France Telecom unit to buy Orca Interactive

France Telecom content security subsidiary Viaccess is acquiring IPTV middleware vendor Orca Interactive, based in Israel, for $21.4 million in cash. The move comes amid consolidation in the tightly-competitive IPTV middleware market, where smaller vendors are having trouble against the likes of Microsoft. It is not yet clear how Orca's technology will be paired up or integrated with Viaccess, but the more intriguing question here could be, where does Orca fit with France Telecom's recently announced Soft At Home joint venture with Thomson and Sagem SA. That JV is targeting Microsoft Mediaroom's market dominance.

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- read this story at Light Reading Europe

Related article:
- France Telecom launched the Soft At Home joint venture late last month