IBM has acquired video content management platform vendor Clearleap in a move that underscores the growing importance of video in not just the consumer world, but enterprises as well. Here are the key details from IBM's announcement:

Clearleap will be integrated into the IBM Cloud platform to provide enterprises with a fast and easy way to manage, monetize and grow user video experiences and deliver them securely over the Web and mobile devices. 

Increasingly connected consumers want video delivered when they want it and to the multiple devices they use for entertainment and information. In business, video has become a staple of communications across all industries as a primary method to engage with customers and employees for CEO webcasts, conference keynotes, training & education, customer care, how-to videos, and more.

As a result, clients across industries are demanding a secure, scalable, and open cloud-based solution to manage their video services. This is especially significant given researchers estimate that 80% of the world’s data is unstructured and dark to computer systems that cannot effectively manage or exploit it. Video makes up a significant part of that data.

Clearleap's open API framework enables organizations to easily build video into applications and to adapt to specific business needs such as custom workflows and advanced analytics. The framework also enables access to key third-party applications that customers may already have in their environments.

Its customers include HBO, the NFL, Time Warner Cable and Verizon. Its platform includes capabilities for workflow automation, end-user access and monetization, multi-device processing and video content management. IBM will provide the API set through its Bluemix cloud platform next year.

As the IBM-provided slide below shows, Clearleap's platform will work in conjunction with a number of other IBM acquisitions.

 

In total, "we see Clearleap as the tip of the iceberg of a nearly $105 billion market," said Jim Comfort, general manager of IBM Cloud Services, during a conference call with analysts. He later broke that total down, saying the market potential for video platforms is $35 billion, while the related storage spend could be up to $70 billion. 

Overall, video has to become "a first-class citizen in the unstructured data world," and IBM is now in a position to deliver just that, he added. 

Capturing Workloads

"The acquisition comes as no surprise as video is currently the key load factor for public cloud," says Constellation Research VP and principal analyst Holger Mueller. Indeed, new figures from research firm Sandvine find that streaming video accounts for 70 percent of all Internet traffic during peak hours in North America, compared to 35 percent five years ago.

"The public cloud infrastructure vendors behind the scenes are seeing stable load and growth of that load," Mueller says. "And SoftLayer came already with a respectable group of video providers. With the Clearlap acquisition IBM is getting ready to carve out more video load for content areas that are beyond North America, like Europe, Latin America, and APAC."

Transforming Enterprise Applications

"Currently video is mainly thought of a business to consumer play, where businesses stream marketing and support content to their customers," says Constellation Research VP and principal analyst Alan Lepofsky. "But video is also becoming a key part of employee collaboration. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video is worth a million. Enabling employees to more easily share their questions, thoughts and ideas via video is an important step in collaboration. Hopefully IBM will find ways to integrate the Clearleap functionality into the IBM Connections collaboration platform."

Video is playing a role in many other types of enterprise applications as well, such as customer service and human capital management. Expect IBM's massive consultant force, as well as partners, to make a push into video integration services next year.

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