Raindance Communications

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Raindance Communications was an American company that provided online meeting, web conferencing, and teleconferencing services. It was founded in April 1997 in Delaware and was headquartered in Louisville, Colorado. Its products included Raindance Meeting Edition, Raindance Seminar Edition, Raindance Web Conferencing Pro, and Raindance Reservationless Conferencing.

The company was led by Don Detampel (President and CEO), Todd Vernon (Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer), and Nicholas J. Cuccaro (Chief Financial Officer). Raindance began offering web and phone conferencing in 1999 and introduced Web Conferencing Pro after acquiring Contigo Software in 2000.

In 2001, Evoke Software changed its name to Raindance Communications following a settlement, and the company focused on web and phone conferencing while restructuring and reducing staff. Because of a short operating history and increased competition, its quarterly results fluctuated in the early 2000s, with losses and revenues varying significantly (for example, losses between $1.8 million and $12.9 million and revenues between $9.1 million and $13.9 million in the four quarters ended March 31, 2002).

In February 2006, Raindance was acquired by West Corporation of Omaha for $110 million in cash ($2.70 per share). Shareholders approved the deal in April 2006, and Raindance was folded into West’s InterCall division.

Web Conferencing Pro, originally called Collaboration, allowed hosts to share desktop applications, display slides, use a whiteboard, and tour the web. It included tools to engage participants, such as annotation, text chat, and polling, and could be branded. The product was offered in two versions: Meeting and Seminar. The Seminar version added automated event management features and a Q&A function for large groups.

In a patent dispute, WebEx sued Raindance in September 2005, and Raindance countersued in October 2005. The cases were dismissed in March 2006 with cross-licenses to each other’s patents and a $1 million payment to WebEx for past infringement. Raindance won TeleCon Awards in 2002 for Best Website and Most Effective Use in Web Conferencing.