M+E Daily

Deluxe Entertainment Services Group Nov. 17 announced it has acquired Swedish technology company Vericom AB, giving Deluxe a firm that’s helped advance high-quality IP transmission of live video and large files — including 4K — at very low latency. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Before the acquisition, Deluxe had been working with Vericom AB on IP delivery for four years, and had already integrated the technology into its MediaCloud linear playout service, as well as its Deluxe’s Broadcast Delivery Network (BDN), for live events and sports.

“Deluxe, combined with Vericom’s software, has proven incredibly powerful in delivering high quality video streams over IP,” said Deluxe CEO John Wallace. “It is a viable alternative to traditional delivery via satellite or fiber with low latency and high security, and has enabled us to pioneer international 4K delivery and remote production using the public internet. We have enjoyed a highly successful partnership with Vericom helping clients get their live events, sports, and video content out to audiences and users worldwide, on any platform.”

Deluxe expects the acquisition to help make it more attractive to entertainment companies and broadcasters looking to move to IP to transfer large files, whether it be during production or post, covering everything from feature films to virtual reality. Vericom’s tech includes a data center aggregation platform for edge-based and locally originated IP streams, and software h.264 encoder and decoder functionality that can support low latency encoding of SDI video signals, as well as decoding of IP-based video signals out to SDI.

Deluxe has already used Vericom’s tech to deliver NFL content in Europe and for SBS broadcasts in Australia. The company currently has more than 40 IP-based client installations, supporting 61 IP-based channel playouts worldwide.

“As with our recent acquisition of Sfera, bringing Vericom into the Deluxe fold continues our strategy of investing in innovative technology that we can build on to provide efficient tools and services that help our clients thrive in the highly competitive global entertainment market,” Wallace said. “We believe we are just touching the surface of how IP transport’s efficiency can be adopted to the emerging demands of the market through production, post, and delivery.”