Featured Startup Pitch: BurstPoint Networks—transforming the scope and reach of enterprise video

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By Editor July 7, 2011

BurstPoint logo

Company: BurstPoint Networks
Website: www.burstpoint.com
Founder: Tom Racca, president and CEO
Headquarters: Westborough, Mass.
Year Founded: 2010
Employees: Fewer than 50
Company Description (in 140 characters or less): “BurstPoint, a provider of video communications solutions, helps customers leverage video to communicate with constituents anytime, anywhere.”

 

Tom Racca, BurstPoint NetworksBy Tom Racca, president and CEO, BurstPoint Networks

Product Overview

Most organizations today have not yet leveraged video to its fullest potential and still do not realize the benefits of doing so. However, with the video and telepresence industries growing exponentially, the opportunities for companies to utilize this technology are virtually limitless. Cost and complexity are two major misperceptions of enterprise video that attribute to its lack of adoption, and we have made it our mission to prove these notions false.

BurstPoint’s flagship product, the BurstPoint Video Communication Platform (VCP), is an end-to-end video content management and distribution system that allows organizations to easily and effectively take advantage of the power of video by combining the elements to create and capture, edit and publish, distribute and deliver, and consume high-definition live and stored video content into a single, integrated platform. The BurstPoint VCP is designed to support small deployments and to cost effectively scale as needed, allowing companies to reach 10 people or tens of thousands with concurrent video streams.

This past June, BurstPoint extended the content management and distribution capabilities of the BurstPoint VCP to cloud-based environments, giving customers the flexibility to distribute rich media content internally, seamlessly add content to the cloud for large-scale outreach to audiences outside of company walls, or select a combination of both delivery methods. In addition, using BurstPoint’s technology, companies can reach target audiences through a number of consumption devices, including desktops, digital signs, smartphones, iPhones, iPads, tablets and more.

This powerful combination of functionality, scalability, and flexibility is unrivaled in today’s industry and makes it easier and more cost effective than ever for companies to reach key constituents with critical communications anytime, anywhere.

Founder’s Story

BurstPoint Networks was founded on the belief that video is a robust, yet underutilized, channel for sharing critical information, and we came to market with a mission to make it easier, more efficient and more cost effective than ever for organizations across industries to harness the power of video to enhance their corporate communications strategies and to reach millions of users around the world. 

We acquired the assets, including patented technology, of a previous video communications company that was known for its innovative technology, but lack of customer service and business strategy. In September 2010, when we officially launched operations, BurstPoint had not only leveraged and enhanced this technology to provide customers with a fully integrated, scalable end-to-end enterprise software platform, but we had also already established ourselves as a well-funded, brand new company with a stellar lineup of customers and experienced management staff.

BurstPoint is headquartered in Westborough, Massachusetts, and is led by a management team with extensive expertise in enterprise video, communications, digital media and infrastructure software. Members of my team include David Bundy, CTO and VP of engineering; Terenzio Volpicelli, CFO; David Safaii, VP of marketing and business development; and Don Kugler, VP of sales.

Marketing/Promotion Strategy

To date, we have generated awareness for the company’s mission, values, and innovative strategy and technology through an integrated program that incorporates marketing services, thought leadership, and strategic analyst and media relations outreach.

Since the company launched on September 13, 2010, BurstPoint has implemented targeted public relations and marketing campaigns to communicate the company’s value, expertise, and thought leadership to reporters, analysts, customers, partners, and other key constituents. Almost a year later, BurstPoint has kept its launch momentum going and has clearly differentiated itself from other companies in the enterprise video industry. Marketing programs that have contributed to this success include email campaigns customized for each specific audience, participation in industry events, and ongoing development of sales tools and collateral ranging from company and product brochures to case studies and sales sheets.

BurstPoint sells its technology 100 percent through the channel, and we make it a priority to engage in marketing campaigns that target and include our channel partners as well – from joint webinars to attending industry events together to participation in company newsletters and blogs. We are always on the lookout for opportunities to exemplify our expertise and thought leadership as well and do so through tactics such as contributed articles and speaking engagements at industry events.

How BurstPoint Networks differentiates itself from the competition

According to figures from industry analyst firm Wintergreen Research, the worldwide market for enterprise video communications is expected to reach $14.4 billion by 2014. But until recently, the market was highly segmented and dominated by vendors offering point solutions that only address one piece of the communications puzzle, such as video conferencing systems or digital signage technology. Because of this fragmentation, organizations were forced to “cobble together” a variety of expensive point solutions in order to implement a comprehensive video communications strategy.

BurstPoint understands the limitations of these point solutions, recognizes the market demand for a comprehensive video communications platform, and has used this knowledge and insight to bring to market an innovative, scalable end-to-end video content management and distribution platform that enables organizations to create, edit, publish, manage, and distribute live or on-demand rich media content from a single solution. This comprehensive platform includes patented BurstPoint technology that enables customers to capture voice and video communications from multiple video conferencing systems. Using this technology, organizations can transform one-to-one communications to one-to-many or one-to-thousands by leveraging their existing investments in video conferencing systems to initiate live broadcasts, sync with PowerPoint slides, record content for future on-demand use—the possibilities are endless.

In addition to the ease-of-use of a single platform, the BurstPoint VCP provides customers with unrivaled scale and flexibility by enabling them to start small and grow as needed; choose whether to house video content on-premise, in the cloud, or both; and deliver video to a variety of consumption devices from PCs to smartphones to digital signs.

With BurstPoint, customers can truly customize their video communications strategies to fit their specific needs. And with our fault-tolerant, redundant platform, they can rest assure their video communications will be delivered on time to all audiences, whether 10 people or 10 million, located down the hall or around the world.

BurstPoint Networks – www.burstpoint.com