:TouchWave
{{Short description|American private IP-telephony company}}
{{Infobox dot-com company
| name = TouchWave, Inc.
| logo = Touchwave-logo.png
| company_type = Private
| foundation = Palo Alto, California
| location = Menlo Park, California
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| language = English
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| current_status = acquired
}}
TouchWave, Inc. (now WebCom), was a privately held Palo Alto, California IP-telephony network switch provider founded in 1997. TouchWave developed a product line called WebSwitch that was designed to replace traditional private telephone exchange systems in small-to-medium-sized companies. WebSwitch was part of a phone system that incorporates communication features provided by the Internet. The rapid success of TouchWave was memorialized with awards and an acquisition by Ericsson Communications for $46M two years after TouchWave was founded. Ericsson continued the TouchWave product line under the name WebCom, but its efforts have been viewed as less than successful.
History
In 1997, TouchWave was a privately held, venture-backed startup company in Palo Alto, California, with future entrepreneur Oliver Muoto as its marketing director.{{cite news|last=Presti|first=Ken|date=October 6, 1997|work=Computer Reseller News|title=N+I conference highlights future of networking}}{{cite news|last=Abate|first=Tom|date=November 4, 1997|work=San Francisco Chronicle|title=$150,000 Debt Could Kill Berkeley Mac Users Group|department=Business|pages=C3|access-date=16 December 2008|url=http://sfgate.info/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/1997/11/04/BU59344.DTL&hw=abate&sn=283&sc=383}}{{Dead link|date=May 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Co-founded by CEO Bo Larsson,{{cite news|last=Cardillo|first=Barbara|date=February 25, 2004|work=PR Newswire|title=Firetide Names New CEO Mesh Networking Leader Appoints Bo Larsson to Top Spot|access-date=16 December 2008|url=http://dallas.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2004/02/23/daily29.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20070701071928/http://dallas.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2004/02/23/daily29.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 1, 2007}} Jeff Snider,{{cite news|last=Kenn|first=Benita|date=February 14, 2005|work=PR Newswire|title=Bob Cohn, Octel Co-Founder, Named Chairman of Board of Adomo Inc.|access-date=16 December 2008|url=http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2005/feb/1116999.htm}} David F. Wittenkamp,{{cite news|last=Messmer |first=Ellen |date=May 16, 2004 |work=Wireless News |title=People in Wireless News: Dealix Names Wittenkamp as CFO |access-date=16 December 2008 |url=http://www.dealix.com/Corporate/showpress.aspx?pressID=316 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070408054126/http://www.dealix.com/corporate/showpress.aspx?pressID=316 |archive-date=8 April 2007 }} and Jesper Stroe,{{cite news|date=May 6, 2002 |work=Network World |title=Adomo Bolsters Speech-Recognition Product |department=APPS |pages=38 |access-date=16 December 2008 |url=http://www.networkworld.com/news/2002/132228_05-06-2002.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110614221108/http://www.networkworld.com/news/2002/132228_05-06-2002.html |archive-date=14 June 2011 }} TouchWave released its first product, WebSwitch, in 1997.{{cite news|title=Commonplace? Taking video to the desktop -- ATM Specification To Take Center Stage At N+I Show|last=Presti|first=Ken|date=September 29, 1997|work=Computer Reseller News|publisher=CMP Media}} WebSwitch, a Web-based phone switch, provided telephony over IP and targeted small to medium-sized businesses and branch networks of larger organizations. The WebSwitch was designed to deliver significantly lower costs for communications, ease of management and administration and offered services on a single IP-based network platform.{{cite news |title=Finally going live with voice over IP |url=http://www.infoworld.com/articles/tc/xml/99/05/10/990510tcvoip.html |work=InfoWorld |date=June 12, 1999 |access-date=2008-12-13 }} {{Dead link|date=September 2010|bot=H3llBot}} The timing of TouchWave's late 1997 release of its phone switch product matched Level 3's development of its first softswitch, a method to connect calls from one phone line to another without a need to use traditional hardware.{{cite web|url=http://www.ilocus.com/2007/07/the_10_that_established_voip_p_1.html|title=The 10 that Established VoIP (Part 2: Level 3)|publisher=iLocus|date=July 13, 2007|access-date=2007-11-07}}
TouchWave made significant business and technology advances in 1998 and quickly became a recognized contributor to the VoIP industry. In March 1998, TouchWave received the Best of Show Award at both at the Microsoft Network Telephony Forum and the Computer Telephony Expo (Los Angeles) for its WebSwitch product.{{cite news|date=October 5, 1998 |work=Business Wire|title=TouchWave Partners With Telogy Networks For VoIP Embedded Communications Software|access-date=16 December 2008|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_/ai_53056379}} In April, Communications Convergence magazine identified TouchWave's WebSwitch as "[hinting] at the future, where voice and data will live together on a single network."{{cite news|last=Ogasaware|first=Todd|date=April 1, 1998|work=Communications Convergence|title=Touchwave's Winning Webswitch|pages=134}} In July, TouchWave entered into a partnership agreement with British Telecom,{{cite news|date=July 10, 1998|work=PR Newswire|title=TouchWave Forges Agreement With British Telecom|access-date=16 December 2008|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-20885897.html}}{{dead link|date=February 2019|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} the dominant fixed line telecommunications and broadband Internet provider in the United Kingdom. The partnership brought TouchWave access to technical recommendations and product feedback from British Telecom to be used to develop WebSwitch. In August, Computer Telephony awarded TouchWave its Editor's Choice Award for the WebSwitch product. In September, TouchWave introduced a new version of WebSwitch.{{cite news|date=September 7, 1998|work=Voice International|title=VoIP builds scalable phone net. TouchWave introduces new version of WebSwitch 1608 that includes voice-over-IP functionality|pages=76}} In October 1998, TouchWave entered into an agreement with Telogy Networks to include Telogy's embedded communications software in WebSwitch in order to improve the quality of its sound transmission. By the end of 1998, TouchWave had improved its product line to where it could replace traditional private telephone exchange systems in small-to-medium-sized companies throughout the world.{{cite journal|last=Whitehead|first=Ingrid|date=November 1, 1998|journal=Communications Convergence|title=Touchwave's Webswitch Wows 'em|volume=6|issue=11|pages=76}}
By early April 1999, TouchWave had upgraded their WebSwitch 1608 local area network distributed phone system to a product called WebSwitch 2000.{{cite journal|date=April 1, 1999|journal=Teleconnect|title=Teleconnect 99 CT Expo Best of Show|volume=17|issue=4}} On April 13, 1999, Swedish telecommunication company Ericsson announced that it had purchased TouchWave for $46 million.{{cite web|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0UNZ/is_1999_April_19/ai_54414261|title=Acquisition: Ericsson acquires TouchWave, Inc. provider of enterprise IP-telephony solutions – Company Business and Marketing|date=April 19, 1999 |publisher=Bnet|access-date=2008-12-12}} In exchange for the $46M, TouchWave provided Ericsson with Internet Protocol centric network products such as business phone and private business exchanges. The acquisition of TouchWave came at a time when multibillion-dollar companies were acquiring other relatively small Internet-connected companies, such as WebLine, Selsius, GeoTel, NBX, Dialogic, and Summa Four.{{cite journal|last=Margulies|first=Ed|date=November 1, 1999|journal=Communications Convergence|title=Blessed Be The Evangelists|volume=7|issue=11|pages=141}} Some employees from TouchWave eventually followed serial entrepreneur and former TouchWave president and CEO Samir Lehaff to Adomo, Inc., a provider of voicemail majordomo services.{{cite book|year=1999|title=Electronic Business|pages=44|publisher=Cahners Publishing Co|access-date=12 January 2009|url=https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&q=Samir%20Lehaff%20TouchWave&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wp}}{{cite news|date=June 20, 2007|work=Hoover's In-Depth Company Records|title=Adomo, Inc.|access-date=16 December 2008|url=http://www.hoovers.com/adomo/--ID__124652--/free-co-factsheet.xhtml}} TouchWave co-founder Jeff Snider would go on to be vice president of enterprise sales at Ericsson and then a CEO co-founder of Adomo in 1999.
WebCom
With Ericsson's 1999 purchase, TouchWave became a subsidiary of Ericsson and was renamed WebCom.{{cite journal|last=Sulkin|first=Allan|date=January 31, 2000|journal=Business Communications Review|title=PBX market gets ready to shift gears|volume=30|issue=1|pages=43}} In April 2000, Ericsson WebCom, now based in Menlo Park, California, expanded TouchWave's WebSwitch product line with the WebSwitch 100 Phone Gateway and IP Extension Gateway.{{cite journal|last=Grigonis|first=Richard|date=April 1, 2000|journal=Communications Convergence|title=Ready For Market!(Industry Trend or Event)|volume=8|issue=4|pages=120}} In January 2003, Business Communications Review magazine stated that Ericsson's acquisition of TouchWave "turned out to be of little consequence."{{cite journal|last=Sulkin|first=Allan|date=January 1, 2003|journal=Business Communications Review|title=PBX market-the shift to IP is on|volume=33|issue=1|pages=21|access-date=16 December 2008|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-96991457.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022170808/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-96991457.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 22, 2012}} A year later, that same magazine asserted that Ericsson's acquisition of TouchWave had not produced a desired result, writing that it had "borne little fruit."{{cite journal|date=January 1, 2004|journal=Business Communications Review|title=IP-Telephony Drives PBX Market Resurgence|volume=34|issue=1|pages=18|access-date=16 December 2008|url=http://www.allbusiness.com/business_planning/business_structures/3602752-1.html}}
References
{{reflist|2}}
External links
- [http://www.ericsson-webcom.com Ericsson Webcom]
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{{good article}}
Category:Palo Alto, California
Category:Telecommunications companies established in 1997
Category:Privately held companies based in California