Google said Tuesday it has made a $68 million offer to acquire Global IP Solutions Holding, an Internet voice and video company. The deal could put the Mountain View, Calif. company in direct
competition with Skype, as well as supporting search rivals. GIP customers include Yahoo, IBM, AOL, Nortel Networks, and Baidu.
The offer comes one day before the Google I/O conference.
The company fits nicely between Google's existing voice services, Google Voice, and the acquisition of Gizmo 5. It could give Google the technology it needs to move forward and provide wider support
for VoIP from landline phones and mobile devices.
"The Web is evolving quickly as a development platform, and real-time video and audio communication over the Internet are becoming important new
tools for users," Google Engineering Director Rian Liebenberg said in a prepared statement. "GIPS's technology provides high quality, real-time audio and video over an IP network, and we're looking
forward to working with the GIPS team at Google to continue innovating for the Web platform."
Trip Chowdhry, managing director at Global Equities Research, in a research note points to GIP's
technology integrating well with unannounced phones from Samsung, Motorola and HTC that have two cameras. He also mentions that both Apple and Google, separately, continue to "stress test CLWR WiMAX
Network for both capacity and latency."
The cash buyout offer should expire around June 4. The Norwegian company shares trade on the Oslo Stock Exchange. Global IP's board recommends the offer.
The companies say the offer price represents a 27.5% premium to Global IP's closing price on Friday.