Reuters reports that an Israel company called as NDS, which specializes in developing software for multi-channel television networks, is in advance stage of acquisition by Cisco System. The deal is worth $5 billion. NDS was founded in 1988 and headquartered in London provides electronic security solutions for web applications and specializes in the development of interactive systems for secure delivery of entertainment and information to digital TVs, digital set-top boxes, PCs and mobile devices.
NDS is 51 percent owned by the Permira private equity fund and 49 percent by News Corp. It maintains a large research and development centre in Jerusalem. The company’s flagship product is its encryption and conditional access system called VideoGuard, which is installed on home TVs via smartcards integrated into set-top boxes. The negotiations believed to be between the parties set the backdrop for the retirement of chief executive Abe Peled in July.
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