It seems like over the past two decades we've been hit over the head almost every year with the proclamation that this is now "the year of video". Then the year comes and goes and we're no closer to having video becoming a mainstream collaboration tool than we were at the start of the year. In fact, I've heard many end users describe video as a "solution in search of a problem".
Sure, we've had some M&A activity within the vendor world, a few startups pop up, and a tremendous amount of innovation with new products from the more traditional video vendors. Despite that though, it's hard to say that video has finally hit that inflection point.
However, I looked at yesterday's acquisition of Teliris by Dimension Data as a signal that this might actually be the year video goes mainstream. Why? Well, Dimension Data is one of the world's largest systems integrators and, like most SIs, DiData tends to augment its portfolio based on what customers are asking for. Five years ago there were lots of cloud UC solutions available but the customer interest was low, so the SIs stayed out of the market. Today it's hard to find an SI that doesn't have a cloud business. Similarly, I expect to see more SIs and VARs look to build out cloud or managed video services now that one of the largest global SIs has jumped into the market.
Dimension Data paid an undisclosed amount of cash to purchase the 13-year-old Teliris. In Teliris, Dimension Data acquires a company that was one of the first solution providers to offer cloud-based, managed immersive telepresence solutions. Given the age of the company, DiData not only inherits a great set of products but also a tremendous amount of expertise and experience in the video market.
This acquisition comes about three weeks after Dimension Data scooped up Nexus to expand its US footprint, also for an undisclosed amount of cash. The South African based DiData is about $6 billion in revenue and has publicly stated it has a goal to double its revenue. Reaching this organically could be very difficult, so the aggressive acquisitions make some sense. Given the lofty growth projections, I'm sure the company looked at video-as-a-service as a high growth opportunity.
I've done a tremendous amount of research in video over the past year, and I'm confident in saying that businesses are using video more; but the consumption and purchasing is different today than it was just a few years ago.
The first and maybe most notable difference is that video is an IP-based application that's integrated into UC, rather than being a standalone service. When Teliris launched its company almost a decade and a half ago, this wasn't the case. Video being a networked applications brings new challenges and requires new skills to deploy--a great opportunity for a global SI like Di Data.
Also, the concept of the mobile workspace is becoming more commonplace as organizations look to give workers a consistent set of tools to collaborate from anywhere over any device. An on-demand video service can be easily dropped into any collaborative workflow without requiring the customer to spend enormous amounts of time and money trying to enable it. Managed video services have become increasingly popular in vertical markets such as education, healthcare and other professional services.
The Teliris cloud services are a great complementary service to Dimension Data's current portfolio of managed and cloud services. Dimension Data has tremendous global reach today, and that combined with the experience and technical skills it will inherit from Teliris puts DiData in a position to aggressively go after the video as a service (VaaS) market
Conversely, Dimension Data's experience with network infrastructure, voice over IP and other collaborative applications will complement Teliris, who will remain autonomous for now. Teliris should be able to leverage the acquisition to grow its own business and broaden its offerings. As video moves out of the conference rooms and on to people's desks and mobile devices, Teliris will need these complementary services.
The way we work is changing and the way workers and companies use video is changing as well. Customers need partners like Dimension Data to help lead this work-style change and bring video capabilities to all workers if they're going to make the mobile workspace a reality. The vendors have been pushing this concept for a while and it's been my feeling that the VARs and SIs have been cautious in their approach to video, primarily because it's hard to do well. Having a company like Dimension Data jump into the market with both feet through the acquisition of Teliris only helps to legitimize the concept of VaaS and should help push the industry along.
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