Global Relay is a technology services company providing software-as-a-service electronic message archiving (e.g., email archiving),

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 tri ...

, compliance and supervision services with a focus on highly regulated industries. Global Relay is

privately held A privately held company (or simply a private company) is a company whose shares and related rights or obligations are not offered for public subscription or publicly negotiated in the respective listed markets, but rather the company's stock is ...

and employee controlled, with no outside or venture funding."Shannon Rogers: Message Machine"
. Business in Vancouver. Retrieved January 8, 2013."Warren Roy: Data Base"
Business in Vancouver. Retrieved January 8, 2013.

History

Global Relay was founded in 1999 by Warren Roy, Duff Reid and Eric Parusel. The company developed one of the first cloud email archiving services for use as a records management tool in the architecture, design and construction industries. Several years later, the company realized that it had "the perfect technology for the wrong industry.""Risky business pays off"
Business in Vancouver. Retrieved January 9, 2013. The company then shifted its focus to the financial sector and began selling its archiving services to broker-dealers, investment advisors, hedge funds and banks. As email and other electronic messages increasingly became standard methods of business communication, a new market emerged for a secure way to retain such messages for business, legal and regulatory purposes. Beginning in 2001, accounting scandals at major US corporations such as Enron, Worldcom and Arthur Andersen brought regulatory compliance issues into sharper focus, not only for financial firms but also for public companies.
The New York Times. Retrieved January 14, 2013. In the wake of the scandals, regulators such as the SEC and the

Financial Industry Regulatory Authority The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) is a private American corporation that acts as a self-regulatory organization (SRO) that regulates member brokerage firms and exchange markets. FINRA is the successor to the National Associat ...

(FINRA), formerly (NASD), as well as the newly introduced Sarbanes-Oxley legislation, began requiring financial firms to have a system for electronic message recordkeeping and supervision — just the same as with paper records. Global Relay built its customer base by combining technology with compliance, legal and audit/eDiscovery services. The company gained widespread adoption among banks, investment advisors, broker-dealers, hedge funds and private equity firms."Growth Under Pressure"
. Profit Magazine. Retrieved January 9, 2013.
. North Shore Outlook. Retrieved January 9, 2013. In 2007, Global Relay entered into a worldwide exclusive partnership with

Thomson Reuters Thomson Reuters Corporation ( ) is a Canadian multinational media conglomerate. The company was founded in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where it is headquartered at the Bay Adelaide Centre. Thomson Reuters was created by the Thomson Corp ...

for archiving and compliance of Thomson Reuters Messenger and Eikon. As new message types were adopted in the financial industry, Global Relay developed the ability to capture and retain them for compliance. Public

(

AOL Instant Messenger AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) was an instant messaging and presence computer program created by AOL, which used the proprietary OSCAR instant messaging protocol and the TOC protocol to allow registered users to communicate in real time. AIM w ...

Yahoo! Messenger Yahoo! Messenger (sometimes abbreviated Y!M) was an advertisement-supported instant messaging client (computing), client and associated protocol provided by Yahoo!. Yahoo! Messenger was provided free of charge and could be downloaded and used wit ...

MSN Messenger MSN Messenger (also known colloquially simply as "Messenger"), later rebranded as Windows Live Messenger, was a cross-platform instant-messaging client developed by Microsoft. It connected to the Microsoft Messenger service and, in later versio ...

, GoogleTalk) was the first such message type, followed by

Bloomberg Bloomberg may refer to: People * Daniel J. Bloomberg (1905–1984), audio engineer * Georgina Bloomberg (born 1983), professional equestrian * Michael Bloomberg (born 1942), American businessman and founder of Bloomberg L.P.; politician and m ...

messaging, mobile messaging (

BlackBerry The blackberry is an edible fruit produced by many species in the genus ''Rubus'' in the family Rosaceae, hybrids among these species within the subgenus ''Rubus'', and hybrids between the subgenera ''Rubus'' and ''Idaeobatus''. The taxonomy ...

and Android

SMS Short Message/Messaging Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile devices exchange short text ...

BlackBerry PIN The blackberry is an edible fruit produced by many species in the genus ''Rubus'' in the family (biology), family Rosaceae, hybrids among these species within the subgenus ''Rubus'', and hybrids between the subgenera ''Rubus'' and ''Idaeobatus' ...

and call logs), ICE Chat, CME/Pivot, and social media (

LinkedIn LinkedIn () is an American business and employment-oriented online service that operates via websites and mobile apps. Launched on May 5, 2003, the platform is primarily used for professional networking and career development, and allows job se ...

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

and

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dust ...

). Each of these integrations, as well as the company's archiving system itself, was built in-house by Global Relay's development teams. Global Relay markets Global Relay Archive both as a compliance necessity and as a tool to boost end-user productivity. Since the company's acquisition of a mobile software firm in 2008, it has released apps for every major mobile platform, including iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry and Android — allowing users to find and retrieve their own archived messages from any location. Global Relay's strategy for the future centers upon its transition from offering only

back office A back office in most corporations is where work that supports ''front office'' work is done. The front office is the "face" of the company and is all the resources of the company that are used to make sales and interact with customers and client ...

tools (such as message archiving) to also providing

front office The front office is the part of a company that comes in contact with clients, such as the marketing, sales, and service departments. The term has more specific meaning in different industries. Types General offices The function of front office ...

communication services. Global Relay Message is the company's cloud-based enterprise platform for instant messaging and collaboration, designed to meet the regulatory requirements of the finance industry. Global Relay is also in the process of developing the next generation of its core archiving product, which will provide increased scalability and the capacity to process and index the messaging data of companies with hundreds of thousands of users. An additional key component of Global Relay's competitive strategy is the construction of its own data centers, allowing Global Relay to own and fully control all components of its technology stack, including software, workstations, servers, data centers, and property. Global Relay's 4-megawatt west coast data center is located in North Vancouver, British Columbia and has a capacity of 200 racks or 5000 servers. It is an environmentally friendly facility that employs evaporative cooling technology to eliminate the need for mechanical air conditioning, thereby dramatically reducing electricity usage.

Business

Global Relay is a significant player in the cloud-based messaging and archiving industries. Recent articles cite its client base at over 18,000 including 22 of the world's 25 biggest banks and 61% of all US hedge funds.1,2 Revenue growth over the last five years has been rapid: Global Relay was ranked as the 197th fastest-growing software company in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

for 2012. As data security is paramount to Global Relay's financial customer base, the company annually engages

KPMG KPMG International Limited (or simply KPMG) is a multinational professional services network, and one of the Big Four accounting organizations. Headquartered in Amstelveen, Netherlands, although incorporated in London, England, KPMG is a net ...

to provide independent verification of the security and reliability of its internal controls.

Services

* Global Relay Archive: a cloud-based archiving service providing capture, indexing and long-term preservation of electronic messages, including

email Electronic mail (email or e-mail) is a method of exchanging messages ("mail") between people using electronic devices. Email was thus conceived as the electronic ( digital) version of, or counterpart to, mail, at a time when "mail" mean ...

(

, GoogleTalk),

and Android mobile messaging,

, Pivot, ICE Chat,

Microsoft Lync Skype for Business (formerly Microsoft Lync and Office Communicator) is an enterprise software application for instant messaging and videotelephony developed by Microsoft as part of the Microsoft Office suite. It is designed for use with the on- ...

(formerly Microsoft Office Communicator), social media (

), websites, Salesforce.com Chatter,

Yammer Yammer () is an enterprise social networking service that is part of the Microsoft 365 family of products. It is used mainly for private communication within organizations but is also used for networks spanning various organizations. Access to ...

and more. Global Relay Archive is designed to assist firms in complying with regulatory requirements such as those of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, FINRA, FSA, Sarbanes-Oxley,

HIPAA The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA or the Kennedy– Kassebaum Act) is a United States Act of Congress enacted by the 104th United States Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton on August 21, 1 ...

IIROC The Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC; ''Organisme canadien de réglementation du commerce des valeurs mobilières'' or ''OCRCVM'' in French) is a non-profit, national self-regulatory organization (SRO). Established thro ...

, MFDA, and others. * Global Relay Search: mobile apps for end users to search and retrieve their own archived messages of any type. Global Relay Search is available for iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry and Android devices. A plug-in is also available for

Microsoft Outlook Microsoft Outlook is a personal information manager software system from Microsoft, available as a part of the Microsoft Office and Microsoft 365 software suites. Though primarily an email client, Outlook also includes such functions as Calen ...

. * Global Relay Message: an enterprise-class platform for compliant instant messaging and collaboration. Global Relay Message includes instant messaging features such as presence, message receipts, chat rooms, disclaimers, ethical walls, and offline message support. It is designed with feature parity between its desktop and mobile clients (for iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry and Android devices). Global Relay Message is built using a protocol developed in-house by Global Relay.

Awards

*Warren Roy, CEO of Global Relay and Shannon Rogers, president and general counsel, were selected by

Ernst & Young Ernst & Young Global Limited, trade name EY, is a multinational professional services partnership headquartered in London, England. EY is one of the largest professional services networks in the world. Along with Deloitte, KPMG and Pricewat ...

as the 2013 Pacific Region Entrepreneurs of the Year in the Business-to-Business Products and Services category. *Global Relay was ranked in the

Deloitte Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (), commonly referred to as Deloitte, is an international professional services network headquartered in London, England. Deloitte is the largest professional services network by revenue and number of professio ...

Fast 500 (North America) and Fast 50 (

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

) listings of the fastest-growing technology companies for the third year running (2011 to 2013). *Global Relay was named a Top Up-and-Coming Technology Company in the 2013

PwC PricewaterhouseCoopers is an international professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounti ...

Vision to Reality Awards. *Global Relay president and general counsel, Shannon Rogers, was awarded the 2013 Western Canada General Counsel Business Achievement Award for excellence in the general counsel community and having successfully made the difficult transition from lawyer to senior executive directing a corporation. * Warren Roy, CEO and founder, was named 2013 Person of the Year by the

British Columbia Technology Industry Association The BC Tech Association (BC Tech), formally the British Columbia Technology Industry Association (BCTIA), is a not-for-profit member-funded trade association in British Columbia, Canada, which promotes the technology industry in the province. ...

in celebration of his business vision, leadership and entrepreneurial success. * Global Relay received the 2013 Technology Impact Award (TIA) for Community Engagement from the

in recognition of its outstanding community impact, particularly as Title Sponsor and Operator of the

Global Relay Gastown Grand Prix The Global Relay Gastown Grand Prix is a criterium cycling race held in Gastown, the oldest neighbourhood in Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the mo ...

. * Global Relay was named one of BC's Most Innovative Companies for 2013 by BC Business Magazine. * President and general counsel, Shannon Rogers, was presented with a 2013 Influential Women in Business Award by ''Business in Vancouver'' magazine. This accolade recognizes Shannon's achievements in entrepreneurship, community involvement and in mentoring other women. * Warren Roy, CEO and founder, was named BC CEO of the Year for 2012 by ''Business in Vancouver'' magazine in the category of "Private Company Under $50 Million * Shannon Rogers, Global Relay president and general counsel was recognized as the number 1 Female Entrepreneur in Canada by ''Profit Magazine'' in their W100 ranking for 2011 and number 2 for 2013 * Shannon Rogers, Global Relay president and general counsel, was named a finalist in the 2012 RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Awards (CWEA). * Global Relay was recognized as one of the "Best Companies to Work For in BC" for 2012 and 2011 by BCBusiness Magazine * Global Relay was ranked by ''Business in Vancouver'' as the 12th largest software company in BC and the 19th Fastest Growing Software Company in BC for 2012.

Community involvement

In January 2012, Global Relay announced a five-year, $1-million commitment to become the Title Sponsor and Operator of the

through 2016."Gastown Grand Prix back on track with $1 million from Global Relay"
The Province. Retrieved January 9, 2013."Global Relay Invests $1 Million in Vancouver to Recruit Developers, Designers, and Engineers"
TechVibes. Retrieved January 9, 2013. The Global Relay Gastown Grand Prix is a professional cycling

criterium A criterium, or crit, is a bike race consisting of several laps around a closed circuit, the length of each lap or circuit ranging from about 400 m to 10,000 m. Overview Race length can be determined by a number of laps or total time ...

race in

Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. The ...

. In November 2012, Global Relay introduced Global Relay Bridge the Gap, a philanthropic fund to support up-and-coming Canadian cyclists. Global Relay pledged $400,000 over four years to support cyclists between the ages of 19 to 25, providing funding for coaching, travel and equipment. Five veteran professional Canadian riders are board members for Global Relay Bridge the Gap: Ryan Anderson, Andrew Pinfold, Will Routley, Svein Tuft, and Erinne Willock."Vancouver’s Global Relay gives cycling momentum, funds Canada-wide youth development program: Tech firm pumps $400,000 into Bridge the Gap Fund for up-and-coming talent"
The Vancouver Courier. Retrieved January 9, 2013.

References

External links

* {{Official website
Global Relay listed as a FINRA Compliance Resource Provider
Technology companies of Canada Cloud computing providers Companies established in 1999 Companies based in Vancouver Privately held companies of Canada 1999 establishments in British Columbia