How it started
Company history
The origins of Librestream date back to the late 1980s in Winnipeg, Canada, when Kerry Thacher co-founded Ubitrex Corporation with Robert Nickel, a small high-tech start-up that designed and developed a clinical information system for use in hospitals to capture patient data. The system included a hand-held device designed for use by clinicians. Subsequent to successful clinical use of this system, Ubitrex was sold in 1994 to U.S.-based Continental Healthcare Systems.
Two years later, Thacher bought back the device side of the business from Continental and formed AirWire Mobile Technologies Inc. which continued to support the substantial base of hospitals using the technology. Only a few weeks into AirWire’s operation, Symbol Technologies Inc., a large U.S.-based manufacturer of mobile devices, took notice of AirWire’s unique expertise and contracted with Airwire to create a product to help Symbol pursue the healthcare market.
In 1999, Symbol bought AirWire. Over the next few years, the team, continuing to operate out of Winnipeg, successfully designed and developed a number of mobile devices, one of which delivered Voice over IP (VoIP), a significant advancement in mobile device technology at that time. This activity led to the development of high-volume hand-held mobile expertise in Winnipeg for the first time, a capability that would later form the foundation for the creation of Librestream.
In August 2003, Thacher left Symbol, and weeks later Symbol closed its Winnipeg office. Although many of the engineers received offers from Symbol to re-locate to New York, all declined. Later in 2003, a group of eight professionals from the former Winnipeg arm of Symbol gathered to plan their next venture. In addition to Thacher, this group included Bill Gillanders, Rob McConnell, Don Freiling, Tim Braun, Kent Wotherspoon, Conway Wieler, and Chris Kavanagh.
Two things were clear: the emergence and continued growth of the Internet was certain, and there existed a tangible opportunity to develop enhanced video-handling capabilities for a next generation of hand-held devices. The group was convinced that together they could design and develop the necessary technology to allow individuals, regardless of location, the ability to collaborate in new ways. The technology would extend the boundaries of traditional videoconferencing beyond the boardroom to workplaces previously unreachable such as a manufacturing plant floor a continent away.
From Wikipedia’s article on Librestream, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2