Limelight Networks Acquires Kiptronic

Limelight Networks announced the acquisition of Kiptronic, which designs applications for device-optimized content delivery and monetization, on May 21.

Kiptronic’s products allow content to be tailored to a particular Internet-connected or mobile device without needing to change aspects of the platform that content is built upon. The company’s Web-based tools can be used by advertisers to serve video ads to those smaller devices in the same manner as delivery to traditional Web browsers.

Both companies refused to disclose the terms of the deal, which was transacted with a combination of cash and common stock. A spokesperson for Limelight Networks shot down the figure of $12 million suggested by Dan Rayburn of BusinessofVideo.com as "pure rumor on the Web."

The agreement seeks to link Kiptonic’s content-scaling software onto Limelight Networks' delivery platform. Limelight Networks attempts to "improve the performance and profitability of [Web] sites and end-user experiences," according to the company, by routing traffic "over a private fiber-optic backbone" as opposed to the Internet.

Limelight Networks has also partnered with other companies to improve the speed of cloud computing.

"The distribution and monetization of content on [Internet-connected and mobile] devices is complex and difficult to implement in a scalable fashion," Jeff Lunsford, CEO of Limelight Networks, said in a statement. "The combination of Limelight Networks’ distributed computing and delivery platform with Kiptronic’s device-targeting and dynamic insertion technologies will allow us to provide…a streamlined and scalable solution to this problem."

The porting of applications onto mobile devices and smartphones has grown increasingly important to businesses, as the use of such devices rises in popularity. In December 2008, a study from the Pew Internet & American Life Project predicted that mobile phones will be the primary Internet access point by 2020.