WebEx 2002 Annual Report Download - page 26

Download and view the complete annual report

Please find page 26 of the 2002 WebEx annual report below. You can navigate through the pages in the report by either clicking on the pages listed below, or by using the keyword search tool below to find specific information within the annual report.

Page out of 65

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11
  • 12
  • 13
  • 14
  • 15
  • 16
  • 17
  • 18
  • 19
  • 20
  • 21
  • 22
  • 23
  • 24
  • 25
  • 26
  • 27
  • 28
  • 29
  • 30
  • 31
  • 32
  • 33
  • 34
  • 35
  • 36
  • 37
  • 38
  • 39
  • 40
  • 41
  • 42
  • 43
  • 44
  • 45
  • 46
  • 47
  • 48
  • 49
  • 50
  • 51
  • 52
  • 53
  • 54
  • 55
  • 56
  • 57
  • 58
  • 59
  • 60
  • 61
  • 62
  • 63
  • 64
  • 65

The software underlying our services is complex, and our business and reputation could suffer if our services
fail to perform properly due to undetected errors or similar problems with our underlying software.
Complex software, such as the software underlying our services, often contains undetected errors. We may
be forced to delay commercial release of our services until problems are corrected and, in some cases, may need
to implement enhancements to correct errors that we do not detect until after deployment of our services. If we
do detect an error in our software before we introduce new versions of our services, we might have to limit our
services for an extended period of time while we resolve the problem. In addition, problems with the software
underlying our services could result in:
damage to our reputation;
damage to our efforts to build brand awareness;
loss of or delay in revenue;
delays in our loss of market acceptance of our services; and
unexpected expenses and diversion of resources to remedy errors.
If our services do not work with the many hardware and software platforms used by our customers and end-
users, our business may be harmed.
We currently serve customers and end-users that use a wide variety of constantly changing hardware and
software applications and platforms. If our services are unable to support these platforms, they may fail to gain
broad market acceptance, which would cause our operating results to suffer. Our success depends on our ability
to deliver our services to multiple platforms and existing, or legacy, systems and to modify our services and
underlying technology as new versions of applications are introduced. In addition, the success of our services
depends on our ability to anticipate and support new standards, especially web standards.
We license third-party technologies, and if we cannot continue to license these or alternate technologies in a
timely manner and on commercially reasonable terms, our business could suffer.
We intend to continue to license technologies from third parties, including applications used in our research
and development activities and technology, which is integrated into our services. For example, we license real-
time database replication software and font rendering technology. These third-party technologies, and any that
we may utilize in the future, may not continue to be available to us on commercially reasonable terms. In
addition, we may fail to successfully integrate any licensed technology into our services. This in turn could harm
our business and operating results.
Our recent growth has placed a strain on our infrastructure and resources, and if we fail to manage our future
growth to meet customer and distribution partner requirements, our business could suffer.
We have experienced a period of rapid expansion in our personnel, facilities, and infrastructure that has
placed a significant strain on our resources. For example, our personnel increased from 497 employees at
December 31, 2001 to 639 at December 31, 2002, and we expect continued increases in our personnel in 2003.
Our expansion has placed, and we expect that it will continue to place, a significant strain on our management,
operational and financial resources. Any failure by us to manage our growth effectively could disrupt our
operations or delay execution of our business plan and could consequently harm our business.
If we lose the services of Subrah S. Iyar, our Chief Executive Officer, or Min Zhu, our President and Chief
Technical Officer, our business may be harmed.
Our success will depend on our senior executives. In particular, the loss of the services of our Chief
Executive Officer and co-founder, Subrah S. Iyar, or our President, Chief Technical Officer and co-founder, Min
Zhu, would harm our business. We do not have long-term employment agreements with or life insurance policies
on any of our senior management.
22