Smith Micro Software, Inc., founded in 1982 by William W. Smith, Jr., is a developer and marketer of both enterprise and consumer-level software and services. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Smith Micro maintains multiple domestic and international offices.
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...
locations include
Aliso Viejo, California
Aliso Viejo (Spanish for "Old Sycamore") is a city in the San Joaquin Hills of southern Orange County, California. It had a population of 47,823 as of the 2010 census, up from 40,166 as of the 2000 census. It became Orange County's 34th city on ...
, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. International offices are located throughout
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...
and
Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an ...
. Currently, the company focuses on digital lifestyle solutions and security technologies, and is integrated into the evolving wireless media industry, as indicated by partnerships with cellular service providers such as
Verizon Wireless
Verizon is an American wireless network operator that previously operated as a separate division of Verizon Communications under the name Verizon Wireless. In a 2019 reorganization, Verizon moved the wireless products and services into the divi ...
,
[Verizon Wireless Chooses Smith Micro Technology to Support New VZAccess Manager ](_blank)
/ref> AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...
, and Sprint Corporation
Sprint Corporation was an American telecommunications company. Before it Merger of Sprint Corporation and T-Mobile US, merged with T-Mobile US on April 1, 2020, it was the fourth-largest mobile network operator in the United States, serving 54.3 ...
, now owned by T-Mobile US after the Sprint & T-Mobile merger in April 2020.
Corporate history
Smith Micro's initial focus was on dial-up
Dial-up Internet access is a form of Internet access that uses the facilities of the public switched telephone network (PSTN) to establish a connection to an Internet service provider (ISP) by dialing a telephone number on a conventional telepho ...
modem
A modulator-demodulator or modem is a computer hardware device that converts data from a digital format into a format suitable for an analog transmission medium such as telephone or radio. A modem transmits data by modulating one or more c ...
and fax
Fax (short for facsimile), sometimes called telecopying or telefax (the latter short for telefacsimile), is the telephonic transmission of scanned printed material (both text and images), normally to a telephone number connected to a printer o ...
software technology, distributing predominantly to OEM computer software/hardware manufacturers. Smith Micro established an IPO
An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...
in 1995, and became publicly traded in the NASDAQ
The Nasdaq Stock Market () (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Stock Market) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the US by volume, and ranked second ...
under the symbol SMSI. Initial stock values were approx. $12.75 per share.
As the company entered the 90's, dial-up internet was quickly being replaced by cable internet, DSL, and wireless broadband
In telecommunications, broadband is wide bandwidth data transmission which transports multiple signals at a wide range of frequencies and Internet traffic types, that enables messages to be sent simultaneously, used in fast internet connections. ...
due to substantially higher speeds and increased reliability. This change led Smith Micro to venture into wireless and mobile network software. Network connection management became an expertise of the company and, Smith Micro quickly developed products of interest to large-scale mobile network operators such as AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...
, Bell Canada
Bell Canada (commonly referred to as Bell) is a Canadian telecommunications company headquartered at 1 Carrefour Alexander-Graham-Bell in the borough of Verdun in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is an ILEC (incumbent local exchange carrier) in t ...
, Orange
Orange most often refers to:
*Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis''
** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower
* Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum ...
, Sprint, T-Mobile
T-Mobile is the brand name used by some of the mobile communications subsidiaries of the German telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom AG in the Czech Republic ( T-Mobile Czech Republic), Poland ( T-Mobile Polska), the United States ( T-Mob ...
, Verizon
Verizon Communications Inc., commonly known as Verizon, is an American multinational telecommunications conglomerate and a corporate component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is headquartered at 1095 Avenue of the Americas in ...
, and Vodafone
Vodafone Group Public limited company, plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Telephone company, telecommunications company. Its registered office and Headquarters, global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It ...
. While fax and modem-related products were still a part of their portfolio, the QuickLink Platform of wireless connection managers became a primary source of revenue in the early 2000s.
By 2005, Smith Micro acquired Allume Systems and their StuffIt data compression software. Soon after, Smith Micro acquired Israel-based image editing company, PhoTags. Smith Micro followed with two more acquisitions, (e frontier America and busineSMS.com Software.) By acquiring these smaller companies, Smith Micro rapidly expanded its consumer business presence, however the company retained focus on network and wireless-related products.
In early 2008, the company began to expand its portfolio with the addition of wireless access and mobile services. Smith Micro introduced multiple solutions for enhanced mobile communications, such as push-to-talk software, visual voicemail services, and video streaming. Smith Micro also expressed interest in WiMAX
Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) is a family of wireless broadband communication standards based on the IEEE 802.16 set of standards, which provide physical layer (PHY) and media access control (MAC) options.
The WiMA ...
broadband, a newly developed cellular technology which was considered to be a 4G wireless protocol and the replacement of current 3G cellular systems.
In 2019, Smith Micro entered the retail technology space with its acquisition of ISM Connect, LLC’s Smart Retail product suite. Most recently, the company has continued to expand its family safety business through the acquisitions of Circle Media Labs’ operator business in February 2020, and the Family Safety Mobile Business of Avast Software s.r.o in April 2021.
Products
Family safety
* SafePath
**SafePath Home
**SafePath IoT
**SafePath Family
Communications
* CommSuite VVM (Visual Voicemail)
** CommSuite VTT (Voice to Text)
** CommSuite Cloud
**CommSuite Caller
Smart Retail
*ViewSpot
**ViewSpot Studio (Retail Display Management)
** ViewSpot Dynamic Pricing Portal
**ViewSpot Retail Analytics
Major acquisitions
References
{{reflist, refs=7
Companies based in Aliso Viejo, California
Companies based in Pittsburgh
Software companies based in California
Software companies based in Pennsylvania
Companies listed on the Nasdaq
Software companies established in 1982
American companies established in 1982
1982 establishments in California
1995 initial public offerings
Software companies of the United States