Logitech acquires SightSpeed

Logitech announced Tuesday that it has paid about $30 million in cash to acquire SightSpeed, a maker of cross-platform video chat and calling software. It's a logical acquisition for Logitech, which includes video cameras among its large portfolio of peripherals for PCs.

Berkeley, Calif.-based SightSpeed was founded in 2001 and has 25 employees. SightSpeed's video communications solution is based on the session initiation protocol (SIP) and offers 30 frame-per-second video and an integrated instant messaging service. SightSpeed supports 640 x 480 video windows at any speeds above 1.5 Mbps, multiparty conference calls and in-call file sharing. A free version is available and pricing for the SightSpeed Plus for consumers is $9.95 per month or $99.95 per year. Pricing for the more full-featured Business edition starts at $19.95 per user per month or $189.95 per year. The acquisition is expected to close next month.