BlueJeans explained

BlueJeans by Verizon
Type:Subsidiary
Industry:Cloud Video Conferencing
Parent:Verizon Communications[1] [2]

BlueJeans by Verizon was a company that provided an interoperable cloud-based video conferencing service.[3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] It was headquartered in the Santana Row district of San Jose, California. Prior to being acquired by Verizon in 2020, the company was known as "BlueJeans Network"[10] [11] [12] [13] Verizon decided to close down the Blue Jeans platform in August 2023,[14] and closed the website in March 2024.[15]

History

Krish Ramakrishnan and Alagu Periyannan founded BlueJeans Network in 2009, completing the development within six months of technology trials. Prior to founding the company, Ramakrishnan worked at Accel Partners, and Periyannan was the CTO of Blue Coat Systems as well as a tech lead at Apple Inc. Stu Aaron, the company's chief commercial officer (CCO), described the early work as, "Ultimately, what we're trying to do is make video conferencing as comfortable and as casual as your pair of jeans." The company was able to acquire $23.5 million in venture capital from Accel Partners, NEA, and Norwest Venture Partners, and launched its commercial service on June 29, 2011[16] [17] with Ramakrishnan as CEO.

The company sought to open up video conferencing to companies across the board, including small businesses and freelancers, in addition to the traditional market of larger corporations.[18] In its first 75 days, BlueJeans grew to 4,000 subscribers from 500 firms.[19] Upon launching, Deutsche Telekom became the company's first major channel partner. The agreement between the firms was to develop "a scalable, interoperable videoconferencing solution in Europe by the end of the year". In 2011 and 2012 it added other channel partners, including InterCall,, York Telecom, and AVI-SPL.[20] BlueJeans has been used by more than 300,000 people worldwide.[21] In 2013 BlueJeans Network expanded its user base to the UK and Australia.[22] [23] In November 2013, Ari Levy of Businessweek wrote that, "BlueJeans has raised about $100 million in venture funding and estimates it will stream one billion minutes' worth of meetings during 2014, a tenfold increase from this year."

Verizon communications announced on April 16, 2020, that it had entered into an agreement to acquire BlueJeans to expand its Business portfolio offerings, particularly its unified communications offerings. While the price of the acquisition was not announced, it is believed to be in the sub $500M range.[24] The acquisition was completed on May 15, 2020, with the service rebranded as "BlueJeans by Verizon."[25]

On August 8, 2023, Verizon announced that it will shut down BlueJeans in the first half of 2024.[26]

Video conferencing

BlueJeans by Verizon provides a proprietary cloud-based video meetings service, interoperable with software development kit, etc., that connects users across different devices, platforms, and conference programs. Every BlueJeans member has a private “meeting room” in the BlueJeans cloud to schedule and host conference meetings. It operates with business conferencing solutions such as Cisco, Microsoft Lync, StarLeaf, Lifesize, and Polycom as well as consumer services like Google. This service can be used directly through BlueJeans Network or through its partner companies. For example, in 2012 BlueJeans Network began powering the videoconferencing services of InterCall.[27]

CRN described BlueJeans services as "endpoint agnostic", meaning it does not discriminate and can work with any video call software or technology, including smartphones. This allows it to bridge between non-room-based videoconference services as well, regardless of the device or service used.[28]

Michal Lev-Ram of Fortune wrote that, "the company is mostly an enhancement—not a threat—to existing videoconference equipment makers. And whichever company ends up leading the charge, there's no question that interoperability is an inevitable must in videoconferencing, just like it was in text messaging on mobile phones. The more use corporate customers can get out of their videoconferencing systems, the more they'll invest in buying them."[29] In contrast to this, Ari Levy reported in 2013 that BlueJeans Network and similar services had begun to cut into the revenues of larger, room-based hardware system developers, due to their greater flexibility and accessing the market of smaller businesses.[30] That year BlueJeans Network also partnered with Salesforce.com, providing BlueJeans run video conferencing to all Salesforce clients through its "Chatter" tool. Forbes also wrote that BlueJeans "will also enable the sharing of presentations, documents, and video clips in real-time" for Salesforce customers.[31] Other customers for BlueJeans Network include Facebook, Foursquare, and MIT.[32] [33]

Awards and recognition

In February 2012, Frost & Sullivan awarded its Entrepreneurial Company of the Year Award to BlueJeans. The Wall Street Journal named BlueJeans a runner-up in the Software category of its 2012 Innovation Awards. In September 2012, the Telecom Council awarded BlueJeans the Graham Bell Award for Best Communication Solutions in its annual SPIFFY awards.[34] In November 2012, University Business honored BlueJeans with its 1st Annual Readers' Choice Awards in the category of Video Conferencing Services. CRN named BlueJeans one of the 25 Coolest Emerging Vendors for 2012. Gartner also named BlueJeans to its Cool Vendors Report for 2012.

In 2013 CRN repositioned BlueJeans on its list to number six among its ten top start-ups.[35] In 2013 CIO magazine ranked BlueJeans No. 3 among the top ten cloud startups of that year,[36] and Business Insider ranked it among its top 21 cloud startups.[37]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Verizon officially closes BlueJeans deal. 18 May 2020.
  2. Web site: Introducing BlueJeans by Verizon | BlueJeans by Verizon. 18 May 2020 .
  3. Web site: Video Conferencing Startup BlueJeans Network Adds LinkedIn Integration. Ryan Lawler. October 22, 2012. Techcrunch. 1 March 2013 .
  4. Web site: BlueJeans Network Brings Its Video Conferencing Software To Salesforce.com . Klint Finley. September 10, 2012. Techcrunch. 1 March 2013 .
  5. Web site: BlueJeans CEO Looks To Beat His Two-Time Acquirer Cisco With Low-Cost Video Conferencing. Kim-Mai Cutler. March 21, 2012. Techcrunch. 1 March 2013 .
  6. Web site: BlueJeans Puts Another $25M In Its Pocket To Attack Video Conferencing Giants. Kim-Mai Cutler. June 27, 2012 . Techcrunch. 1 March 2013 .
  7. Web site: The 25 Coolest Emerging Vendors For 2012. August 27, 2012. CRN. 1 March 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20121101041309/http://www.crn.com/slide-shows/storage/240005642/the-25-coolest-emerging-vendors-for-2012.htm?pgno=5. 1 November 2012. dead.
  8. Web site: 1st Annual Readers' Choice Awards. Laureen Williams. November 29, 2012. University Business. 1 March 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130227081129/http://www.universitybusiness.com/article/1st-annual-readers%E2%80%99-choice-awards. 27 February 2013. dead.
  9. Web site: Entrepreneurial Company of the Year Award CSP Videoconferencing Services. Bluejeans. 1 March 2013. 31 May 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20120531154559/http://bluejeans.com/sites/default/files/uploaded_images/Blue-Jeans-Network-IRG-64-2012.pdf. dead.
  10. Web site: Verizon Business enters into agreement to acquire BlueJeans. April 16, 2020. www.verizon.com.
  11. Web site: Verizon is buying B2B videoconferencing firm BlueJeans. TechCrunch. 16 April 2020. en-US. 2020-04-17.
  12. Web site: Verizon to buy BlueJeans video conferencing platform. Lyons. Kim. 2020-04-16. The Verge. en. 2020-04-17.
  13. News: Krouse. Sarah. Verizon Buys Zoom Conferencing Rival BlueJeans. 2020-04-16. Wall Street Journal. 2020-04-17. en-US. 0099-9660.
  14. Web site: Verizon to 'sunset' Blue Jeans vidconf platform. The Register. 17 July 2024.
  15. Web site: We are sunsetting BlueJeans Effective March 29, 2024. Verizon. 17 July 2024.
  16. Web site: Cloud Video Startup BlueJeans Network Taps First VAR Partner . Chad Berndtson . August 9, 2011 . November 28, 2013 . CRN Magazine.
  17. Web site: DeTe partners with BlueJeans Network for videoconferencing . June 30, 2011 . November 28, 2013 . Telecompaper.
  18. Web site: BlueJeans Tackles Video Conferencing Interoperability . https://archive.today/20140130200315/http://www.channelinsider.com/c/a/Messaging-and-Collaboration/Blue-Jeans-Tackles-Issue-of-Video-Conferencing-Interoperability-123289/#sthash.g3eyjCn0.dpuf . dead . January 30, 2014 . July 5, 2011 . Channel Insider . November 28, 2013 .
  19. Web site: BlueJeans Network Launches Any(ware) Video Conferencing. June 29, 2011. BusinessWire. 1 March 2013 .
  20. Web site: Deutsche Telekom gets down to business with cloud based videoconferencing solution from BlueJeans Network. June 30, 2011. Telekom. 1 March 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20120505084348/http://www.telekom.com/media/company/69372. 5 May 2012. dead.
  21. Web site: BlueJeans Network Celebrates Momentous First Year for Its Video Conferencing Service With New Funding and New Breakthrough Functionality. June 27, 2012. BlueJeans. 1 March 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130330034645/http://bluejeans.com/press-releases/blue-jeans-new-funding-and-breakthrough-functionality. 30 March 2013. dead.
  22. Web site: BlueJeans Network expands to Australia. September 13, 2013 . January 29, 2014 . Telecompaper .
  23. Web site: November 14, 2013 . November 28, 2013 . Video collaboration service BlueJeans wraps legs around UK market . Kane Fulton . Tech Radar.
  24. Web site: Verizon is buying B2B videoconferencing firm BlueJeans. 16 April 2020.
  25. Web site: Schultz . Lauren . Verizon officially closes BlueJeans deal . Verizon . 18 May 2020 . 28 May 2020.
  26. Web site: Peters. Jay. Verizon is shutting down the videoconferencing app it bought for $400 million. The Verge. 8 August 2023 . 10 August 2023.
  27. Web site: InterCall Partnership Boosts BlueJeans' Videoconferencing . David F. Carr . November 28, 2013 . April 16, 2012 . Information Week.
  28. Web site: Review: BlueJeans' Video In The Cloud . Edward F. Moltzen . January 17, 2012 . November 28, 2013 . . https://web.archive.org/web/20131128235532/http://www.crn.com/reviews/networking/232400453/review-blue-jeans-8217-video-in-the-cloud.htm . November 28, 2013 . dead .
  29. Web site: BlueJeans Network brings Skype, Cisco users together . Michal Lev-Ram . March 21, 2012 . November 28, 2013 . Fortune Magazine.
  30. Web site: Cisco's Tough Sell for Videoconferencing. https://web.archive.org/web/20131122081954/http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-11-21/cisco-telepresence-undercut-by-cheaper-videoconferencing-software. dead. November 22, 2013. Ari Levy. November 21, 2013. Bloomberg Businessweek. November 28, 2013.
  31. Web site: Ben Kepes . November 28, 2013 . November 18, 2013 . Salesforce Picks BlueJeans For First Video Integration. But It's Complicated . Forbes Magazine.
  32. Web site: BlueJeans Network Named to Gartner's Cool Vendors Report for 2012. May 4, 2012. BlueJeans. 1 March 2013 .
  33. Web site: Technology Innovation Awards. The Wall Street Journal. 1 March 2013.
  34. Web site: Fifth Annual Telecom Council SPIFFY Award Winners Announced. Web Wire. 1 March 2013 .
  35. Web site: The 10 Coolest Networking Startups Of 2013 (So Far) . CRN . Kristin Bent . January 29, 2014 . July 10, 2013.
  36. Web site: Ranking the Top 10 Cloud Startups . Jeff Vance . January 29, 2014 . March 20, 2013 . . February 3, 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140203170706/http://www.cio.com/article/730460/Ranking_the_Top_10_Cloud_Startups_?page=2&taxonomyId=3024 . dead .
  37. Web site: The 21 Hottest Cloud Startups Right Now . . January 29, 2014.

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