SDL went shopping yesterday and bought cloud media (or digital) asset management vendor Calamares.

In a statement, SDL described Calamares as a "cloud-based platform that allows enterprises to centrally compose, enrich, publish and distribute video and other rich-media assets."

SDL sees the purchase as a way to extend the customer engagement aspects of the SDL platform to include video and other media assets. "We consider multimedia graphical and video-based asset creation and management to be a key need for businesses as they evolve the engagement with their customers in the next 3-5 years," said Mark Lancaster, SDL executive chairman.

For Calamares, it represents a chance to expand their market in ways they couldn't as a stand-alone company. "Now as part of the SDL family, we will be able to accelerate the development and expansion of our media management platform for the WCM industry, while at the same time leveraging SDL's global reach and market strength," Calamares CEO Wouter Maagdenberg said. 

Scott Liewehr, an analyst with Gilbane Group, sees this purchase as a way for SDL to integrate digital media management directly into the platform. "Generally, we have seen a significant uplift in the DAM/MAM market as brands look to engage their audiences through more compelling forms of content such as video and audio," he said.

"While not projecting SDL into the 'pure' MAM space, this acquisition will continue to round out SDL's WCM platform and allow customers the ability to seamlessly integrate rich media into their digital dialogues with consumers," Liewehr added.

For more information:
- see the SDL press release

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