Cisco announced Monday that it will invest $100 million in interactive television software maker Liberate Technologies.
The investment will ensure that next generation broadband devices and services are developed on open Internet standards and deliver more choice to service providers and their customers, the companies said in a statement. Liberate and Cisco will collaborate to sell and market the technology to network operators.
Liberate offers client and server software that allows Internet content to be accessed from appliances such as television set-top boxes and game consoles. The company changed its name from Network Computer Inc. (NCI) in May 1999. Oracle Corp. founded NCI, which spun out from the database maker with an initial focus on developing specifications for network computers.
Cisco will receive a 3.88% stake in San Carlos, California-based Liberate and further its product, marketing and sales relationship with Liberate, the statement said. This makes Cisco the third largest investor in Liberate.
Liberate has agreed to join Cisco's New World Ecosystem program, which serves to assist service providers in deploying revenue-generating services to customers. Cisco's core broadband technology will be integrated with Liberate's TV Platform software and Liberate Connect server software, according to the companies.
In early trading on Wall Street, Cisco was down $.31 to $67.94 a share, while Liberate was up $2.38 to $36.50 a share.
Liberate, based in San Carlos, California, is at www.liberate.com/. Cisco Systems, in San Jose, is at www.cisco.com/.
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