Unify Square

Unify Square Inc.
Private
Industry Software development
IT Consulting
Founded Bellevue, Washington (2008 (2008))
Founder
  • Sonu Aggarwal
Headquarters Bellevue, Washington, United States
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
  • Sonu Aggarwal (CEO)
Number of employees
approximately 100 (2015)
Website www.unifysquare.com

Unify Square is a privately held American technology solution company developing software for managing Microsoft products Microsoft Lync and Skype for Business. The company was founded in 2008 and has its headquarters in Bellevue, Washington.

History

Unify Square was founded in 2008 in Bellevue, Washington.[1] Sonu Aggarwal, the company's founder, received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT.[2] While at MIT, he developed algorithms for computer networks; he used that knowledge working for Microsoft as a developer of Live Communications Server and Office Communications Server.[3] Even before joining Microsoft, Aggarwal had co-founded Flash Communications, a communications company which was bought by Microsoft in 1998.[4]

From 2008- 2015, Unify Square offered Unified Communication (UC) solutions for Microsoft Lync 2010 and 2013. As of May 2015, when Microsoft announced its transition from Lync to Skype for Business, Unify Square also announced Skype for Business certified solutions. Unify Square was named a Microsoft IT Pro Tools provider in the same timeframe.

A funding round in February 2015, gathered $8.2 million; the round was led by Microsoft, also attracted investment by executives from IBM, Yahoo and Ariba, Facebook, Oracle and Isilon as well as from Stanford University.[3][5][6][7] In a second series of seed funding the company raised $4 million, bringing its total seed funding $12.2 million and $26.2 million overall.[1][7] The company had reached 100 employees in August 2015, 30 of those based in Bellevue and the remaining in Germany, India, Singapore, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.[4]

Products and services

Unify Square provides software and services that help enterprises succeed with Unified Communications applications such as Lync and Skype for Business[4][5]

PowerProv software offers end-to-end provisioning for Lync and Skype for Business.[8][9] When a new employee joins or leaves, or requires a change within a corporate environment, the PowerProv software automatically creates accounts and sets security settings. These functions reduce manually performed tasks as well as errors.[8][9] PowerMon is a cloud service, that performs fault detection in a business' unified communications systems and automatically sends alerts when the system does not run properly.[10] PowerView software provides analytics in usage, conferencing and adoption analytics, while PowerSat can facilitate end-user satisfaction surveys via cloud.[11][12][13][14]

Unify Square also provides consulting and remote managed services to help companies deploy and manage Skype for Business. UC RightTrack, typically a thirty-day program, helps assess and plan operations for a smooth transition to Skype for Business or to help improve legacy Lync performance.[15] The Global Voice Deployment Program assists large enterprises accelerate Skype for Business deployments and avoid risks typically associated with large scale implementation. Office 365 Cloud Transformation Service is designed specifically to help companies whose end point is to move enterprise voice to the cloud. PowerAssurance is a managed service for supporting Lync/Skype for Business 24/7/365 proactively.

Customers include Fortune 500 companies such as Microsoft, SAP and Shell as well as overseas companies Nestle, Deutsche Telekom and Unilever.[3][10][16] Microsoft is also a business partner, with Unify Square helping the development of monitoring, analytical and management tools for Skype for Business Server 2015.[3][17][18]

References

  1. 1 2 Loeb, Steven (August 11, 2015). "Enterprise communication platform Unify Square raises $4M". vator news. Retrieved September 1, 2015.
  2. Springer, Richard (March 27, 2015). "Business Briefs: Highfive Raises $32 Million in Funding". India West. Retrieved September 2, 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Hanley Frank, Blair (February 25, 2015). "Unify Square raises $8.2M, partners with Microsoft to boost tools for Lync". GeekWire. Retrieved September 1, 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 Day, Matt (August 11, 2015). "Microsoft pumps more funding into Unify Square". The Seattle Times. Retrieved September 3, 2015.
  5. 1 2 Dudley, Brier (February 25, 2015). "Microsoft invests in Bellevue's Unify Square". The Seattle Times. Retrieved September 1, 2015.
  6. Romano, Benjamin (August 14, 2015). "Seattle Roundup: Spoken Communications, Unify Square, & More". xconomy.com. Retrieved September 2, 2015.
  7. 1 2 Heles, Thierry (August 13, 2015). "Unify Square calls Stanford for series B extension". Globaluniversityventuring.com. Retrieved September 2, 2015.
  8. 1 2 Talbot, Chris (May 6, 2015). "Unify Square removes tedious manual Skype management with PowerProv tool". FierceEnterpriseCommunications. Retrieved September 2, 2015.
  9. 1 2 Pleasant, Blair (August 17, 2015). "Update on Industry News – Summer Edition". Unified Communications Strategies. Retrieved September 2, 2015.
  10. 1 2 "Deutsche Telekom picks Unify Square for UCC monitoring". telecompaper.com. February 25, 2015. Retrieved September 2, 2015.
  11. Stein, Dave (September 17, 2014). "UC Analytics: What is it? Do We Need it? Is it Ready for Prime Time?". nojitter.com. Retrieved September 2, 2015.
  12. Schultz, Beth (May 6, 2015). "Getting a Visual on Skype for Business Call Quality". nojitter.com. Retrieved September 2, 2015.
  13. "Busy signal for Microsoft Lync". Unify Square. Retrieved September 2, 2015.
  14. "Customize presence settings for Microsoft Lync". Unify Square. Retrieved September 2, 2015.
  15. Schultz, Beth (24 November 2014). "Unify Square Offers Plan for Keeping Lync on Track". No Jitter. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  16. Williams, Joseph (January 26, 2015). "Deployment Services for Lync – What Experience Tells Us". Unified Communications Services. Retrieved September 2, 2015.
  17. Mackie, Kurt (May 5, 2015). "Microsoft Releases Skype for Business Server 2015". Redmond Magazine. Retrieved September 2, 2015.
  18. Finneran, Michael (May 4, 2015). "ITPro Tools in Skype for Business To Ensure a Stellar Experience". Unified Communication Strategies. Retrieved September 3, 2015.
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