Spiceworks

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Spiceworks

SpiceWorks 5.0 on the "Dashboard" screen.
Developer(s) SpiceWorks, Inc.
Stable release 7.1 (Build 7.1.00010) (January 7, 2014 (2014-01-07)) [±]
Operating system Windows
Website Spiceworks Homepage

Spiceworks is a software development company headquartered in Austin, Texas. It was formed in early 2006 by Scott Abel, Jay Hallberg, Greg Kattawar, and Francis Sullivan to provide a Facebook-like community integrated with a free ad-supported[1] IT systems management,[2] inventory, and help desk software application designed for network administrators working in small- to mid-sized businesses and managing up to 1,000 network devices. It was funded with an initial round of $5M[3] from Austin Ventures.

Spiceworks received an $8M Series B funding round[4] from Shasta Ventures and Austin Ventures in August 2007. The company’s third round of funding was secured in January 2010 in the amount of $16 million Series C funding[5] led by Institutional Venture Partners (IVP).

On April 28, 2011, Spiceworks closed $25 million in Series D funding from Adams Street Partners and Tenaya Capital. The funding will support expansion of the Spiceworks business model to include integrated commerce within the Spiceworks social business network for IT professionals and technology vendors.[6]

Spiceworks is proprietary software written in Ruby on Rails,[7] and runs exclusively on Microsoft Windows.[8] The software discovers IP-addressable devices.[9]

History

Spiceworks was formed in January 2006 in Austin, Texas to develop network administration tools.[10] The co-founders of Spiceworks have backgrounds with Motive Inc, Tivoli Software, Apple, and NeXT.[11]

Development began on a network inventory and help desk software [12] application and online community to better assist IT managers with performing their daily tasks. The online community is a place where they can read and participate in forums discussing various IT topics, post questions, get answers, and network with other IT professionals and technology vendors.

The co-founders settled on a Google business model that would allow the software to remain free by featuring advertisements from companies offering small-to-medium business technology products and services directly within the application and community. Spiceworks Beta went live in July 2006[13] and originally hoped to sign 3,000 customers over the coming 12 months. By the end of its first year, it had 32,000 users in 60 countries.[14]

Since 2008, Spiceworks has hosted their annual user conference, "SpiceWorld," in Austin every October. From 2008-2010, the event was hosted at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in downtown Austin. For the 4th and 5th annual SpiceWorld in 2011 and 2012, Spiceworks moved the conference to the AT&T Executive Education & Conference Center on the University of Texas campus. The first SpiceWorld London took place in May 2012 in Vinopolis in London's, Bankside.

Awards and recognitions

  • 2007 - IT Solution of the Year by InnoTech Conference[16]
  • 2008 - Spiceworks wins AlwaysOn OnMedia Top 100 Award[17]
  • 2008 - Spiceworks selected as AO Global 250 Winner[18]
  • 2009 - Spiceworks named “Top 10 B-to-B Web Site” by BtoB Magazine[20]
  • 2010 - Spiceworks named best vertical market business content solution[21]
  • 2010 - Spiceworks wins Forrester Groundswell Award, social media award for energizing IT professionals worldwide[22]
  • 2010 - Spiceworks named a "Hot Texas Company" for 2010 by Lead411[23]
  • 2010 - Spiceworks wins PCMag.com Best of 2010 Award[24]
  • 2010 - Spiceworks wins six Windows IT Pro Editors’ Best and Community Choice Awards[25]
  • 2010 - Spiceworks wins WOMMY Award[26]
  • 2010 - Spiceworks wins Forrester Groundswell Award[27]
  • 2011 - Spiceworks wins IT Management Tool in the 2011 Techworld Awards[28]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Spiceworks - The First Ad-Supported Business Application
  2. ↑ Companies Tolerate Ads to Get Free - WSJ.com
  3. ↑ Spiceworks uses $5M to boost sales, marketing - Austin Business Journal
  4. ↑ Spiceworks lands $8 million series B funding round - Bain & Company:
  5. ↑ Spiceworks raises $16 million for expansion - Austin Business Journal
  6. ↑ Spiceworks Raises $25M More - Austin Startup
  7. ↑
  8. ↑
  9. ↑ How the scan works
  10. ↑ Reaching Tech Folks on Their Turf - The New York Times
  11. ↑ Q&A Wednesday with Spiceworks - AustinStartup
  12. ↑ FXF Listing of spiceworks help desk software
  13. ↑ Version History
  14. ↑ Free Spiceworks IT Management Software Deployed by More Than 5,000 Organizations in 80 Countries in First 30 Days - FindArticles
  15. ↑ Spiceworks 1.5 on PCmag.com
  16. ↑ Spiceworks named IT Solution of the Year - AllBusiness.com
  17. ↑ Spiceworks wins AlwaysOn OnMedia Top 100 Award - TMCNet
  18. ↑ Spiceworks Selected by AlwaysOn as AO Global 250 Winner - BusinessWire
  19. ↑ Spiceworks Named InformationWeek Startup 50 Company - CloudComputing.sys-con.com
  20. ↑ Spiceworks Named “Top 10 B-to-B Web Site” by BtoB Magazine - Social Media Portal
  21. ↑ Spiceworks Named Best Vertical Market Business Content Solution - BusinessWire
  22. ↑ Spiceworks wins prestigious social media award for energizing IT professionals worldwide - Fresh News
  23. ↑ Lead411 launches "Hottest Texas Companies" awards - Lead411.com
  24. ↑ Spiceworks 5.0 Named Top Networking & Communications Software of the Year - BusinessWire
  25. ↑ Spiceworks Wins Six Windows IT Pro Editors’ Best and Community Choice Awards - CompareHelpDesk
  26. ↑ Spiceworks Wins WOMMY Award for energizing users - Fresh News
  27. ↑ Winners of the 2010 Forrester Groundswell Awards (B2B) - Forrester Empowered blog
  28. ↑ Techworld 2011 Winners
  29. ↑ Spiceworks ranked No. 1 small employer by Austin American-Statesman

External links

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