Google acquires edge software provider MobiledgeX

Edge computing software company MobiledgeX, which was founded by Deutsche Telekom AG in 2018, has been acquired by Google Cloud.

"We can confirm Google has acquired MobiledgeX, and we look forward to seeing its continued impact as an open source solution," a Google spokesperson told Fierce on Friday.  

Terms of the sale, which was previously reported at TelecomTV, were not disclosed.

MobiledgeX billed itself as an edge computing company that helps telco operators build their own edge clouds. It was wholly-owned by Deutsche Telekom from 2018 until 2020.

In 2020, the company raised an external round from VMware, Samsung, SK Telekom, World Wide Technologies and Odin Ventures.

In February, MobiledgeX announced version 3.1 of its MobiledgeX Edge-Cloud platform, introducing federation between any standards-based mobile edge computing platform. That marked an important development as edge application developers seek a “write once, deploy everywhere” experience in mobile network environments, according to the company.

“As different regions and operators standardize on an edge computing platform of choice, MobiledgeX can ensure that the now 25 mobile operators with which it has rolled out edge cloudlets can interface with other edges around the globe,” the company said.

MobiledgeX CEO Jason Hoffman did not move to Google as part of the transition. He is currently self-employed as the principal of S8 Family Asset Management, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Leah Maher, general counsel and COO at MobiledgeX, is now part of the general counsel team at Google and has been there as of one month, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Carriers & clouds

Hoffman told Fierce last year that the company was working with all the big cloud providers, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.

It also was working with the top 25 global operators “minus Vodafone and Verizon.” According to Hoffman, Vodafone and Verizon weren’t in the picture because of those companies’ fierce competition with Deutsche Telekom and T-Mobile, respectively.

For its part, Verizon has made a point of saying how it’s struck deals with all the major cloud providers, including Google.