The top 10 tech startups for 2008

Hot tech startup: Ribbit

Founded: 2006

Tech breakthrough: A multiprotocol, Class 5, soft telephony switch with a development environment for business app integration.

Business problem addressed: Integrating voice and data into business workflow

What the technology does: Ribbit's founders like to call their two-year-old startup "Silicon Valley's first phone company." But that label hardly tells the story. Ribbit is a software platform that lets developers create voice and telephony applications in a familiar Web application development environment. Once built, those applications can be linked to other Web apps, including SaaS-based CRM from Salesforce.com and other companies.

"Our premise is that cheap dial tone such as VoIP has a place, but it doesn't solve the business needs of companies to put voice-based data into the workflow," says co-founder and CEO Ted Griggs. A Salesforce.com developer, for example, used Ribbit's API to build a mashup that converts voice messages to text and then drops the data into Salesforce CRM. Users can also call into the application remotely to add information or view data. An application engine running on top of Ribbit's core APIs provides tools to enable features such as single sign-on, billing, or ordering.

How the technology works: Underlying the development environment is a soft telephony switch that allows calls to be initiated and answered on multiple devices -- including landlines, mobile phones, VOIP, or a Flash widget on a user's desktop -- and run across standard communication protocols such as SIP, Skype, Google's XMPP, and the Salesforce Connector. Ribbit's APIs are open; the switch was tested and certified by Lucent.

The Ribbit API currently delivers more than 40 methods for connecting to the Ribbit service. Developers can use scripts prepared by the company that allow quick development of functions including making calls, receiving calls, listening to, reading, recording, and sending voice messages.

Forward spin: Expect to see Ribbit go beyond sales force automation; integration with vertical applications in finance, real estate, medical, and others is on the way. The company claims that more than 4,000 developers have downloaded the APIs. It will make money through revenue-sharing deals with developers who create viable commercial applications.