NEW YORK, Dec. 9, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Driving to deepen and enhance its video delivery and Web services capabilities, Verizon today announced a definitive agreement under which the company will acquire EdgeCast, an industry leader in content delivery networks.

Verizon Digital Media Services will integrate EdgeCast complementary capabilities to further improve and increase its ability to meet the exponential growth in online digital media content, as well as broaden its portfolio of site acceleration services for digital enterprises.

The Verizon and EdgeCast boards of directors have approved this acquisition and Verizon hopes to finalize it in early 2014. Verizon's financial adviser for this acquisition was LionTree Advisors LLC.

"The combination of EdgeCast and Verizon Digital Media Services will allow us to fully exploit and accelerate growth in Internet media consumption and online business performance," said Bob Toohey, president of Verizon Digital Media Services. "EdgeCast's industry-leading technology and strategically placed assets, combined with Verizon Digital Media Services' video solutions, improves our ability to deliver the rich, reliable and quality digital media services that our customers have come to expect."

EdgeCast has more than 6,000 accounts and serves some of the world's leading Web brands for global media delivery and acceleration services.

Listed for the second consecutive year as one of the Deloitte Technology Fast 500, EdgeCast ranked as the No.1 fastest-growing Internet company in 2012, and in 2013 ranked No. 87 among the fastest-growing technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences and clean technology companies in North America, based on percentage fiscal-year revenue growth from 2008 to 2012.

"Having journeyed from startup to technology leader in a short seven years, the time is right for EdgeCast to elevate itself again by joining Verizon to continue our innovation and growth," said Alex Kazerani, EdgeCast chairman and chief executive officer.

This acquisition will further strengthen Verizon Digital Media Services' ability to deliver content and site acceleration services to customers that include studios, broadcasters, retailers and enterprises seeking quality high-performance digital experiences across all devices.

Focused on performance, both companies deliver advanced video solutions and share a common architectural approach to video-optimized networks that results in quality experiences for enterprise customers who want to diversify their businesses and consumers that want content and media whenever and wherever they are.

Earlier this year, Verizon Digital Media Services announced the acquisition of upLynk assets, with their exclusive technology that streamlines the process of uploading and encoding of video for live, linear and video-on-demand content. The combination of complementary capabilities from Verizon, upLynk and EdgeCast further boosts performance of Verizon Digital Media Services' end-to-end services.

Verizon Digital Media Services offers enterprises a suite of robust and flexible end-to-end video solutions for best-in-class TV Everywhere and superior over-the-top experiences. Built on one of the world's most advanced networks with a video-optimized platform, Verizon Digital Media Services delivers a vast range of content management and delivery services with carrier-grade quality, reliability, security and scale. For more information about Digital Media Services, visit www.verizondigitalmedia.com.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE,Nasdaq: VZ), headquartered in New York, is a global leader in delivering broadband and other wireless and wireline communications services to consumer, business, government and wholesale customers. Verizon Wireless operates America's most reliable wireless network, with more than 101 million retail connections nationwide. Verizon also provides converged communications, information and entertainment services over America's most advanced fiber-optic network, and delivers integrated business solutions to customers in more than 150 countries. A Dow 30 company with nearly $116 billion in 2012 revenues, Verizon employs a diverse workforce of 178,300.  For more information, visit www.verizon.com.

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SOURCE Verizon