Matt has the news on the acquisition of Marratech‘s software, from the Google Blog:
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.
Update: To clarify some confusion, we acquired Marratech’s software, not the company itself.
I want to believe the implication here, that all Google wants is an internal video conferencing solution. But I can’t imagine they’d keep this all to themselves….
Maybe they could use it for customer service? Advertisers with inquiries/click fraud issues might like that softer approach.
But the Update News in Googleblog read not all in Germany. the most write today, that Google has buy Marratech and only few magazins write it correctly.
Good Interview with Eric Schmidt, thanks for the Input
“I want to believe the implication here, that all Google wants is an internal video conferencing solution. But I can’t imagine they’d keep this all to themselves….”
Unfortunately, keeping it all to themselves is exactly what the result is at the moment. The Marratech product is now discontinued, all development has ceased including bug fixes, existing support contracts will not be renewed and the reseller network is disbanded.
I’m at the end of a two-year project and just started deploying Marratech across our organisation, now I can’t get any more licences. Oh well…