Vonage Takes Deep Dive Into Video, WebRTC With TokBox Acquisition

Vonage is digging deep into the video and WebRTC market with the acquisition of programmable video services specialist TokBox for $35 million.

The purchase of San Francisco-based TokBox makes Vonage a formidable player in the video market with plans to leverage the technology to boost Vonage's Nexmo Communications Platform-as-a-Service (CPaaS) offering.

"With TokBox, our API portfolio expands beyond voice, SMS and IP messaging to include global leadership in programmable video," said Vonage CEO Alan Masarek in a statement. "TokBox significantly expands our total addressable market, and it is a major step towards global leadership in cloud communications."

[Related: Vonage Launches Its First Channel Program To Boost Cloud Communications Sales]

Holmdel, N.J.-based Vonage is betting big on the channel to drive CPaaS and other cloud communications sales. In March, the company launched its first channel program: the Vonage Partner Network.

TokBox, a subsidiary of Telefonica, specializes in WebRTC programmable video with more than 2,300 global customers and over 1,700 mobile apps that use the TokBox software development kit across Android and iOS.

TokBox's OpenTok platform enables developers and enterprises to integrate live video into websites, mobile applications and Internet of Things devices with just a few lines of code.

TokBox technology gives developers a simple, flexible and scalable programmable video solution, said TokBox CEO Scott Lomond. "As WebRTC has gained traction, our growth has been supported by the ability of our platform to simplify the integration of live video into websites and mobile apps for developers," he said in a statement.