StarLeaf

StarLeaf was a global video conferencing and collaboration software company that provided cloud-based messaging, meeting and calling for business users. StarLeaf enabled people to meet and collaborate from their desktop and mobile devices, as well as via proprietary StarLeaf and third-party meeting room systems. The company was headquartered near Watford, UK, with offices throughout Europe, the Americas and Australasia.

Usage of StarLeaf grew by over 1,000% between January and April 2020 as global lockdowns led to a dramatic increase in home and remote working. On 9 June 2022 Starleaf Limited entered into administration and its services and videoconferencing platform ceased operation in October 2022.

History

StarLeaf was established in 2008 by Mark Loney, Mark Richer and William MacDonald. The trio had previously founded Calista, which offered cloud based voice services and which was purchased by Cisco Systems in 1999, and   Codian, a UK-based manufacturer of video conferencing infrastructure that was bought by Tandberg for $270m in 2007 and subsequently became part of Cisco Systems in 2010.

StarLeaf initially developed a telepresence and video meeting service that offered a range of personal and group telepresence endpoints connected via a dedicated on-premise PBX.

In 2013, the company launched StarLeaf Cloud, a wholly owned global network with regional points of presence and which connected StarLeaf endpoints to the PSTN network.

In the same year, the introduction of the StarLeaf Breeze software client enabled people to join StarLeaf meetings from laptops (Windows, Mac OS, and Linux) smartphones and tablets (iOS and Android), as well as from a range of StarLeaf personal videophones and meeting room systems.

In 2015, StarLeaf introduced a dedicated room system for Skype for Business/Microsoft UC, which was later extended to Microsoft Teams. In February 2017, Starleaf partnered with ShoreTel in order to enhance the latter's video conferencing capabilities onto its Connect UC platform.

The StarLeaf mobile app (2017) gave users the ability to chat, make voice, video calls and join meetings from within a single Android or iOS app. File sharing via the app was added in 2018.

StarLeaf announced a partnership with Poly in 2020 to make StarLeaf services available on Poly conferencing and meeting room systems.

StarLeaf was one of a number of global video conferencing providers to offer services free of charge during the 2020 coronavirus crisis.

StarLeaf was VC-backed and had secured eight funding rounds totaling almost £60m, the last £12m of which came in 2019 with investment from Grafton Capital and Highland Capital Partners.

On 9 June 2022 Starleaf Limited entered into administration. Operations ceased in October 2022.

Technology

StarLeaf was available as SaaS (either hosted in the StarLeaf Cloud or as a private cloud service) with the option to add StarLeaf and third party room systems.

SaaS

The StarLeaf desktop software client and mobile app provided the same functionality: HD video calling, the ability to host and join video conferences, plus audio calling, and instant messaging. Users could meet and message with contacts both inside and outside their organisation, and could invite external contacts to StarLeaf.

Additional video conferencing and calling features included blurred and virtual backgrounds, background noise cancellation, presence, bi-directional desktop and screen sharing, file-sharing (including PDF, PPT and DocX files), audio and video recording, and adding participants to live conferences. StarLeaf meetings had capacity for up to 100 participants and supported live webcast streams for up to 3,000 viewers.

Instant messaging in StarLeaf supported chat groups, which could be public and searchable, or private.

Room systems

StarLeaf was compatible with a range of meeting room system hardware, including proprietary and third-party equipment. The StarLeaf MultiJoin feature enabled people to join meetings in StarLeaf rooms using a range of different meeting and collaboration platforms. StarLeaf supported SIP and H.323 endpoint registration.

Platform

Calls via StarLeaf were encrypted and the company had been ISO/IEC 27001 certified since 2019. StarLeaf provided an industry-leading 99.999% uptime guarantee (effectively no more than 5.5 minutes of unplanned downtime per year) through its worldwide network of 15 points of presence. Customers had control over where StarLeaf stores their organisation’s data (data sovereignty).

The web-based StarLeaf management portal provided controls and analytics for administrators.

Awards

StarLeaf received awards and recognition for both business development and video conferencing service, including:
*Deloitte Fast 50 EMEA, 2015
*Deloitte Fast 500 EMEA, 2015-2018
*Deloitte Fast 500, 2017
*UK Business Tech Awards - Tech Company of the Year, 2018
*Gartner Magic Quadrant, 2018
*Gartner Magic Quadrant, 2019
*Gartner Magic Quadrant, 2020
*Sunday Times Hiscox Tech Track 100, 2017-2020
*East of England Tech 50, 2020
*AV Awards 2020: Public Sector Project of the Year
*SaaS Awards 2021: Best Accessibility Innovation in a SaaS Product

References

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Technology companies of the United Kingdom
Web conferencing
Technology companies established in 2008
Videotelephony
Telecommunications equipment vendors