Comcast has agreed to acquire PowerCloud Systems, a WiFi-monitoring and analytics service provider, according to TechCrunch. The exact terms of the deal were not disclosed, but TechCrunch says the deal was under $50 million.
Launched in 2008 as a spinoff from Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), PowerCloud Systems specializes in WiFi management systems control. Its enterprise product CloudCommand VC allows companies to manage and control their Internet connections, while its consumer product Skydog does the same thing for the home. For example, you can remotely control the number of users in your network and set the bandwidth limit for each device, on a centralized cloud platform.
TechCrunch said the deal was “mainly an acquihire,” meaning that Comcast mainly bought the company to recruit its workforce. However, TechCrunch did say that Comcast plans on leveraging PowerCloud’s technology to build what it calls a bigger “smart internet” strategy.
“It’s all around smart internet,” Tyson Marian, who works in Strategic Development at Comcast, told VentureBeat when asked about the deal. “So you can connect new devices and manage your devices on a home network with heavy security.”
With more and more devices being connected to a centralized network, it’s not hard to see why Comcast is investing in this area.