Google Acquires Marratech For Web Conferencing

March was an exciting and dynamic month given announcements at VoiceCon from leading vendors in the unified communications market, the TellMe acquisition by Microsoft and the WebEx acquisition by Cisco.

So Google getting into the web conferencing market certainly makes April interesting. Marratech is a small company without a lot of market presence that I am aware of. The web conferencing market is incredibly diverse with over 70 vendors in the space last time I counted. There are not a lot of details yet on what exactly Google intends to do with the technology but the obvious items come to mind:

• Integration with Google Talk
• Integration with Google Apps
• Possibly position itself as a conferencing service provider in the long-term (similar to what WebEx and Microsoft currently do today)
• Possibly offer carriers a web conferencing package in the long-term (carriers often sub-contract their web conferencing capabilities to a WebEx or Microsoft - carriers might be intrigued with a virtual office package vs. pure web conferencing)

Given its brand awareness and market presence, Google could become a disruptive force in certain market segments fairly quickly. There is a lot of price sensitivity and switching of conferencing service providers at the lower end. At the higher end (the large enterprise), many have negotiated yearly subscription contracts and have customized sites that may be harder to walk away from (especially since we have no clear notion of what Google plans to do and there is no track record to point too in terms of Google being able to run this type of service).

But - clearly this is something Microsoft and Cisco will note. And - potentially bad news longer-term for vendors in this space that have moved down-market. I'm sure the folks at Citrix will take notice of this acquisition as well.   

Official Google Blog: Collaborating with Marratech

As a company, we thrive on casual interactions and spontaneous collaboration. So we're excited about acquiring Marratech's video conferencing software, which will enable from-the-desktop participation for Googlers in videoconference meetings wherever there's an Internet connection.
We look forward to learning from the extraordinary ingenuity of Marratech's engineers as they focus on desktop conferencing research and development in Sweden, where they will continue to be located.

Source: Official Google Blog: Collaborating with Marratech

The Local - Google buys Swedish IT company

American giant Google has bought Luleå-based IT company Marratech for over 100 million kronor ($14.5 million).
The deal also means that Google will assume responsibility for Marratech's dozen or so employees.

"It feels great. It's a wonderful opportunity for us. We couldn't have dreamed of getting a better partner," Peter Parnes, one of the founders of Marratech, told news agency TT.
Marratech, founded in 1998, makes software for electronic conferences.
The price tag has not been revealed but newspaper Dagens Industri reports that Google paid more than 100 million kronor for the northern Swedish company.

Source: The Local - Google buys Swedish IT company

Marratech Web Site

Outstanding quality audio with easy-to-use interactive whiteboard, application sharing, real-time video and messaging on every participant's computer, puts you in a fully collaborative work environment without leaving you desk or home.

• Works on Mac, Windows and Linux.
• Runs on existing PC's and Laptops - no additional capital expenditure.
• Have a private 'one-to-one' conversation with any participant
• Share any application and hand control to another user.
• All participants can record and playback the entire net meeting including voice, video and whiteboard.
• It's easy to include office group meetings or video conferences in a Marratech video net e-meeting.
• Call remote people into the video net meeting even if they are away from a computer.
• It does all this over highspeed broadband internet without the need to use a telephone.
• End-to-end encryption ensures security for your entire net meeting including voice, video and documents .
• You can present or 'broadcast' to an unlimited audience.
• Marratech's licensed Manager works on Mac, Linux, Windows and Solaris servers.
• Marratech Manager offers quick installation, upgrades and administration features for fast and easy configuration.

Comments

[Robert]

I wonder if there's going to release to the public the new technology they acquired. The fact that they're using it then it must be good, right?

Anyway, hope you can drop by my site too about conference calling service. Here's the link:

http://www.Audio-Conferencing-Guide.com/free-conference-calling-services.htm

You and your readers can get more current information on VOIP.

[Steve M]

That's really a smart and quick sloution for video conferencing, without much efforts and time.
http://www.sony-conferencing.com/