Spiceworks
Encyclopedia
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 IT systems management
, 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 from Austin Ventures
.
Spiceworks received an $8M Series B funding round 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 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.
Spiceworks is written in Ruby on Rails
, and runs on Microsoft Windows
. The software discovers Windows, Unix
, Linux
and Mac OS X
machines along with other IP
-addressable devices such as routers, VOIP phones, printers, etc.
, Tivoli Software
, Apple, and NeXT
.
Development began on a network inventory and help desk
software 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 of 2006 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.
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 annual SpiceWorld in 2011, Spiceworks moved the conference to the AT&T Executive Education & Conference Center on the University of Texas campus.
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
. 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 IT systems management
Systems management
Systems management refers to enterprise-wide administration of distributed systems including computer systems. Systems management is strongly influenced by network management initiatives in telecommunications....
, inventory, and help desk
Help desk
A help desk is an information and assistance resource that troubleshoots problems with computers or similar products. Corporations often provide help desk support to their customers via a toll-free number, website and e-mail. There are also in-house help desks geared toward providing the same kind...
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 from Austin Ventures
Austin Ventures
Austin Ventures is a private equity firm focused on venture capital and growth equity investments in business services and supply chain, financial services, new media, Internet, and information services companies nationally with a focus on Texas. The firm, which is based in Austin, Texas, was...
.
Spiceworks received an $8M Series B funding round 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 led by Institutional Venture Partners
Institutional Venture Partners
Institutional Venture Partners is a US based private equity investment firm focusing on later-stage venture capital and growth equity investments. IVP is one of the oldest venture capital firms on Sand Hill Road founded by Reid W...
(IVP).
On April 28, 2011, Spiceworks closed $25 million in Series D funding from Adams Street Partners
Fund of funds
A "fund of funds" is an investment strategy of holding a portfolio of other investment funds rather than investing directly in shares, bonds or other securities. This type of investing is often referred to as multi-manager investment...
and Tenaya Capital
Tenaya Capital
Tenaya Capital is a venture capital firm with offices in Menlo Park, California, and Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1995 as Lehman Brothers Venture Partners, Tenaya spun out to become an independent firm in 2009 following Lehman's bankruptcy. To date, Tenaya has raised five funds representing...
. 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.
Spiceworks is written in Ruby on Rails
Ruby on Rails
Ruby on Rails, often shortened to Rails or RoR, is an open source web application framework for the Ruby programming language.-History:...
, and runs on Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
. The software discovers Windows, Unix
Unix
Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...
, Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
and Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
machines along with other IP
Internet Protocol
The Internet Protocol is the principal communications protocol used for relaying datagrams across an internetwork using the Internet Protocol Suite...
-addressable devices such as routers, VOIP phones, printers, etc.
History
Spiceworks was formed in January of 2006 in Austin, Texas to develop the network administration tools. The co-founders of Spiceworks have backgrounds with Motive IncMotive Inc
Motive, Inc. was a software manufacturer founded in May 1997 and headquartered in Austin, Texas....
, Tivoli Software
Tivoli Software
Tivoli Software is the service management brand of the IBM Software Group. IBM purchased Austin-based Tivoli Systems, Inc. on March 4, 1996 and allowed existing executive management to operate Tivoli as a wholly owned subsidiary in the IBM Software Group...
, Apple, and NeXT
NeXT
Next, Inc. was an American computer company headquartered in Redwood City, California, that developed and manufactured a series of computer workstations intended for the higher education and business markets...
.
Development began on a network inventory and help desk
Help desk
A help desk is an information and assistance resource that troubleshoots problems with computers or similar products. Corporations often provide help desk support to their customers via a toll-free number, website and e-mail. There are also in-house help desks geared toward providing the same kind...
software application and online community
Online community
An online community is a virtual community that exists online and whose members enable its existence through taking part in membership ritual. An online community can take the form of an information system where anyone can post content, such as a Bulletin board system or one where only a restricted...
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
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
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 of 2006 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.
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 annual SpiceWorld in 2011, Spiceworks moved the conference to the AT&T Executive Education & Conference Center on the University of Texas campus.
Awards and recognitions
- 2007 - PC MagazinePC MagazinePC Magazine is a computer magazine published by Ziff Davis Publishing Holdings Inc. A print edition was published from 1982 to January 2009...
’s Editors’ Choice award.
- 2007 - IT Solution of the Year by InnoTech Conference.
- 2008 - Spiceworks wins AlwaysOn OnMedia Top 100 Award.
- 2008 - Spiceworks selected as AO Global 250 Winner.
- 2009 - Spiceworks named InformationWeekInformationWeekInformationWeek is a weekly print magazine, an online site with corresponding face-to-face and virtual events, and research. It is headquartered in San Francisco, California and was first published in 1979 by CMP Media, later called CMP Technology. On February 29, 2008, CMP Technology was...
Startup 50 Company.
- 2009 - Spiceworks named “Top 10 B-to-B Web Site” by BtoB Magazine.
- 2010 - Spiceworks named best vertical market business content solution
- 2010 - Spiceworks wins Forrester Groundswell Award, social media award for energizing IT professionals worldwide
- 2010 - Spiceworks named a "Hot Texas Company" for 2010 by Lead411.
- 2010 - Spiceworks wins PCMag.com Best of 2010 Award.
- 2010 - Spiceworks wins six Windows IT ProWindows IT ProWindows IT Pro is a trade publication and web site owned by Penton Media serving the information needs of IT professionals in various fields including data processing, software development and programming....
Editors’ Best and Community Choice Awards.
- 2010 - Spiceworks wins WOMMY Award.
- 2010 - Spiceworks wins Forrester Groundswell Award.
- 2011 - Spiceworks wins IT Management Tool in the 2011 Techworld Awards
See also
- Comparison of help desk issue tracking softwareComparison of help desk issue tracking softwareThis article is a comparison of notable issue tracking systems used primarily for help desks and service desks rather than for bug tracking or project management.- External links :* * * * * *...
- Comparison of network monitoring systemsComparison of network monitoring systemsThis is a comparison of some notable network monitoring systems.- Legend :Product Name : The name of the software, linked to its Wikipedia article...
- System administration