After Growing 80% Last Year, Vidyo Launches VidyoWay To Connect All Conferencing Systems For Free

Video conferencing startup Vidyo has been working over the past several years to provide a software-based, interoperable service that will allow companies with various disparate video conferencing systems to communicate with one another. Now it’s making that capability available to even more businesses, with the launch of VidyoWay, which provides free, multi-vendor and multi-party video conferencing.

VidyoWay provides an easy way for users to connect their own video conferencing systems with those from industry leaders Cisco, Polycom, and Lifesize, as well as other H.323 and SIP-based room systems, Microsoft Lync clients, and mobile devices. The result is unified communications and interconnectivity without having to worry about legacy installed systems from multiple vendors.

The startup can do this because its meetings are cloud-based, which extends video conferencing beyond traditional point-to-point solutions. That also means it can provide conferencing services without having to worry about keeping a directory of video endpoints — instead users can invite each other from their own address books, and they can join from legacy systems with Vidyo’s Click-to-Connect capability.

Mobile or remote users are also able to connect through compatible mobile applications that are optimized for high-quality, multiparty video conferencing.

The main reason Vidyo is enabling this new functionality is to attract new users to its traditional VidyoConferencing system. It’s seeing VidyoWay as an on-ramp for users who haven’t yet deployed its own hardware or software in their own businesses. On that front, it’s seeing pretty incredible traction, and its growth continues to accelerate versus the competition.

CEO Ofer Shapiro told me by phone that the company had grown revenue 80 percent from 2010 through 2011, and saw revenues in the first quarter increase 90 percent year-over-year. It now has more than 1,850 customers that have deployed its hardware, as well as 25 service providers and 300 resellers globally making sales for it.

Vidyo has raised about $100 million to date, including a recent strategic investment from network equipment manufacturer Juniper Networks. Other investors include Menlo Ventures, Sevin Rosen Funds, Star Ventures, Four Rivers Group, and Rho Capital Ventures. Its headquarters are based in Hacckensack, NJ, and it has more than 225 employees in offices around the world.