Webex by Cisco, is an American

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company (law), company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidia ...

Cisco Systems Cisco Systems, Inc. (using the trademark Cisco) is an American multinational corporation, multinational digital communications technology conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develops, m ...

that develops and sells web conferencing,

videoconferencing Videotelephony (also known as videoconferencing or video calling) is the use of audio signal, audio and video for simultaneous two-way communication. Today, videotelephony is widespread. There are many terms to refer to videotelephony. ''Vide ...

and contact center as a service applications. It was founded as WebEx Communications, Inc., in 1995 and acquired by Cisco Systems in May 2007. Its headquarters are in

San Jose, California San Jose, officially the City of San José ( ; ), is a cultural, commercial, and political center within Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area. With a city population of 997,368 and a metropolitan area population of 1.95 million, it is ...

. 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 Communications, Inc., 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 investm ...

in July 2000. WebEx was listed on the

NASDAQ The Nasdaq Stock Market (; National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the U.S. by volume, and ranked second on the list ...

National Market, and then the NASDAQ Global Select Market, when that was introduced in 2006. 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, document sharing and calendaring while Intranets.com provided access to the Webex communications environment for its customers. In May 2007, Cisco acquired WebEx for $3.2 billion. At the time of the acquisition, all Webex applications 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 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 synchronous computer-mediated communication involving the immediate ( real-time) transmission of messages between two or more parties over the Internet or another computer network. Originally involv ...

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 and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, 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. In May 2024, Cisco and Tata Communications partnered to launch Webex Calling in India.

Services

The WebEx Connect product allows for custom communication workflows, such as those used in customer relationship management. The product allows plug-ins to the WebEx platform to connect to popular messaging and social media platforms. Defunct products include a business version of AOL's

software, AIM Pro, with additional features to help workers collaborate using conferencing tools offered by Webex.

Related acquisitions by Cisco

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.

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 In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

offices,

Goldman Sachs The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered in Lower Manhattan in New York City, with regional headquarters in many internationa ...

faced charges of issuing unfair research, including coverage of WebEx, and IPO 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, 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 An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a special court order compelling a party to do or refrain from doing certain acts. It was developed by the English courts of equity but its origins go back to Roman law and the equitable rem ...

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

* {{Cisco, state=collapsed 1995 establishments in California 1995 establishments in the United States 2007 mergers and acquisitions American companies established in 1995 Android (operating system) software Cisco software Cisco 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