Continuing on its year-long acquisition binge, Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT) checked off another item on its video shopping list Monday, buying switched digital video specialist Vertasent LLC for an undisclosed amount.

The purchase of Vertasent, a tiny, privately owned company based in Colmar, Pa., gives Motorola the rights to the software firm's edge resource management (ERM) platform. An emerging element in the evolving cable HFC network, the ERM product enables cable operators to manage bandwidth and content for both switched digital and video-on-demand (VOD) applications at the same time.

The ERM is also designed to let MSOs engage in something called "edge QAM sharing." Instead of using different QAMs, or "silos," to support each separate service, cable operators can use "universal edge QAMs" to support all their services at the same time, including high-speed data, digital video, VOD, and switched broadcast.

"It turns out this market is pretty specialized," says Mark DePietro, VP of marketing for Motorola's Connected Home Solutions division. "We realized this was an important part of the network."

Read the full story at Cable Digital News.

— Alan Breznick, Site Editor, Cable Digital News