8x8 Inc. is an American communications technology company that provides VoIP telephony services. 8x8 services include cloud-based voice, call center, video, mobile and unified communications solutions for medium to enterprise-sized businesses and distributed enterprise customers. Some of 8x8's services are offered under the brand Packet8.
History
8x8 was founded in 1987 by Dr. Chi-Shin Wang and Dr. Y.W. Sing formerly of Weitek as Integrated Information Technology, Inc., or IIT. The name was changed in the early 1990s. They began IIT as a fabless vendor of semiconductor products for the math coprocessor and graphics chipset markets. The company produced x87 floating point coprocessor for the 286, 386 and 486 generations of microprocessors as well as graphics accelerator chips for the personal computer market during the late 1980s and early 1990s.
In 1992 the company began shipping a lossless data compression product called Xtradrive. In the early 1990s IIT began producing chips, software and other technologies for the videoconferencing market. The company changed its name to 8x8 and began marketing its own set-top videoconferencing systems for consumers under the ViaTV brand. 8x8 went public on the NASDAQ market in 1997, trading under the ticker symbol EGHT.
In January 1999, 8x8 launched a family of Voice over IP (VoIP) chips and software that were sold to IP phone, IP/PSTN gateway and other manufacturers of VoIP equipment. 8x8 acquired two companies (Odisei and U|Force), to acquire network/server VoIP technologies, and began selling an end-to-end VoIP services technology solution to service providers in 1999.
In 2002, the company relaunched itself as a VoIP service provider under the Packet8 brand. In 2003, it launched its first consumer videophone services on the Packet8 network. In 2004, the company became the first VoIP service provider to offer replacement, E-911 services to its subscribers. It also launched a suite of business services called Packet8 Virtual Office. In July 2007, 8x8 "entered an agreement รข€¦ to accept" the 200,000 customers who abruptly lost phone service when VoIP startup SunRocket was liquidated. At the time, the Washington Post described Packet8 as "the third-largest independent Internet-phone service provider with 181,000 customers."
On 25 July 2002, 8x8 announced that its application for listing on the Nasdaq SmallCap Market had been approved. 8x8 retained its ticker symbol of EGHT, and began trading on the Nasdaq SmallCap Market on Friday, 26 July 2002.
On September 1, 2004, the company began selling their product at Fry's stores. 8x8 finished a series of TV commercials featuring San Francisco 49ers players. In 2009, 8x8 added Unified Communications to their portfolio and a contact center solution and mobile solutions in 2011.
8x8 has been awarded 128 patents related to semiconductors, computer architecture, video processing algorithms, videophones and communications technologies and security. In October 2014, 8x8 reported a customer base of more than 40,434 businesses.
Acquisitions
In May 2010, 8x8 acquired Central Host, a California-based managed hosting company and began offering cloud-based hosting services. In June 2011, 8x8 announced the acquisition of Zerigo, a Colorado-based cloud services company and began offering cloud servers and managed DNS services. In September 2011, 8x8 acquired Contactual, a hosted contact center company. In 2013, 8x8 acquired UK-based Voicenet, a cloud services company and expanded its offering of the 8x8 portfolio of cloud communications services in the UK.
In May 2015 8x8 acquired privately held UK-based DXI Ltd., a cloud-based contact center solutions vendor for $26 million in cash and stock. In June 2015 8x8 acquired assets of the privately held Delray Beach, Florida based Quality Software Corp. (QSC) as well as two affiliated companies.
Recognition
In August 2017, Gartner positioned 8x8 in the Leaders Quadrant of its Magic Quadrant for UCaaS (Unified Communications as a Service) for the sixth consecutive year.
In May, 2015, Infonetics Research named 8x8 as the #1 cloud unified communications provider in its 2015 Cloud UC North American Service Provider Scorecard.
Products
The company provides (as of January 2017) products for business phone systems, cloud contact centers, unified communications, and phone equipment such as IP phones. Sample products include:
- 8x8 Virtual Office: Business VoIP phone service that comes with voicemail, auto attendant, conference bridge, Outlook integration.
- 8x8 Virtual Office Pro: Unified communications bundle that includes business VoIP phone service, Internet faxing, call recording, and web conferencing
- 8x8 Virtual Office Enterprise: Business VoIP phone service for companies with over 1,000 extensions
- 8x8 Virtual Office Mobile: Extends Virtual Office phone service to iOS and Android devices
- 8x8 Virtual Meeting: Web conferencing with video, call recording, and content sharing
- 8x8 Virtual Contact Center: Hosted call center
References
External links
- Official website
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