IBM Helps Expose ‘Dark Data’

IBM has acquired Clearleap, Inc., a provider of cloud-based video services, to allow users to access video from any device at any time and use it as a strategic source of data.

Clearleap will be integrated into the IBM Cloud platform to help users better manage, monetize and grow user video experiences and deliver them securely over the web and mobile devices.

According to IBM, video has become a key form of communication in business as a way to engage with customers and employees for CEO webcasts, conference keynotes, training and education, customer care, and how-to videos. The result is that organizations require a secure, scalable, and open cloud-based solution to manage their video services. This need is made even more pressing given that industry research estimates that 80% of the world’s data is unstructured and dark to computer systems that cannot effectively manage or exploit it, with video accounting for a significant part of that “dark data.”

Clearleap's open API framework enables organizations to build video into applications as well as to adapt to specific business needs such as custom workflows and advanced analytics. The framework also enables access to third-party applications that customers may already have in their environments.

Financial details for IBM’s acquisition of Clearleap, which was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Duluth, GA, were not disclosed.