Jasomi Networks
Encyclopedia
About
Jasomi Networks was a pioneer in the development of Session Border ControllerSession Border Controller
A session border controller is a device regularly deployed in Voice over Internet Protocol networks to exert control over the signaling and usually also the media streams involved in setting up, conducting, and tearing down telephone calls or other interactive media communications.SBC's original...
s (SBCs
Session Border Controller
A session border controller is a device regularly deployed in Voice over Internet Protocol networks to exert control over the signaling and usually also the media streams involved in setting up, conducting, and tearing down telephone calls or other interactive media communications.SBC's original...
), computer network devices that enable, control, and monitor the flow of multimedia
Multimedia
Multimedia is media and content that uses a combination of different content forms. The term can be used as a noun or as an adjective describing a medium as having multiple content forms. The term is used in contrast to media which use only rudimentary computer display such as text-only, or...
data streams across carrier networks, corporate networks, home networks, and the Internet.
History and evolution
The concept for Jasomi was conceived in a meeting between Cullen Jennings and David A. Bryan, who introduced the concept to Dan Freedman, resulting in the founding of the corporation in 2001. Funded by the founders and early employee Benjamin Freedman, the company quickly created a demonstrable SBCSession Border Controller
A session border controller is a device regularly deployed in Voice over Internet Protocol networks to exert control over the signaling and usually also the media streams involved in setting up, conducting, and tearing down telephone calls or other interactive media communications.SBC's original...
, and began to market it as the PeerPoint product line at the Fall 2001 VON
Voice On the Net
Voice Over the Net is a conference and expo focused on Voice over IP industry. The VON Coalition was established to be an industry voice to government organizations such as the FCC and influence government decisions that are made.-External links:*...
trade show organized by Jeff Pulver
Jeff Pulver
Jeffrey L. Pulver is an American Internet entrepreneur known for his work as founder and chief executive of pulver.com. He has written extensively on the need to develop an alternative to government regulation of the applications layer of Voice over Internet Protocol telephony.-Biography:Jeff...
.
Strong early interest encouraged Freedman and Jennings to commit additional bootstrapping funds from themselves and friends and family. An R&D center was established in Calgary
Calgary
Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
in early 2002, and Alan Hawrylyshen joined the team. 2002 was spent turning the early demonstrator into a more full featured and supportable product. Ryan Kereliuk and Johnson Wu joined the company in Mid-2002, and in late 2002, Jasomi adopted a hybrid coopetition
Coopetition
Coopetition or Co-opetition is a neologism coined to describe cooperative competition....
model of software development, keeping certain advancements proprietary while releasing others to the public through the resiprocate open-source SIP
Session Initiation Protocol
The Session Initiation Protocol is an IETF-defined signaling protocol widely used for controlling communication sessions such as voice and video calls over Internet Protocol . The protocol can be used for creating, modifying and terminating two-party or multiparty sessions...
stack. David A. Bryan left the company and Alan Hawrylyshen became CTO in late 2002.
Between 2002 and 2004, the company advanced the state of the art in SBC
Session Border Controller
A session border controller is a device regularly deployed in Voice over Internet Protocol networks to exert control over the signaling and usually also the media streams involved in setting up, conducting, and tearing down telephone calls or other interactive media communications.SBC's original...
technology, providing customers for the first time with the ability to perform VoIP through existing NAT
Network address translation
In computer networking, network address translation is the process of modifying IP address information in IP packet headers while in transit across a traffic routing device....
-enabled firewalls so that residential subscribers could be supported without placing any hardware on their premises. An early customer making great use of this facility was Jeff Pulver
Jeff Pulver
Jeffrey L. Pulver is an American Internet entrepreneur known for his work as founder and chief executive of pulver.com. He has written extensively on the need to develop an alternative to government regulation of the applications layer of Voice over Internet Protocol telephony.-Biography:Jeff...
's Free World Dialup
Free World Dialup
FWD is a Voice over Internet Protocol network and business venture owned by Pulver.com, Inc. and founded in 1994 by Jeff Pulver, Brandon Lucas, and Izak Jenie....
, which provided free calling services worldwide amongst its subscribers using the SIP
Session Initiation Protocol
The Session Initiation Protocol is an IETF-defined signaling protocol widely used for controlling communication sessions such as voice and video calls over Internet Protocol . The protocol can be used for creating, modifying and terminating two-party or multiparty sessions...
VoIP protocol.
In 2005, the company was acquired by Ditech Networks (then called Ditech Communications) in a deal valued at $24.55m.
Investment
Jasomi was unusual (although not unique) in that it shunned venture capital, relying initially on self-funding by the founders, and later on money invested by friends and family. A total of about $2.8m was raised, much of that in the few months preceding the company's acquisition. The company's main competitors were Acme PacketAcme Packet
Acme Packet is a company based in Bedford, Massachusetts which produces and markets Session Border Controllers , multiservice security gateways and session routing proxies . It is a public company incorporated in Delaware...
and Kagoor Networks
Kagoor Networks
Kagoor Networks was a San Mateo, California-based company that was acquired by Juniper Networks for US$ 65.7 million in 2005....
that had each raised about $40m, and Netrake that had raised about $70m. By comparison, virtually all of Jasomi's operating funds came in organically from customers in the form of revenue - a true bootstrapping startup
Startup company
A startup company or startup is a company with a limited operating history. These companies, generally newly created, are in a phase of development and research for markets...
experience.
Performance
Substantially as a result of being capital-poor, the company could not hire a large number of employees, and sales and the company eventually settled into the number 3 spot in the industry behind Acme PacketAcme Packet
Acme Packet is a company based in Bedford, Massachusetts which produces and markets Session Border Controllers , multiservice security gateways and session routing proxies . It is a public company incorporated in Delaware...
and Kagoor Networks
Kagoor Networks
Kagoor Networks was a San Mateo, California-based company that was acquired by Juniper Networks for US$ 65.7 million in 2005....
, as repeatedly reported by market research firm Infonetics. Nevertheless, by 2005, the company was firmly established as a leading technical player in the field and was generally recognized as having consistently advanced the state of the art in SBC
Session Border Controller
A session border controller is a device regularly deployed in Voice over Internet Protocol networks to exert control over the signaling and usually also the media streams involved in setting up, conducting, and tearing down telephone calls or other interactive media communications.SBC's original...
technology during that period.
Partnership with Microsoft
A mutual customer of Jasomi and MicrosoftMicrosoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
asked the two companies to work together to make Jasomi's PeerPoint product line work with Microsoft's Live Communications Server
Microsoft Office Live Communications Server
Microsoft Lync Server is an enterprise real-time communications server, providing the infrastructure for enterprise instant messaging, presence, file transfer, peer-to-peer and multiparty voice and video calling, ad hoc and structured conferences and, through a 3rd party gateway or SIP trunk, PSTN...
. Although the relationship suffered from typical big company / small company issues, Jasomi was successful in modifying its product to support Microsoft's non-standards-based extensions to the SIP
Session Initiation Protocol
The Session Initiation Protocol is an IETF-defined signaling protocol widely used for controlling communication sessions such as voice and video calls over Internet Protocol . The protocol can be used for creating, modifying and terminating two-party or multiparty sessions...
protocol. The result was successful deployments for both companies that would not have occurred without the integration.
Acquisition
A combination of Jasomi's technical successes together with its small size and small amount of raised capital resulted in the company becoming attractive to a number of potential acquirers and investors by early 2005. Ultimately, the company sold to Ditech Communications (now called Ditech Networks), a US public company based in Silicon ValleySilicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...
in mid-2005 in a deal valued at $24.55m. The acquisition brought benefit to Jasomi's investors and employees, and gave Ditech a credible toehold in the VoIP marketplace. Jasomi's then-CEO, Todd Simpson, went on to become Ditech's CEO a year later.
While the size of the acquisition was well into 8 digits, the returns to investors (many of whom were employees) were at a comparable percentage to those of the largest company in the SBC
Session Border Controller
A session border controller is a device regularly deployed in Voice over Internet Protocol networks to exert control over the signaling and usually also the media streams involved in setting up, conducting, and tearing down telephone calls or other interactive media communications.SBC's original...
arena, Acme Packet
Acme Packet
Acme Packet is a company based in Bedford, Massachusetts which produces and markets Session Border Controllers , multiservice security gateways and session routing proxies . It is a public company incorporated in Delaware...
. The top three pure-play companies in the SBC
Session Border Controller
A session border controller is a device regularly deployed in Voice over Internet Protocol networks to exert control over the signaling and usually also the media streams involved in setting up, conducting, and tearing down telephone calls or other interactive media communications.SBC's original...
space at that time, Acme Packet
Acme Packet
Acme Packet is a company based in Bedford, Massachusetts which produces and markets Session Border Controllers , multiservice security gateways and session routing proxies . It is a public company incorporated in Delaware...
, Kagoor Networks
Kagoor Networks
Kagoor Networks was a San Mateo, California-based company that was acquired by Juniper Networks for US$ 65.7 million in 2005....
, and Jasomi, have all provided positive returns to their stakeholders. However, many others in the SBC
Session Border Controller
A session border controller is a device regularly deployed in Voice over Internet Protocol networks to exert control over the signaling and usually also the media streams involved in setting up, conducting, and tearing down telephone calls or other interactive media communications.SBC's original...
space have not, and several companies succumbed to pressures of the market.
Ultimately, as was the case with several other acquired SBC companies, the attempts to integrate Jasomi's product lines into those of its acquirer were not successful. Ditech continued to market Jasomi's PeerPoint SBC platform, but while under the leadership of CEO Tim Montgomery, neglected to invest in its technical or market development. In the first two years after acquisition, a number of key employees resigned. Ditech closed its Canadian subsidiary in September, 2007, terminating most of the remaining Jasomi employees. However, Todd Simpson, Jasomi's CEO from late 2004 through its acquisition, ultimately became CEO of Ditech following Tim Montgomery's departure.
External links
- Light Reading - Ditech's Itsy Bitsy Jasomi Deal
- Ditech Networks - acquired Jasomi Networks in 2005
- resiprocate - an open-source SIPSession Initiation ProtocolThe Session Initiation Protocol is an IETF-defined signaling protocol widely used for controlling communication sessions such as voice and video calls over Internet Protocol . The protocol can be used for creating, modifying and terminating two-party or multiparty sessions...
stack project co-founded by Jasomi Networks