NAB: Wohler Acquires RadiantGrid

Deal will allow Wohler to offer software solutions for streamlining file-based workflows

By George Winslow -- Broadcasting & Cable, 4/16/2012 3:32:38 PM

Complete Coverage: 2012 NAB Show

In a notable example of how broadcast equipment vendors are looking to adapt to rapidly changing broadcast infrastructures and businesses, Wohler has acquired RadiantGrid Technologies, a software vendor which develops and markets RadiantGrid Platform media workflow services platform.

Terms of the deal, which closed today, were not disclosed. Current RadiantGrid's management and team will remain with Wohler and play a central role in the development of new products.

In announcing the deal, Carl Dempsey, president and CEO of Wohler Technologies and Don Bird, Wohler CMO, noted that they had been working for some time to adapt the company's product line to a broadcast world where IT and IP-based solutions based on software were increasingly important.

"Our customers are increasingly making the move to more IT-centric infrastructures and looking to file-based solutions as a way to realize increased efficiency and profitability," Dempsey said in a statement. "We have assembled engineering talent to develop our own file-based solutions, and the strategic acquisition of RadiantGrid -- and the company's exceptional technology and talent -- expand and accelerates that program. By joining these resources...we are positioned to move quickly into exciting new areas and to roll out innovative solutions that help broadcast organizations everywhere to deliver media efficiently, effectively and economically."

During the press conference announcing the deal and Wohler's acquisition of RadiantGrid, Dempsey noted that their customers had long been asking for solutions to help them better handle multiplatform delivery in a more efficient and economical ways.

"RadiantGrid, the fastest growing media file based solutions company in the industry, can help us solve that problem for our customers," Dempsey noted.

Particularly appealing, he added, is their technologies for faster than real-time encoding.

RadiantGrid has seen rapid growth in recent years and has lined up such clients as AMC Network, Turner International, ESPN and Library of Congress. But as a small company, management saw Wohler as a partner that could supply the global reach and support they lacked.

"We have looking for right partner to accelerate growth," noted Kirk Marple, president and chief software architect of RadiantGrid. "A lot of companies loved our product but had concerns about the depth of company and how quickly can grow. This deal will allow us to replicate the success we've had in the U.S. internationally."

Dempsey also noted that their product categories were complementary. "Wohler's products address the management of audio, video, ancillary data and loudness" and quality control of those signals," he noted. "RadiantGrid covers the entire gamut. Our vision just got wider."