Zoom

Zoom
Name	Zoom Video Communications
Type	Public company
Industry	Telecommunications
Founded	2011
Founder	Eric Yuan
Headquarters	San Jose, California
Area served	Worldwide
Products	Zoom Meetings, Zoom Phone, Zoom Rooms, Zoom Webinar
Revenue	$4.1 billion (2023)
Employees	7,800 (2023)

Zoom

Zoom is a proprietary videotelephony and online chat software platform developed by a Silicon Valley company. The platform provides videoconferencing, online meetings, chat, and mobile collaboration services used by businesses, educational institutions, governments, and non-profit organizations. It became widely adopted for remote communication, remote work, telehealth, and virtual events during the early 2020s.

History

The company was founded by Eric Yuan in 2011 after Yuan left WebEx and Cisco Systems to pursue a cloud-native meeting platform; early venture funding came from Qualcomm Ventures, Emergence Capital Partners, and Sequoia Capital. Zoom launched its core product in 2013 and expanded features through partnerships and acquisitions such as the 2017 acquisition of Keybase engineers and later purchases of companies in telephony and calendar integration. The platform's adoption accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic, coinciding with widespread remote work prompted by public health measures in countries such as the United States, Italy, and China; this surge produced rapid user growth, a high-profile initial public offering on the Nasdaq in 2019, and significant scrutiny from regulators including agencies in the United Kingdom, European Union, and Singapore.

Features

Zoom offers multi-party video meetings, cloud recording, chat, virtual backgrounds, breakout rooms, polling, and webinar hosting; integrations include calendar services from Google Workspace and Microsoft 365, single sign-on via Okta, and collaboration with hardware providers such as Poly (company) and Logitech. The platform supports features tailored for education used by institutions like Harvard University, Stanford University, and public school districts in New York City; healthcare customers use telehealth configurations compliant with standards influenced by regulations like Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (as implemented in the United States). Zoom's ecosystem includes APIs and SDKs for developers and partners such as Atlassian, Slack Technologies, and Salesforce.

Technology and Architecture

Zoom's architecture employs a software-based back-end with scalable cloud services deployed across public cloud providers including Amazon Web Services and regional data centers located in territories such as Germany and Australia; the system uses media servers for real-time audio and video, employing codecs like H.264 and Opus for compression and adaptive bitrate streaming to handle network variability. The client applications run on operating systems produced by Apple Inc. (iOS, macOS), Microsoft (Windows), and distributions based on Linux, as well as mobile platforms managed by Google LLC (Android). For interoperability, Zoom implemented SIP/H.323 gateways to connect with legacy telepresence systems from vendors like Cisco Systems and Polycom.

Security and Privacy

Zoom faced scrutiny over encryption, data routing, and privacy practices; incidents prompted technical and policy changes after advisories from organizations such as the Federal Trade Commission and security research disclosed by universities including The University of Toronto and Boston University. In response, leadership engaged firms like Deloitte and hired security executives from companies such as Facebook to reform practices, implement end-to-end encryption choices for paid users, publish a detailed security whitepaper, and obtain certifications and compliance reports aligned with standards acknowledged by auditors in California and New York State regulatory contexts. Governments and institutions including the Department of Education (United States), the German Federal Data Protection Commissioner, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government issued guidance or restrictions prompting Zoom to introduce account controls, data center region controls, and privacy settings.

Business and Financials

Zoom became a publicly traded company following its IPO on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol ZM; revenue grew substantially during the pandemic years driven by subscription sales to enterprises, small businesses, and educational institutions, and the company expanded offerings with products like Zoom Phone and Zoom Rooms to diversify revenue streams. Institutional investors including Sequoia Capital and mutual funds such as those managed by Vanguard and BlackRock hold stakes, while strategic partnerships with corporations like SAP and Siemens support enterprise deployments. Financial oversight and governance include a board with directors who have served at firms such as LinkedIn, Qualcomm, and Cisco Systems.

Reception and Impact

Zoom's rapid adoption influenced remote work practices at corporations like Twitter, Square, and Microsoft and reshaped academic instruction at institutions including Massachusetts Institute of Technology and University of California, Berkeley. Cultural phenomena—such as virtual events, remote court appearances in jurisdictions like California and New York (state), and widespread use in telemedicine—were reported in major outlets like The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. The platform's ubiquity prompted criticism regarding security and equity from civil society organizations such as Electronic Frontier Foundation and sparked legislative attention in bodies including the U.S. Congress and regional parliaments in the European Union. Overall, Zoom's influence affected technology adoption trends among vendors like Cisco Systems and Microsoft, accelerated investment in videoconferencing startups, and contributed to shifting workplace norms adopted by multinational corporations such as IBM and Accenture.

Category:Videotelephony