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By Carolyn Duffy Marsan 04/23/01
Among the crowded field of peer-to-peer networking
start-ups, Groove Networks has a
leg up, thanks to its leader, Ray Ozzie, creator of the popular Lotus Notes
groupware application. Ozzie has attracted a stellar development team and
big-name investors such as former Lotus chief Mitch Kapor and venture
capitalist Jim Breyer, who sit on Groove's board of directors.
Groove operated in stealth mode for three years prior to
its launch last fall. Company founders considered the collaborative software
platform so sensitive they wouldn't even tell potential employees what it
was until after they signed on with the company.
Last month, Groove began shipping a commercial version
of its Groove Transceiver software, which financial services firms and
pharmaceutical manufacturers are using to communicate with customers, partners
and suppliers over the Web. Groove's marketing strategy mimics that for
Lotus Notes, with many sales through partners with vertical industry expertise.
So far, Groove has signed up 140 development partners.
One of the biggest users of Groove Transceiver is Groove
itself - 200 employees are using the software to send instant messages, host
instant meetings, filter e-mail and conduct online discussions. Nonetheless,
Groove engineers continue to interact using an early peer-to-peer technology:
massive whiteboards that hang in virtually every room of company headquarters
in an old shoe factory outside Boston.
Recent Network World articles about Groove
Groove Networks The name: |
Conceived over beers by company founders. However, all puns based on the word groove are outlawed in marketing material.
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