SignalWire: An enterprise tested, developer approved technology for modern communications applications

Over the past 15 years, SignalWire's team has developed the number one open-source communications platform in the world, FreeSWITCH. No one knows more about software-defined telecom than SignalWire does. No one is more committed to the success of its customers and community.

The company is a global leader in software-defined telecommunications technology. Recently, the company raised $30 million in a Series B round to accelerate the creation of the next generation of unified cloud communications tools. Led by Prosperity7 Ventures, and joined by Storm Ventures, Samsung NEXT, Jerry Yang (AME Cloud Ventures), and Dean Drako (Barracuda Networks), the round brings SignalWire’s total funding to $41.6 million to date.

Since its inception, SignalWire’s singular focus has been on the democratization of communications applications, and it is now building the infrastructure for Telecom 2.0, the next generation of modern telecommunications technologies. The company’s Series B round will be used to ramp up the development of a complete, flat, and unified development layer and cloud platform upon which the next generation of communications applications are built.

With a focus on ease of integration of multi-channel infrastructure including voice, video, and messaging, SignalWire’s core technology allows developers to seamlessly integrate APIs and SDKs into products that consume fewer engineering, bandwidth, and processing resources. With the increasing importance of video-based communications, SignalWire’s expertise in the integration of Multipoint Control Unit architecture into elastic cloud infrastructure positions the company to continue to lead in a future populated by end-users with a diverse array of use cases, access to networks, and devices.

“The pandemic has brought into sharp relief the need for communications technologies that are scalable, secure, customizable, and fast-to-market for developers. For end-users, and especially those using video, the experience needs to be smooth, stable, clear, and not a drain on network or compute resources” said Anthony Minnesale, Co-Founder and CEO of SignalWire. “The good news is that we’ve been working toward that exact vision for more than 15 years, and have designed the roadmap for its further implementation.”

Adapting with Times

SignalWire’s mission is to empower developers to build whatever they can imagine utilizing software-defined telecom capabilities. Whether it’s a product, service, application, or enterprise communication tool, SignalWire wants developers to focus on their ideas instead of worrying about developing, scaling, maintaining, and of course, overpaying for complex communications technology and services. SignalWire is made up of a fully distributed team of 70 employees from 16 different states and 12 different countries and uses their virtual office, SignalWire Work, to operate and collaborate on a daily basis.

SignalWire was not satisfied with the other tools that were available so they built their own ‘Work from Anywhere’ solution: a Virtual Office that operates as their official full-time office. Employees log in to their virtual office on a daily basis. Each team has its own room to hold meetings in and to act as a collaborative space to get work done together. Each room has a permanent link so it is easy for the entire company to access one another. Some employees even choose to have their own personal offices to meet with clients or to make themselves available for impromptu discussions. Some teams schedule specific times to meet for scrums while others just pop into a room when a problem arises so it can be solved efficiently.

From the home screen of the virtual office, employees can see a preview of all the active rooms available to them and travel in and out of them as easily as they could walk down the hallway of a real office. Meetings can be held quickly and organically; there is no need to waste time creating specific meeting rooms with temporary links and invites.

SignalWire uses machine learning to remove background noise, detect poor network conditions to automatically save bandwidth, and texts or calls users when someone enters a waiting room.

If a team needs to review a video or create a live stream, they can share it with co-workers directly from the room. SignalWire Work even has its own special version of a reaction GIF that is perfect for punctuating moments or getting that office laugh.

SignalWire Work utilizes Multiple Control Units to compile each participant’s audio and video and sends it back as one stream. This means that each participant can interact with each other in real-time with no awkward delays or audio clippings. Higher quality audio and video with less CPU utilization and network bandwidth means that participants can communicate naturally without those awkward pauses or audio silences when users talk over each other.

These natural conversations battle "zoom fatigue" and makes it comfortable to spend the workday online. It’s easy for SignalWire employees to communicate with team members and clients in the same way it is face to face. Effective communication also increases their employee morale as they are able to have casual conversations and team building moments that makes the workday interesting and gets everyone excited about being a part of the team.

Anthony Minessale, CEO

Creator of FreeSWITCH and a pioneer in the advanced communications industry. At SignalWire, Anthony is now bringing his vision of the next generation of communications to the mainstream and working together with some of the great minds and personalities of the industry.