On the heals of Helius’ acquisition of Gemini Software and PointCast last year, the first week of 08 brought the news that IP-savvy Helius is now being acquired–by a long time satellite and network delivery partner of Helius.
Hughes Communications, Inc., provider of broadband satellite network solutions and a leading broadband managed network services provider, announced January 4th that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Helius, Inc., a portfolio company of Canopy Ventures. The acquisition is expected to be completed on or about February 4, 2008. Upon completion of the acquisition, Helius will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Hughes and will operate closely with Hughes’ North America and International enterprise businesses.
The acquisition will, according to a joint press release from Hughes and Helius, “combine the skills of Helius, a recognized leader in providing business IPTV solutions for applications such as training, corporate communications, and digital signage, with the extensive broadband networking experience and customer base of Hughes.” Hughes plans to deploy Helius’ video technologies to enhance its existing HughesNet service offerings.
Hughes has a large and growing customer base of government, retail, hospitality, and petroleum customers with an interest in business IPTV applications. Recent developments in broadband and video compression technologies allow internal and customer-facing digital media applications to be delivered for a fraction of the cost of previous systems. When combined with Hughes’ networking services, the Helius product suite provides a cost-effective and compelling enterprise networking and communications solution.
“As a premier managed network services provider to enterprise and SMB customers, Hughes saw a natural fit in teaming with Helius to better address the market for digital media solutions,” said Pradman Kaul, president and CEO of Hughes. “We believe this acquisition will uniquely position Hughes as a cost-effective, end-to-end service provider offering content management, hardware, installation, maintenance, network operations, and services.”
“Businesses around the globe are looking for better ways to communicate with their customers and employees,” said Mike Tippets, president and CEO of Helius. “Together with Hughes we are able to provide those organizations, and the integrators who service them, with end-to-end solutions that are easy to buy and easy to use.”
Founded in 1995, Helius (www.helius.com) has focused on the data broadcasting and IP-over-satellite markets for nearly a decade.
Helius is unique in that its solutions–Digital Signage, Corporate Communications, and Training/Learning-– provide customers with a comprehensive enterprise-wide data broadcast infrastructure. This infrastructure delivers corporate broadcasts, business television, interactive distance learning and training programs, distributed digital signage initiatives that support advertising, brand enhancement, and customer satisfaction programs. Helius’ platform supports a host of applications such as content distribution, centralized management, security monitoring, video multicasting, and video conferencing.
Helius offers a comprehensive portfolio of digital signage, training, distance learning, and content distribution network solutions. Helius is a privately held firm with funding from The Canopy Group.
