Madison, Wis – April 1, 2009 – Singlewire Software, LLC today announced its formation as a company to focus on building applications for the Unified Communications and physical security spaces. Singlewire Software has acquired the assets of Berbee Software, including the InformaCast® family of IP notification applications, from CDW Corporation. Singlewire Software intends to continue the enhancement of the InformaCast platform to include the integration of its notification technology into the physical security space. The company will be headquartered in Madison, Wis.
Paul Shain, former CEO of Berbee and former Senior VP at CDW, will be serving as President and Chief Executive Officer. Ken Bywaters, current Practice Manager for Berbee Software, will become Executive Vice President of Product Management. Greg Sliwicki, former President of Berbee and former VP of Sales at CDW, will become Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing. Brett Rimkus, former CFO at Berbee and former CDW Vice President of Business Development, will become Chief Financial Officer. In addition, the engineering and sales team currently supporting the applications as Berbee Software will become employees of Singlewire Software.
“These software applications have been a valuable asset to both Berbee and CDW for many years,” said Paul Shain, Singlewire CEO. “Everyone involved recognized that in order for this technology to move forward, we needed to bring increased focus to this effort. Consolidating under Singlewire Software was the best means to do this.”
Singlewire Software will develop and support innovative, IP-based voice applications centered around secure, fast, and reliable mass notification capabilities, especially during emergency situations. The suite of applications is designed to detect incidents within an organization, notify people or systems of such incidents, and activate the necessary systems to resolve the situation. Product features include enterprise-wide paging, emergency mass notification, remote detection of incidents on an IP network (i.e. activating RFID tags and IP video cameras and sending audio and text messages to IP phones and desktop workstations), and remote control of IP phones for training and support. Singlewire Software applications are presently used by over 2,000 businesses in 35 countries.
The Berbee Software engineering and sales team was originally formed under Berbee Information Networks Corporation in 1998. The mission of this application group was to create software applications for the IP or data network of an organization. InformaCast,® the flagship application written by Berbee’s application group, was used extensively as an emergency mass notification system after the September 11 terrorist attacks. The Berbee application group, operating as “Berbee Software,” along with the parent company, Berbee Information Networks Corporation, was acquired by CDW Corporation on October 11, 2006. While the Berbee application group has been acquired by Singlewire Software, all other portions of the former Berbee Information Networks Corporation remain with CDW and form the heart of CDW’s Advanced Technology Services offerings.
“The Berbee Software team will best be able to maximize the current and future potential of InformaCast and other key applications by being organized into this new company,” said John A. Edwardson, chairman and chief executive officer, CDW Corporation. “CDW will continue as a key hardware provider for Singlewire customers. We wish our friends Paul, Greg, Ken, and Brett well in this new venture.”
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