 60 countries. Bytemobile is considered to be one of, if not, the market leader in the growing mobile video optimization space.
- The deal gives Citrix access to critical video optimization capabilities in support of Citrix’s carrier cloud play aimed at mobile operators.
- The deal builds on a strategic partnership announced earlier in 2012 between the two companies. This is meaningful in that it should expedite the integration process of bringing Bytemobile into the Citrix fold.
In-Depth
As carrier cloud service offerings begin to ramp up, it is natural for companies, like Citrix, that have been traditionally focused on the enterprise to target network operators. “I think it makes good sense for Citrix to begin to more aggressively expand into the mobile core network as cloud computing and virtualization are beginning to gain traction in that market.” said Greg Collins, Chief Analyst at ExactVentures, “Bytemobile has a strong presence in the video optimization market and I would imagine that as virtualization spreads to other nodes within the mobile core, Citrix can now leverage the foothold in that market as well as continue to benefit from growth in mobile video traffic and the need to optimize that traffic.”
The growth of data traffic, video in particular, has been the proverbial elephant in the room for mobile network operators for at least the past several years. Now, as operators seek to migrate and/or offer cloud-based services, it is something that companies like Citrix must deal with as well. Daryl Schoolar, Principal Analyst at Ovum commented that, “This deal is just one more piece of evidence regarding the importance of video, and its impact on the mobile network, going forward. Video is certainly an area Citrix couldn’t ignore with its cloud application focus.”
Bottom Line
With competitors such as Allot Communications and F5 Networks making moves earlier in the year to shore up their relevance in the mobile core, this was a move that Citrix needed to make. Importance of the capabilities aside, however, the deal also indicates the need for companies like Citrix to play a more holistic role as an end-to-end solutions provider. As a result of the partnership agreements signed between the companies earlier in 2012, Citrix, in essence, already had access to Bytemobile’s technology. However, by buying the company outright, Citrix now gains a direct sales channel for its overall mobile cloud offering into Bytemobile’s substantial customer base.
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