8×8, Inc. (NYSE:EGHT), in an interesting move, just announced that it has acquired the Jitsi open source video communications technology and its highly skilled team of open source video technology experts. The Jitsi technology further extends 8×8’s cloud technology platform and adds to the company’s video collaboration capabilities. 8×8 acquired Jitsi’s technology and engineering team from leading enterprise software company Atlassian.
“The best video communications solutions are so intuitive and reliable that they help employees conduct shorter, more productive meetings. 8×8 has already developed a world-class meetings solution for enterprises, and we’re focused on maintaining leadership in delivering reliable, crystal-clear video and audio conferencing quality across mobile and desktop applications,” said Dejan Deklich, Chief Product Officer at 8×8. “Incorporating Jitsi’s open-source technology into our video communications technology platform, and having Jitsi’s talented engineering team play a role in leading our development of dedicated conferencing applications and WebRTC, will open new paths for our customers and further enhance our meetings solution.”
8×8, Inc. (NYSE:EGHT) frames itself as a company that provides enterprise cloud communications and customer engagement solutions for small and mid-size businesses, mid-market, and distributed enterprises worldwide.
In addition, the company has a strong balance sheet, with cash levels far exceeding current liabilities ($144.5M against $60.7M).
It offers unified communications, team collaboration, conferencing, contact center, analytics, and other services to various business customers on a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model.
The company provides 8×8 Virtual Office, a self-contained and end-to-end solution that delivers high quality voice and unified communications-as-a-service; 8×8 Virtual Contact Center, a multi-channel cloud-based contact center solution; and 8×8 Virtual Office Meetings, a cloud-based video conferencing and collaboration solution that enables secure and continuous collaboration with borderless high definition (HD) video and audio communications from mobile and desktop devices.
It also offers 8×8 Sameroom, an interoperability platform, which enables cross-team messaging and collaboration within a large organization and between organizations; and Script8, a communications flow and routing engine that offers a scripting environment for routing communications data for specific workflows, as well as allows end-users to create simple, personalized, and customizable communications experiences, such as communications control, external data source integration, and intelligent routing.
The company integrates its services with third-party applications and platforms, including enterprise resource planning, customer relations management, human capital management, and other proprietary application suites. It markets its services to end users through direct sales organization, Website, and channel partners. As of March 31, 2018, the company serves approximately 53,800 business customers.
Eight Isn’t Enough
As we discussed earlier, EGHT just announced that it has acquired the Jitsi open source video communications technology and its highly skilled team of open source video technology experts. As noted above, the Jitsi technology further extends 8×8’s cloud technology platform and adds to the company’s video collaboration capabilities, and 8×8 acquired Jitsi’s technology and engineering team from leading enterprise software company Atlassian.
This announcement has popped the stock higher, which certainly isn’t surprising. EGHT shareholders are now sitting on about 4% in gains over the past week. Over the past month, shares of the stock have suffered from clear selling pressure, dropping by roughly -11%.
“Some of the most innovative WebRTC products and companies use Jitsi to support millions of minutes of daily usage as part of their meetings, messaging and collaboration product ecosystems. The open source community has played a critical role in advancing Jitsi’s projects by validating its use in a diverse set of environments and complementing the core team’s development. As part of this acquisition, 8×8 is committed to continuing to support the growing developer community, and we are excited to engage even more,” commented Bryan Martin, Chairman and Chief Technology Officer at 8×8.
8×8, Inc. (NYSE:EGHT) managed to rope in revenues totaling $83.2M in overall sales during the company’s most recently reported quarterly financial data — a figure that represents a rate of top line growth of 20.4%, as compared to year-ago data in comparable terms.