Once they were keen rivals in the same market, then business partners. Now Omnilab – which owns the Australian Websend technology – is to buy Vio Worldwide through its Sydney-based digital asset management and content distribution company Dubsat.

London-headquartered Vio was an early player in the Australian advertising and prepress data transfer marketplace, but has recently focused most of its efforts on Europe (with offices in the UK, France) and the USA.

A statement says the acquisition will provide integrated global cross media services for corporations, advertising agencies, production companies, broadcasters, and online/print publishers. With a turnover of more than A$100 million, the Omnilab group specialises in managing and delivering rich media content for the advertising and entertainment industries. Dubsat develops and provides the core Websend technology used for Vio’s online AdSend service – used by agencies and corporates to deliver display advertising to 6500 newspapers and magazines – and TrackSend for advertising, publishing and commercial printing.

Dubsat chief executive Grant Schuetrumpf says the acquisition is “a natural evolution” of their two-year partnership with Vio. “It allows us to provide a total global cross media management and delivery solution incorporating an extensive suite of applications and services.

“The aim is to provide ad agencies with full campaign management, booking, accessibility, repurposing, and managed delivery of content, and give publishers and broadcasters visibility and accessibility across all media type and format.”

Al Edwards, president of Vio USA, sees the deal as a tremendous boost for AdSend and its users. “Our customers want the ability to manage and distribute multimedia as well as PDF content and we are now in the best and strongest position to support them into the future,” he says.

Omnilab Media plans to grow its international presence across the entertainment and advertising content and media services sectors, and the Vio acquisition follows a partnership with IMD in the UK for radio ads, TV commercials and music video distribution announced last month.

Speaking just after celebrating the opening of the feature film ‘Tomorrow, When the War Began’ – funded and produced by Omnilab Media and just released by Paramount Pictures Australia – managing director Christopher Mapp said Omnilab would support its global expansion strategy with “further investment in innovative technologies and services for the entertainment and advertising markets