Press Releases

Ipswitch, Inc. Celebrates its 15th Anniversary of Success and Profitability

Company Looks Back at a Decade and a Half of Success in Serving Small- and Medium-Sized Businesses with a Suite of Productivity Enhancing Offerings

Lexington, Massachusetts - Ipswitch, a leading developer of network management, messaging and file transfer solutions, today noted its 15th anniversary as a provider of exceptional IT solutions for a broad range of users.  Founded by CEO Roger Greene in 1991, Ipswitch has enjoyed sustained success and profitability by identifying business challenges faced by a wide range of small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and solving those problems with easy to use, effective solutions at reasonable prices.

Ipswitch is celebrating its 15th anniversary with a special, limited time offer of WS_FTP Home 2007 for $15.  WS_FTP Home is Ipswitch’s entry-level file transfer solution that is used by over 40 million people worldwide.  This one-time offer is valid today through September 30, 2006.  To take advantage of this anniversary offering, click here:  www.ipswitch.com/15years.

“Ipswitch has always been focused on breaking down barriers,” Greene said.  “SMB technology solutions must solve a business need with minimal overhead.  Small business IT staffs don’t have the time to take classes, study manuals or decipher cryptic user interfaces.  Our products and our people are committed to providing valuable, affordable and eminently usable solutions for sharing information and solving problems.”

Since its inception, Ipswitch has maintained its focus on helping meet the challenges that SMBs face.  When individuals and businesses need simple cost-effective file transfer, WS_FTP is the first product they turn to.  Network administrators, who need a fast and simple monitoring tool, turn to WhatsUp for a solution that’s more robust than low end solutions and specifically designed for their needs rather than the products the industry behemoths produce.  Businesses seeking a cost effective, secure, integrated and flexible email, messaging and calendaring system look to the IMail Server and Ipswitch Collaboration Suite (ICS) to provide an efficient and easily managed solution.

“Every dollar an SMB spends on technology is money that cannot be reinvested in the company, its core business and human capital,” Greene said.  “Time lost implementing inefficient and unnecessary technology is a distraction from the ultimate goal – driving the business forward.  In addition, many of the ‘IT Directors’ of SMBs wear other hats – such as founder, president or CFO.  When they are in the server room or on the phone with an IT vendor they can’t focus on larger business issues.”

Ipswitch has maintained this focus for 15 years.  In its earliest incarnation, Ipswitch was an internetworking software company offering high-performance software solutions, based on TCP/IP technology, to businesses and Internet Service Providers (ISPs).  The company’s first product was Catipult, a NetWare to TCP/IP gateway.  The technology offerings, and the business world around them, certainly have changed but the commitment remains to understand the challenges IT staff confront while creating and refining right-sized solutions to those challenges.

Highlights from Ipswitch’s 15 years as a profitable, private and segment-leading business include:

  • In 1991, Roger Greene establishes Ipswitch with its first product - Catipult, a NetWare to TCP/IP gateway.
  • In 1994, the company begins selling Ipswitch's IMail Server, the first software product available for sale and immediate download via Open Market, a pioneer e-commerce site.
  • In 1996, Ipswitch commercializes the popular FTP (file transfer protocol) program WS_FTP.
  • In 1997, Ipswitch commits to donating at least 5% of its profits to charitable causes.
  • Also in 1997, Ipswitch introduces WhatsUp, the first low-cost Intranet monitoring tool (May), WS_FTP Pro, the first commercial version of the popular Windows client software (June), and IMail Server 3.0 (August).
  • In 1998, Ipswitch begins global sales of its products through regional distributors.
  • In 2000, the company surpasses 1,000,000 users of its products.
  • In 2001, Greene wins the Mass High Tech All Star Award for leading Ipswitch to more than 10 years of solid growth and profitability.  Later that year, Ipswitch wins a CyberCitizenship Award, which is presented to technology companies with a commitment to community philanthropy.
  • In 2003, Ipswitch enters the instant messaging market with the release of Ipswitch Instant Messenger, while IMail surpasses the 50 million user mark, solidifying its position as one of the top three email account providers in the world.
  • In 2005, Ipswitch achieves distribution in over 50 countries.
  • In 2006, WhatsUp Professional wins the Network Monitoring Product of the Year award from TechWorld,  WS_FTP Professional earns four thumbs up from InfoWorld and IMail is awarded 4 ½ stars from Server Watch.

About Ipswitch

Ipswitch develops and markets software that works for small and mid-sized businesses worldwide. More than 100 million people use Ipswitch software every day to collaborate via Ipswitch Collaboration Suite, monitor their networks with Ipswitch WhatsUp ®, and transfer files over the Internet using the market leading Ipswitch WS_FTP ® Professional client and Ipswitch WS_FTP Server. To view the recently created Ipswitch blog visit http://blogs.ipswitch.com. Ipswitch values community involvement, visit http://icare.ipswitch.com to find out how to become involved. For product and sales information, write to or visit http://www.ipswitch.com.