The Silicon Review ^Asia

IBM is finally leaping into the cloud. The company that once held the market on Windows-based personal computers has purchased UStream, and will be offering live video, cloud-based streaming services. When UStream started up in 2007, it found a home with a variety of users wanting to experiment in the realm of live video streaming. From college kids playing video games to news crews on the hunt for the next big story, UStream users were the first to really push the boundaries with the live streaming capabilities. The site didn’t gain the same traction as TinyChat, Twitch, or LiveStream did with the core younger audience, but UStream has hosted a number of well-known streams including politics, to NASA, and even the Discovery Channel.

Of course, it seems a bit late in the game for IBM to be getting into the video streaming service, but it seems the old dog still has a few new tricks up his sleeve. There is a market that needs to be addressed in the live streaming world, and that is business to business and business to consumer model. UStream’s CEO Brad Hunstable explains in a video just how important video is in our day to day lives and how we can use video to reach new clients and talk to our co-workers across the world.

This isn’t a surprise to anyone with a connection to the internet, but when you are dealing with a demographic that consists of a generation that probably doesn’t work in any technology based field, this sounds shiny and new, and that’s Hunstable’s selling point as to why you should be excited about UStream, IBM and the cloud. IBM seems to have a more direct plan behind this acquisition. The company has seen a steady decline in revenue over the last 15 quarters, and is looking at new opportunities to expand its growth. The majority of IBM’s revenue comes from its Global Technology Services, and it’s finally turning its attention to cloud-based technology, security, mobile and social services. According to IBM, there’s about $105 billion to be made in the cloud-based video. If they can get the jump on that, it’ll be a great niche for Big Blue to move in on.