Kasenna was originally founded as a division of SGI in 2000 to attack the VOD space. Since then, the company has raised over $60 million through four funding rounds. Investors include US Venture Partners, Alloy Ventures, SGI, Artiman Ventures, AsiaTech Management, CIR Ventures, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, Intel Capital, Key Venture Partners, and The Entrepreneurs' Fund.

Moving beyond VOD, Kasenna has repositioned itself as "The IPTV Company." As the catch-phrase suggests, Kasenna has shifted its focus beyond cable to the telco IPTV market. That said, on the VOD side, Kasenna has captured cable business from MSOs Adelphia Communications, Charter Communications, Mid Hudson Cable, and OCN Shanghai Cable. In the telco segment, customers include SureWest, China NetCom, FastWeb in Italy, Iceland Telecom, SaskTel in Canada, and industry giant Paul Bunyan Telephone.

As part of its move beyond cable into the telco IPTV space, Kasenna forged a distribution partnership with Ericsson earlier this year.

Headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif. with additional R&D and engineering operations in Bangalore, India, Kasenna counts 100 employees. Kasenna PortalTV is a pre-integrated IPTV solution that leverages its MediaBase XMP video content streaming software, Media Servers, plus its Living Room set-top client and vFusion video element and content management application.

Start-up: Kasenna
Innovation factor: 8 (out of 10)
Likely Acquirers: Ericsson
Handicap: 4-1 odds on an Ericsson, a move that would likely transition Kasenna out of cable.