Rumor Mill: Limelight-Brightcove deal in the works

Limelight Networks and Brightcove may be set to announce a major partnership deal months in the making, according to a blog post by analyst Dan Rayburn, though Brightcove spokesperson Erika Shaffer said in an email that "no such agreement exists nor are we engaged in active negotiations with Limelight for such an arrangement." Shaffer added that Brightcove and Limelight forged a partnership in 2006 that remains important to both companies, but that Brightcove also continued to explore CDN partnerships with multiple companies, Limelight merely being one of them. However, even the possibility of a partnership between a major video platform and a leading CDN bears mention and exploration, as such a deal has many interesting product and services implications for customers of both companies, Rayburn notes. Limelight declined to comment on the situation.

If any such partnership were to be forged, and the deal could generate significant revenue driven by both companies winning deals because of functionality gained from the partnership, other CDNs and video platforms could be expected to scramble to make similar plays so as not to be left at a disadvantage. As most other players in the CDN space don't have the same resources as Limelight does, however, these deals likely would be dwarfed by any potential Brightcove-Limelight deal, Rayburn said.

For more:
- see Rayburn's detailed analysis of implications and possibilities for the deal here 

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