BT goes over the pond to buy Ribbit

FORMERLY ENTRENCHED Telco, BT (as British Telecom), has decided to "transform itself into a next-generation, platform-based, software-driven services company" by acquiring a Silicon Valley start-up, Ribbit.

Ribbit offers a platform which enables developers to swiftly create communications-based applications. As the INQ initially reported, one of the first developers to take advantage of Ribbit's services was Knoware which used its AIR product to create a desktop version of the Apple Iphone.

BT liked the AIR platform so much it bought the company for a mere $105 million in cash from its founders and VC backers. One of the advantages to BT is that it has gained an extra foothold in Silicon Valley.

The announced intention is to integrate Ribbit's AIR with BT’s next generation network which it calls 21CN. Besides expertise in software development, Ribbit also has Voip experience which should also come in useful.

Curiously, BT claims it was already capable of helping software developers with its own SDK which it says enables "developers to integrate new applications with BT’s services using a single line of code." Pretty hefty claim, eh?

Anyway, it looks like BT is aiming to ape IBM which has turned itself into a software services house rather than just being an IT hardware company. BT is hoping that it can get a reputation for supplying software services, too.

With Ribbit it just might be able to manage that. µ

See also
Ribbit app brings Iphone to desktop