Sitrion
{{Short description|Software Company}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Sitrion
| logo = NewsGatorLogo.png
| type = Private
| location = Denver, Colorado, United States
| key_people = Greg Reinacker, Founder
Daniel Kraft, CEO
Henry Albrecht
| area_served =
| industry =
| products = Social Sites
Tomoye
Sitrion ONE
Limeade ONE
| revenue =
| operating_income =
| net_income =
| num_employees = 85
| parent = Limeade
| subsid =
| homepage = [https://www.limeade.com/ Limeade]
| footnotes =
}}
Sitrion (formerly NewsGator Technologies) is a multinational software company headquartered in Denver, Colorado. Sitrion develops and markets mobility and collaboration software. It was founded in 2004 under the name NewsGator. It was initially a consumer company focused on RSS aggregation, before shifting its focus to the enterprise market. The company raised $12 million in funding in 2007 and acquired Tomoye in 2010. In 2013, NewsGator acquired Sitrion, and in 2014, chose to keep the same name.
Corporate history
Sitrion was founded as NewsGator in 2004 by Greg Reinacker and was initially self-funded. Mobius provided an undisclosed amount of Series A and Series B funding in the early 2000s.{{cite news|newspaper=The Denver Post|date=December 2, 2004 |title=VC firm re-infuses NewsGator Superior-based Mobius is the sole investor in the company that offers news updates from across the Web|first=Ross|last=Wehner|pages=C-04}} A third $6 million round of funding was raised in 2005.{{cite news|newspaper=The Denver Post|date=April 20, 2005|title=News-update firm attracts interest|first=Tom|last=McGhee}}
In 2005, the company acquired Bradbury Software, which developed a desktop application called FeedDemon and a CSS/xHTML editor called TopStyle.Jaques R. NewsGator snaps up FeedDemon. Information World Review [serial online]. June 2005;(214):8. Available from: Computers & Applied Sciences Complete, Ipswich, MA. Accessed May 31, 2014.
Another $12 million in funding was raised in December 2007, followed by $10 million in 2009.{{cite news|title=Enterprise 2.0 Vendor NewsGator Gets Funding Boost|first=Juan|last=Perez|date=January 12, 2009|url=http://www.cio.com/article/475720/Enterprise_2.0_Vendor_NewsGator_Gets_Funding_Boost|newspaper=CIO Magazine}} From 2004 to 2010, the company's CEO was JB Holston.{{cite web|url=http://www.xconomy.com/boulder-denver/2014/05/08/10-things-to-know-about-ben-blackstone-and-colorados-gazelles/|title=Xconomy: 10 Things to Know About BEN, Blackstone, and Colorado's Gazelles|date=8 May 2014|publisher=|accessdate=2 September 2018}}
In 2010, the company acquired Canada-based Tomoye, an enterprise community and collaboration computing vendor, primarily used by government organizations.
{{cite news|title=NewsGator Acquires Tomoye: Expands Solution Offering, Markets|first=Barb|last=Zinck|date=January 20, 2010|url=http://www.cmswire.com/cms/enterprise-20/newsgator-acquires-tomoye-expands-solution-offering-markets-006462.php|publisher=CMS Wire}}
Daniel Kraft became CEO & President in 2012.{{cite web|last=Mosher Zinck|first=Barb|title=NewsGator Brings in ifridge Founder Daniel Kraft as New President & CEO|url=http://www.cmswire.com/cms/social-business/newsgator-brings-in-ifridge-founder-daniel-kraft-as-new-president-ceo-016932.php|work=CMS Wire|publisher=Simpler Media Group, Inc.|accessdate=27 February 2014|date=August 12, 2012}}
In 2013, NewsGator acquired Sitrion, who was previously a business partner.{{cite web|last=Stowe|first=Boyd|title=NewsGator acquires Sitrion, pushes ahead in innovation sector|url=http://research.gigaom.com/2013/10/newsgator-acquires-sitrion-pushes-ahead-in-innovation-sector/|archive-url=https://archive.today/20140227192651/http://research.gigaom.com/2013/10/newsgator-acquires-sitrion-pushes-ahead-in-innovation-sector/|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 27, 2014|work=GigaOm|accessdate=27 February 2014|date=2013-10-23}}{{cite web|last=Turk|first=Melanie|title=In Acquiring Sitrion, NewsGator Hopes to Make the Mundane More Fun|url=http://www.nojitter.com/post/240163017/in-acquiring-sitrion-newsgator-hopes-to-make-the-mundane-more-fun|work=nojitter|publisher=Enterprise Connect|accessdate=27 February 2014|date=2013-10-22}} In January of the following year, the company changed its name to Sitrion.{{cite web|last=Koplowitz|first=Rob|title=Your Next Portal Should Be An Engagement Workplace|url=http://www.forrester.com/Brief+Your+Next+Portal+Should+Be+An+Engagement+Workplace/fulltext/-/E-RES111921?isTurnHighlighting=false&highlightTerm=engagement%20workplace|work=Forrester Research|accessdate=27 February 2014|date=February 3, 2014}} While initially, the purchase of Sitrion was intended to expand the product portfolio of NewsGator,{{cite web|url=http://www.nojitter.com/post/240163017/in-acquiring-sitrion-newsgator-hopes-to-make-the-mundane-more-fun|title=In Acquiring Sitrion, NewsGator Hopes to Make the Mundane More Fun|publisher=|accessdate=2 September 2018}} it then began focusing on selling social networking software to client companies (a business it had been in since 2007)—specifically Sitrion Social Workplace.{{cite web|url=http://www.informationweek.com/healthcare/leadership/childrens-hospital-of-philadelphia-embraces-social-collaboration/d/d-id/1127621|title=Children's Hospital Of Philadelphia Embraces Social Collaboration - InformationWeek|date=11 March 2014 |publisher=|accessdate=2 September 2018}} Kraft has stated that introducing social collaboration concepts can create a more invested staff, saying, "If you terminate nonproductive conversations, then you’re eliminating the ability to make the network a community people would like to belong to."{{cite news| url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-01-22/facebook-at-work-offers-little-new-as-corporate-social-network | work=Bloomberg | first=James | last=Tarmy | title=Facebook at Work Is Late to the Office | date=January 22, 2015}}
In 2018, Sitrion was acquired by employee engagement company, Limeade.{{Cite web|title=Limeade acquires Sitrion and its award-winning employee experience solution|url=https://www.limeade.com/en/releases/limeade-acquires-sitrion-and-its-award-winning-employee-experience-solution/|access-date=2020-12-02|website=Limeade|language=en-US}}
Software
=Sitrion Social=
Sitrion Social is an add-on for SharePoint, which also integrates with SAP.{{cite web|url=http://www.pcworld.com/article/2366780/tibco-deepens-tibbr-integration-with-sharepoint.html|title=Tibco deepens Tibbr integration with SharePoint|publisher=|accessdate=2 September 2018}} Version 3.0 of Social Sites (now Sitrion Social) was released in late 2009. Among other improvements, it introduced a microblogging component to the software.NewsGator releases Social Sites 3.0. KM World [serial online]. November 2009;18(10):29. Available from: Computers & Applied Sciences Complete, Ipswich, MA. Accessed June 1, 2014. In 2012, the company started developing software for vertical markets{{cite news|publisher=Marketing Weekly News|date=August 11, 2012|title=NewsGator launches social business solutions for key vertical markets|pages=426}} and products for regulatory compliance in partnership with HiSoftware.{{cite news|publisher=Information Technology Newsweekly|date=March 13, 2012|title=NewsGator and HiSoftware Close the Social Business Compliance Gap|pages=228}} A simplified user interface for NewsGator Tomoye was introduced in 2011.{{cite news|newspaper=Computer Weekly News|date=February 3, 2011|title=NewsGator Simplifies Management of Online Communities With New Version of NewsGator Tomoye|pages=119}} Sitrion Social is comparable to Facebook, but designed for use with SharePoint and used for employee collaboration. It is typically used to add functionality to Microsoft SharePoint and SAP processes.
Computers and Applied Sciences reviewed version 2.7 of Social Sites, Sitrion's Facebook-like employee collaboration tool. It praised the software's user interface and synchronization across devices.Reid C. NewsGator Social Sites 2.7. Econtent [serial online]. September 2009;32(7):20-22. Available from: Computers & Applied Sciences Complete, Ipswich, MA. Accessed June 1, 2014.
=Past software=
In 2002, Sitrion (then called NewsGator) originally developed consumer RSS software that allowed users to receive notifications when a blog, news site or other page was updated.Lynch J. RSS News Readers Browse for You. PC Magazine [serial online]. October 2003;22(17):32. Available from: Computers & Applied Sciences Complete, Ipswich, MA. Accessed June 1, 2014. It was one of few readers that integrated directly with Microsoft Outlook. In 2003, a version 1.3 was introduced that added support for subscribing to newsgroups through Outlook, automated some of the organization features and made other improvements.Caton M. NewsGator sharpens news gathering. Eweek [serial online]. August 25, 2003;20(34):51. Available from: Computers & Applied Sciences Complete, Ipswich, MA. Accessed June 1, 2014. Version 2.0 was released in March 2004, which allowed users to get notifications from mobile devices, to access exclusive content and made other improvements.Miller R. RSS Delivery Gets Around with NewsGator Upgrade. Econtent [serial online]. March 2004;27(3):7-8. Available from: Computers & Applied Sciences Complete, Ipswich, MA. Accessed May 31, 2014. By 2004, it was one of the better known RSS tools.{{cite news|newspaper=Investor's Business Daily|date=April 12, 2004|title=Too Much Data To Track On Web? Then Aggregate With RSS|first=Kirk|last=Shinkle}} It also made a partnership that year with PR firm Edelman to develop a reader tool called Hosted Conversations used by Edelman clients and available to others.{{cite news|date=December 18, 2006 |first=Tonya|last=Garcia|url=http://www.prweek.com/article/newsgator-edelman-ink-partnership/1259490|newspaper=PRWeek|accessdate=June 1, 2014|title=NewsGator, Edelman ink partnership}} Integration with Factiva was also introduced that year.Pickering B. NewsGator link-up gives Factiva edge in RSS feeds. Information World Review [serial online]. June 2005;(214):3. Available from: Computers & Applied Sciences Complete, Ipswich, MA. Accessed June 1, 2014. NewsGator started pursuing the enterprise market in late 2005 with a new NewsGator Enterprise Server (NGES) product.{{cite news|first=Mike|last=Elgan|title=NewsGator Goes Corporate With RSS Server|url=http://www.informationweek.com/desktop/newsgator-goes-corporate-with-rss-server/d/d-id/1034960?|newspaper=InformationWeek}}