VoIP provider Dialpad has announced the acquisition of a video conferencing company, Highfive. The purpose of the purchase is to add room-based video to Dialpad’s suite of services, including computer video conferencing. Neither of the two companies released financial details of the acquisition.
Dialpad is the company that developed the popular video conferencing service UberConference. UberConference does have a built-in video conferencing feature, and this acquisition will add enhancements to their existing video capabilities. To date, UberConference is mostly known for its calling features. Dialpad not only offers its users conference call solutions and a VoIP platform, but also has a contact center solution.
As stated by Dialpad, by using Highfive technology, any home office or office space can become a smart meeting room. Best of all, this service will work with existing hardware and SIP-enabled conferencing providers.
Craig Walker, CEO of Dialpad, believes that this acquisition will give Dialpad a superior spot in the market and allow Dialpad to offer a comprehensive solution to its customers. Walker stated: “We realized we really want to double down on video – and not with a mindset of ‘hey, video as a standalone thing is going to be a big investment,’ but video, as part of business communications, has to be excellent and has to be part of a Unified-Communications-as-a Service (UCaaS) system.”
Highfive CEO Joe Manuele commented: “What’s truly exciting about this combination is the joint heritage – both companies are truly born in the cloud, running on hyperscale, global infrastructures.” Highfive will provide Dialpad with the ability to connect rooms, interact with other video services using Meeting Connector technology, and provide legacy device support with Room Connector.
Another interesting facet of this acquisition is that Highfive was the last, dedicated video service provider, and this acquisition ends the video specialist field. Manuele mentioned that the company was considering other options but decided to integrate into a larger UCaaS stack. “While we have developed a scalable, born in the cloud video solution set, it was becoming harder to compete with competitors who were offering inferior ‘free’ video services as part of a UCaaS stack,” he noted.
