Global Relay


Global Relay is a technology services company providing software-as-a-service electronic message archiving, instant messaging, compliance and supervision services with a focus on highly regulated industries. Global Relay is privately held and employee controlled, with no outside or venture funding.

History

Global Relay was founded in 1999 by Warren Roy, Duff Reid and Eric Parusel. The company developed one of the first cloud email archiving services for use as a records management tool in the architecture, design and construction industries. Several years later, the company realized that it had "the perfect technology for the wrong industry." The company then shifted its focus to the financial sector and began selling its archiving services to broker-dealers, investment advisors, hedge funds and banks.
As email and other electronic messages increasingly became standard methods of business communication, a new market emerged for a secure way to retain such messages for business, legal and regulatory purposes. Beginning in 2001, accounting scandals at major US corporations such as Enron, Worldcom and Arthur Andersen brought regulatory compliance issues into sharper focus, not only for financial firms but also for public companies. In the wake of the scandals, regulators such as the SEC and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, formerly, as well as the newly introduced Sarbanes-Oxley legislation, began requiring financial firms to have a system for electronic message recordkeeping and supervision — just the same as with paper records.
Global Relay built its customer base by combining technology with compliance, legal and audit/eDiscovery services. The company gained widespread adoption among banks, investment advisors, broker-dealers, hedge funds and private equity firms. In 2007, Global Relay entered into a worldwide exclusive partnership with Thomson Reuters for archiving and compliance of Thomson Reuters Messenger and Eikon.
As new message types were adopted in the financial industry, Global Relay developed the ability to capture and retain them for compliance. Public instant messaging was the first such message type, followed by Bloomberg messaging, mobile messaging, ICE Chat, CME/Pivot, and social media. Each of these integrations, as well as the company's archiving system itself, was built in-house by Global Relay's development teams.
Global Relay markets Global Relay Archive both as a compliance necessity and as a tool to boost end-user productivity. Since the company's acquisition of a mobile software firm in 2008, it has released apps for every major mobile platform, including iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry and Android — allowing users to find and retrieve their own archived messages from any location.
Global Relay's strategy for the future centers upon its transition from offering only back office tools to also providing front office communication services. Global Relay Message is the company's cloud-based enterprise platform for instant messaging and collaboration, designed to meet the regulatory requirements of the finance industry. Global Relay is also in the process of developing the next generation of its core archiving product, which will provide increased scalability and the capacity to process and index the messaging data of companies with hundreds of thousands of users.
An additional key component of Global Relay's competitive strategy is the construction of its own data centers, allowing Global Relay to own and fully control all components of its technology stack, including software, workstations, servers, data centers, and property. Global Relay's 4-megawatt west coast data center is located in North Vancouver, British Columbia and has a capacity of 200 racks or 5000 servers. It is an environmentally friendly facility that employs evaporative cooling technology to eliminate the need for mechanical air conditioning, thereby dramatically reducing electricity usage.

Business

Global Relay is a significant player in the cloud-based messaging and archiving industries. Recent articles cite its client base at over 18,000 including 22 of the world's 25 biggest banks and 61% of all US hedge funds.1,2 Revenue growth over the last five years has been rapid: Global Relay was ranked as the 197th fastest-growing software company in North America for 2012.
As data security is paramount to Global Relay's financial customer base, the company annually engages KPMG to provide independent verification of the security and reliability of its internal controls.

Services

In January 2012, Global Relay announced a five-year, $1-million commitment to become the Title Sponsor and Operator of the Global Relay Gastown Grand Prix through 2016. The Global Relay Gastown Grand Prix is a professional cycling criterium race in Vancouver, British Columbia.
In November 2012, Global Relay introduced Global Relay Bridge the Gap, a philanthropic fund to support up-and-coming Canadian cyclists. Global Relay pledged $400,000 over four years to support cyclists between the ages of 19 to 25, providing funding for coaching, travel and equipment. Five veteran professional Canadian riders are board members for Global Relay Bridge the Gap: Ryan Anderson, Andrew Pinfold, Will Routley, Svein Tuft, and Erinne Willock.