Webex by Cisco is an American company that develops and sells

web conferencing Web conferencing is used as an umbrella term for various types of online conferencing and collaborative services including webinars (web seminars), webcasts, and web meetings. Sometimes it may be used also in the more narrow sense of the peer-le ...

videoconferencing Videotelephony, also known as videoconferencing and video teleconferencing, is the two-way or multipoint reception and transmission of audio signal, audio and video signals by people in different locations for Real-time, real time communication. ...

and contact center as a service applications. It was founded as WebEx in 1995 and taken over by

Cisco Systems Cisco Systems, Inc., commonly known as Cisco, is an American-based multinational corporation, multinational digital communications technology conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develo ...

in 2007. Its headquarters are in

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...

. Its software products include Webex App, Webex Suite, Webex Meetings, Webex Messaging, Webex Calling, Webex Contact Center, and Webex Devices. All Webex products are part of the

collaboration portfolio.

History

WebEx was founded in 1995 by Subrah Iyar and Min Zhu. It had its

initial public offering 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 July 2000. WebEx was listed on 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 ...

National Market, and then the NASDAQ Global Select Market, when that was introduced in 2006.

Services

At the time of the acquisition, all Webex

applications Application may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Application software, computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks ** Application layer, an abstraction layer that specifies protocols and interface methods used in a c ...

were built on the MediaTone platform and supported by the Webex MediaTone Network (originally called the Webex interactive network), a global network intended for use with on-demand programs. The network was designed by Shaun Bryant, Webex's Chief Network Architect, and Zaid Ali Sr, Network Architect, to be one of the first

SaaS Software as a service (SaaS ) is a software licensing and delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted. SaaS is also known as "on-demand software" and Web-based/Web-hosted software. SaaS is con ...

platforms on the Internet. In July 2006, AOL and Webex launched a business version of AOL's

instant messaging Instant messaging (IM) technology is a type of online chat allowing real-time text transmission over the Internet or another computer network. Messages are typically transmitted between two or more parties, when each user inputs text and trigge ...

software, AIM Pro, with additional features to help workers collaborate using conferencing tools offered by Webex. On September 26, 2006, the company announced plans to offer a web collaboration "mashup" platform called "Webex Connect". On November 17, 2014, Cisco announced an evolution of Webex called Project Squared. On March 17, 2015 this effort was re-branded as Cisco Spark. On April 18, 2018, Cisco announced that Cisco Spark would be combined into the Cisco Webex platform. On this same date, Cisco rebranded all of the rest of their Spark products to Webex, including the Spark Room Kit—now Webex Room Kit—and Spark Board—now Webex Board. On May 15, 2020, during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, Cisco CFO Kelly Kramer reported in the month of April 2020, they had 500 million meeting attendees, and that equated to 25 billion meeting minutes, using its video-conferencing application Webex. In September 2020, Cisco launched a new platform Webex Classrooms for virtual homeroom encounters. On October 26, 2021, Cisco launched an update aimed to enhance virtual and hybrid in-person meetings and events, using AI-powered technology for their Webex portfolio.

Acquisition

The company acquired ''Intranets.com'' in 2005, providing entrance into the small- and mid-size business market through the company's customer base of businesses with fewer than 100 employees. It acquired the ability to offer online collaboration tools such as

discussion forums An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are often longer than one line of text, and are at least temporar ...

, document sharing and calendaring while Intranets.com provided access to the Webex communications environment for its customers. On March 15, 2007, Cisco Systems announced it would acquire WebEx for $3.2 billion. Cisco has said that its long-term plan is to absorb WebEx at both a technology and a sales level. In October 2020, Cisco acquired BabbleLabs. In February 2021, Cisco acquired imimobile, a provider of communications platform as a service (CPaaS) solutions for its Webex collaboration portfolio

imimobile IMImobile Limited was acquired by Cisco Systems in February 2021. The company provides cloud communications software and services that manage business-critical customer interactions at scale. IMImobile PLC traded on the London Stock Exchange’s ...

Legal proceedings and inquiries

Goldman Sachs securities fraud investigation

As a result of a securities fraud investigation initiated by the SEC and by various state Attorney General offices,

Goldman Sachs Goldman Sachs () is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, with regional headquarters in London, Warsaw, Bangalore, H ...

faced charges of issuing unfair research, including coverage of WebEx, and

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 ...

violations for the period 1999 to 2001. Webex management allegedly dictated to Goldman Sachs analysts what the research should and should not include. Webex maintains the management's information was accurate. Another charge accuses Goldman Sachs of violating securities law in its allocation of shares in WebEx's initial public offering.

Raindance lawsuit for patent infringement

On September 27, 2005, Webex sued

Raindance Communications Raindance Communications, Inc. was an American company that provided online meeting, web conferencing and teleconferencing services. The Company offered interactive services including automated phone conferencing, web conferencing, and collaborat ...

, Inc., a competitor, for patent infringement. On October 14, 2005, Raindance filed a countersuit against Webex for patent infringement. Both parties sought both damages and an injunction enjoining further acts they claim to be infringing on patents.WEBEX COMMUNICATIONS INC 10-Q
/ref> On March 31, 2006, the parties agreed to the dismissal of both actions, releases of claims for past infringement, payments associated with those releases, and cross-licenses to each other's patents. The agreement resulted in Webex receiving 1 million dollars from Raindance.

References

External links

* {{Official website 1995 establishments in California 1995 establishments in the United States 2007 mergers and acquisitions American companies established in 1995 Cisco software Cisco Systems acquisitions Companies based in Santa Clara, California Companies established in 1995 Internet properties established in 1995 Professional networks Remote administration software Software companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area Software companies established in 1995 Software companies of the United States Telecommunications companies established in 1995 Videotelephony Web conferencing