Motorola Buying Maker of IP Boxes in Sweden
By Karen Brown -- Multichannel News, 1/22/2006 7:00:00 PM
Motorola Inc., which six years ago acquired cable set-top box maker General Instrument Corp., last week said it would acquire a Swedish company that makes digital set-top boxes for television delivered via Internet protocol.
Motorola said it would acquire Kreatel Communications AB, which makes digital set-top boxes for such European telephone companies as Spain’s Telefonica S.A., Sweden’s TeliaSonera and Holland’s KPN. All three provide customers with so-called IPTV services.
This acquisition will give Motorola an IPTV set-top box that runs on the Linux operating system. That gives it an alternative to Internet-protocol boxes that run on Microsoft Corp. operating systems.
Motorola’s existing Linux-based set-top does not work on Internet protocols; it is part of its cable-TV equipment line.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Kreatel, based in Linkoping, Sweden, is six years old, employs 60 people and recorded sales of $17.8 million in 2004. Its set-top boxes and software can be used in copper or fiber telephone networks to deliver video programming.
| Machine Spec |
|---|
| Kreatel 1760 IPTV set-top box |
| Microprocessor: 420 DMIPS |
| Main memory: 128 MB DRAM |
| Flash memory: 512 Kb |
| Hard-disk drive: 80 Gb |
| Operating system: Linux |
| Video encoders: MPEG-2, H. 264, WM9 |
| Graphics: 24 bits/pixel RGB for video |
| Ports: Ethernet, USB 2.0. composite video |
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