Madrid, 1 April 2014. Telefónica today announced the acquisition of eyeOS, the Spanish cloud computing start-up widely recognised as pioneering the open-source web desktop. Telefónica has collaborated with eyeOS since 2010, but this acquisition reinforces its future mobile cloud services plans and the development of free software solutions.

The technology developed by eyeOS will enable Telefónica to offer an open-source desktop virtualisation service (DVS), adding to Telefónica's current cloud software offer with an efficient, affordable solution for SMEs and Public Administrations - a sector heavily reliant on a centralised package of applications.

eyeOS makes it possible for companies to translate legacy applications to mobile as well as harness desktop virtualisation technology and apply this to mobile devices. This technology enables Telefónica to offer comprehensive solutions tailor made to specific needs based on free software capable of competing against other commercial proposals.

The virtualisation of desktops (VDI) offers considerable advantages to both users, who can access all their company's legacy and cloud applications from anywhere and any device, and companies, as it enables them to efficiently manage and simplify the access by their employees to the information and applications.

Desktop virtualisation is a sector which represents an important business opportunity within the cloud services segment. This value is characterised by the confluence of three important market trends: the increasing use of personal devices in the work environment (BYOD); the evolution of virtualisation technology towards open standards and HTML5 stack becoming the system used by different devices and environments to access all kinds of applications. Up until 2012, just 13% of companies had moved to VDI, due mainly to the complexity of the proposals available in the market and the high cost of implementing them.

The acquisition of eyeOS reaffirms Telefónica’s longstanding commitment to promoting open-source solutions. Examples include Firefox OS, the project launched together with the Mozilla Foundation, and WebRTC, the technology which permits audio and video communications through the internet and led by TokBox, the company Telefónica acquired in 2012.

“The acquisition of eyeOS demonstrates the willingness of a large company like Telefónica to work with start-ups, highlighting its openness to innovation and its ability to seek talent and the best ideas outside of its own structure” said Pau Garcia-Milà, co-founder of eyeOS. “Telefónica will help eyeOS to not only consolidate and expand its technological proposal, but give it international reach through Telefónica's global network.”

David del Val, product innovation director at Telefónica and chairman and CEO of Telefónica I+D, said: "The integration of eyeOS into Telefónica will allow us to harness the technological abilities of a great team and develop a new generation of cloud services based on open technologies. These services define a scalable and affordable proposal that meets the needs of public administrations and SMEs among others.”

Founded in 2006 in Barcelona, eyeOS will maintain its headquarters in the Catalan city, where their staff will continue to work but will now form part of Telefónica. Pau Garcia-Milà will remain connected to the innovative processes of the company, but will not have a formal role within Telefónica. Telefónica and eyeOS have been collaborating since 2010, when they worked together on the development of the 2.0 version of the eyeOS web desktop. Last September, they strengthened their collaboration with the signing of an agreement to boost the virtualisation of Windows and Linux applications into a HTML5 format. After its integration into Telefónica, eyeOS will continue to function as an independent subsidiary, led by its current CEO Michel Kisfaludi.

In the coming months, Telefónica will work on the consolidation and expansion of eyeOS, to extend its commercialisation in Spain and all the countries in which it operates.