Front Porch Digital Acquires SAMMA Systems

Front
Porch Digital, a provider in content storage management solutions has acquired SAMMA
Systems.
The move aligns two companies that had complementary technologies, with
SAMMA focused on digitizing assets and Front Porch Digital focused on
managing those assets. “This gives us a big advantage because we can
walk into a facility and migrate it to a legacy platform,” says Mike
Knaisch, Front Porch Digital president and CEO.
The
combination of SAMMA and Front Porch Digital has the potential to rapidly
accelerate the migration of vulnerable videotape to digital file-based archives and gives customers far more
reliable, secure, and easy access to valuable content housed in digital
storage. “We believe this will mean a good approach to sports content holders,” adds Knaisch.
“We’re in a unique position to fuel growth by merging operations with a
company that is strategically aligned with our own mission,” says Mark Gray,
CEO of SAMMA Systems. “It is rare when two profitable, global market
leaders come together, and I’m confident that the result will be an even more
dominant force that provides better products and superior service to more
customers. All in all, this is a two-plus-two-equals-five equation.”

Mark Gray will assume the role of executive vice president and general manager
of the company’s
Americas
division, reporting directly to Mike Knaisch. Jim Lindner will continue in his
role as evangelist and visionary in the preservation of A/V content.
Knaisch says more than 280 Diva Archive systems are installed around the world, giving the company a wealth of potential clients for SAMMA’s solutions. Likewise, SAMMA clients like the Library of Congress and Crawford Digital are ideal prospects for Front Porch Digital.
Current SAMMA customers who are not using a Front Porch Digital management system can expect product support moving forward.