"They Have Spoken"

The title of my blog, “they speak” comes from the company name (Parlano, Italian for “they speak”) and explained in my first blog.  The name implies very precisely the way in which our customers use the MindAlign technology – in large group chat sessions that persist over long periods of time.

Well, those same customers have always asked about our future.  What plans do we have to take the company public or merge with another entity?  Our response has always been that we will remain focused on our core strengths in “persistent group chat” and embrace other technologies to leverage one’s communication and collaboration environment to its fullest.  The rest, as they say, takes care of itself.

In creating the successful market presence and many mission critical deployments we have at some of the largest and most complex financial services firms in the world, our message has resonated well beyond the walls of Parlano’s offices in Chicago, London and New York.  In fact, the message has resonated as far as the west coast, to the shores of Washington State, and the Microsoft offices in Redmond.  Today, I’m pleased to announce that Parlano has signed a definitive agreement to be acquired by Microsoft.  Both parties intend for the transaction to close early in Q4.  This is a very exciting and proud moment for all Parlano employees, and should be an equally exciting outcome for all our loyal customers.  MindAlign will soon become a core part of the Microsoft Office Communications Server (OCS) platform and be available to tens of millions of desktops worldwide.

Microsoft’s Gurdeep Singh-Pall, had these words to say about the acquisition:

“The acquisition of Parlano and the integration of its leading group chat application will advance Microsoft’s vision to use the power of software to deliver the most complete unified communications experience.”

Of course we share that view and are excited to see MindAlign become an enormous commercial reality and success.  Microsoft is soon to inherit a team of talented and passionate professionals who really understand the value of group chat.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t take this opportunity to congratulate not only the current Parlano team who have worked so hard since May 2003, but those from our past who helped shape the vision and mission of this firm.  From that small but powerful team of developers at Swiss Bank (now UBS) who had the vision, to the original contributors at Parlano in March of 2000, everyone played a significant role in achieving this milestone today, and I’m personally grateful for their contributions. 

Now our vision will live on within the world’s largest and most successful software company, ever, Microsoft.  Soon, millions upon millions will continue to “speak” just like we at Parlano have for the past 7+ years.  Many more will now listen and be heard, when they speak.