CloudNine eDiscovery Product Line Purchase FAQ
March 2018
1. Transaction Overview
1.1 What is the purpose of the product line purchase?
“CloudNine is excited to carry on the LexisNexis® eDiscovery product suite and continue providing vital services to existing and new customers. This acquisition allows us to invest in the product suite, delivering enhanced capabilities to our customers through a robust, automated eDiscovery product platform,” shared Brad Jenkins, CEO of CloudNine. “The ability to offer a hybrid of both on-premise and off-premise software coupled with our automated software allows us to support customer needs regardless of their eDiscovery task, security, and cost requirements. As a user of many of the purchased product line offerings for more than a decade, we understand their utility and potential. CloudNine plans to invest heavily in improving the support and development for these offerings and we look forward to integrating them into our product portfolio.”
1.2 Why did LexisNexis decide to sell the eDiscovery products and what does it mean for customers?
“In CloudNine we have found a trusted partner who will drive technology, service, and support advancements in this eDiscovery suite, while delivering the highest levels of service and support to our customers,” shared Alex Watson, Chief Operating Officer at LexisNexis Legal & Professional. “CloudNine is committed to investing in customer-driven innovation that will deliver next-generation eDiscovery solutions to the industry. At LexisNexis, we’re focused on supporting the data-driven lawyer of the future. We’re creating leading-edge information and analytics solutions by harnessing our big data and artificial intelligence capabilities. Our goal is to help customers work more efficiently, make more informed decisions and drive success for their clients, practice and business.”
1.3 Why does the product line purchase make sense for CloudNine?
As a discovery automation company focused on integrating and automating both data discovery tasks and legal discovery tasks in both off-premise and on-premise environments, the purchase of eDiscovery software products from LexisNexis allows CloudNine to immediately begin to serve the on-premise segment with a portfolio of proven and performing products. The purchase also provides CloudNine the technology that should enable it to deliver fully integrated and automated solutions that can address off-premise requirements, on-premise requirements and combined on/off-premise (hybrid) requirements through one technology provider. This integrated approach should simplify the conduct of discovery for legal and information technology professionals and also simplify the business of discovery by allowing customers to be supported across all requirements from one provider.
Additionally, as a long-term user of the products being purchased, CloudNine has a deep understanding of the benefits of the products from an end-user perspective. This understanding coupled with a long-term business and technical support relationship based on product usage gives CloudNine a unique knowledge of the benefits and opportunities provided by the product line purchase.
1.4 Why does the product line purchase make sense for customers?
For customers currently using LAW Pre-Discovery, EDA, and Concordance products, the acquisition of these products by CloudNine means that these products will be enhanced and supported by an innovative company with a proven development capability and an unyielding commitment to improving customer satisfaction. This will not only protect current customer investment in these products, but also provide customers with improved features and enhancements that will allow them to continue to meet expanding eDiscovery challenges. Additionally, the purchase will give customers immediate access to CloudNine’s SaaS-delivered eDiscovery Platform, allowing them to augment their on-premise eDiscovery efforts with one of the industry’s leading self-service cloud-based eDiscovery platforms.
For customers who currently use the SaaS-delivered CloudNine eDiscovery Platform, the purchase of LAW Pre-Discovery, EDA, and Concordance products gives these customers new tools to address eDiscovery tasks that may best be accomplished on-premise based on complexity, capability and security requirements.
1.5 What does the product line purchase mean for CloudNine partners?
CloudNine partners will benefit from the purchase as it will give them additional access to proven eDiscovery offerings that will see significant investment in development, service, and support.
For partners using and reselling CloudNine’s off-premise offerings, they will soon have the ability to extend their portfolio reach to customers who want an on-premise solution.
For Litigation Service Provider partners previously only using or reselling LAW Pre-Discovery, EDA, and Concordance products as a service, they will have access to use and resell one of the leading cloud-based self-service eDiscovery platforms, the CloudNine eDiscovery Platform, extending their access to off-premise segments.
1.6 What is CloudNine’s plan for the use of the purchased product lines?
CloudNine plans to invest significant resources in the support, development, enhancement, and availability of LAW Pre-Discovery, Concordance, and EDA offerings by offering them as solutions available as part of the CloudNine portfolio of offerings. These offerings will provide the on-premise solutions that will extend the data and legal discovery capability of CloudNine beyond the cloud.
Near-term plans include working with customers to introduce them to a full set of on-premise and off-premise offerings now available from one provider, CloudNine.
Short-term plans include the technology integration of on-premise and off-premise offerings to support client needs through the development of connectors using CloudNine’s Outpost technology, to automate and accelerate data transfer.
Other plans include the appropriate integration of on-premise systems directly with CloudNine off-premise technology. Enhancements to the combined portfolio of on-premise and off-premise offerings include the technical integration and automation of emerging technologies including artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technologies such as predictive coding in support of Technology Assisted Review (TAR).
All plans at this time include dedicating significant resources to increased levels of support, development, and enhancement for the EDA, LAW Pre-Discovery, and Concordance offerings.
1.7 What is the high-level timeline for the integration of CloudNine and purchased eDiscovery product lines from LexisNexis?
Public Announcement of the Product Line Purchase
Announcement of the product line purchase externally to media, analysts, and initiation of communications to all customers.
Workforce/Organizational Integration – 2Q18
Addition of on-premise team (employees) to the CloudNine organization. The combined organization will operate under the leadership of the CloudNine executive team with dedicated but initially separate off-premise and on-premise sales and support teams. Shared services (e.g., finance, administration, human resources, and IT) will be managed by the CloudNine executive team but decentralized as appropriate to support offices in Houston, TX, (Headquarters), Raleigh, NC (On-Premise Support and Development), and Dayton, OH (On-Premise Development).
Offering Availability – 2Q18
The CloudNine offering portfolio will expand on announcement of the product line purchase and will include the following software-centric offerings:
On-Premise
+ LAW Pre-Discovery
+ Concordance
+ EDA
Off-Premise
+ Collection and Preservation
+ Legal Hold Notifications
+ CloudNine Discovery Platform
+ Outpost for Relativity
These services will continue to be augmented by training services and professional services to support both on-premise or off-premise offerings.
Offering Integration (Concordance to CloudNine via Outpost) 2Q18
The initial integration development effort is planned for release in 2Q 2018 and will consist of the ability of Outpost to move data directly from Concordance into the CloudNine eDiscovery Platform.
Offering Integration (LAW Pre-Discovery to CloudNine via Outpost) 2Q18
The first LAW Pre-Discovery integration development effort is planned for release in 2Q 2018 and will consist of the ability of Outpost to move data directly from LAW Pre-Discovery into the CloudNine eDiscovery Platform.
1.8 Who is Peak Rock Capital?
Peak Rock Capital is a leading middle-market investment firm that makes investments in strong middle market companies in North America and Europe. Peak Rock’s principals have extensive experience working with businesses in the technology and software industries. Peak Rock’s investment alongside CloudNine significantly improves the financial position of the company and will allow for increased levels of investment in product development and enhancement, service, and support. For further information about Peak Rock Capital, please visit www.peakrockcapital.com.
2. Operational Questions
2.1 Will the LAW Pre-Discovery, Concordance, and EDA products continue to be supported and developed by CloudNine?
Yes. CloudNine plans to enhance the support and development of the acquired product lines with significant investment. CloudNine is committed to making your experience as a customer substantially better. Product development, enhancement, and support will be centrally led by the CloudNine CTO, Bill David.
2.2 What procedures will change in requests for training, support, and billing for the on-premise offerings upon completion of CloudNine’s purchase of on-premise product lines?
Current procedures for all business and support requests will remain in effect until customers are notified by their account managers of changes in procedures or contact. Initial plans are for the on-premise team to operate just as they have during their tenure with the LexisNexis eDiscovery organization. Over time customers can expect a controlled migration of systems and contacts into a consolidated business and support organization. However, all changes will be proactively communicated to customers to ensure business and executional continuity.
2.3 What pricing and contractual elements will change upon completion of CloudNine’s purchase of on-premise product lines?
Current pricing schedules and contractual agreements will remain in effect. Over time CloudNine plans to offer favorable terms including access to off-premise offerings for current on-premise customers. Pricing and contractual communications will be shared directly at the appropriate times to customers by assigned account managers.
3. CloudNine and its Growth Plans
3.1 Who is CloudNine?
CloudNine is a discovery automation technology company with deep expertise in the analysis, processing, production, and review of electronically stored information. The company’s core focus is to simplify the tasks associated with data discovery and legal discovery by helping organizations translate data discovery into data insight and legal discovery into legal intelligence.
The company was founded in 2002 as a regional litigation support company based in Houston, Texas.
Between 2002 and 2014 CloudNine successfully delivered to law firms and corporations a full portfolio of eDiscovery services primarily supported by technology available through resell or licensing agreements from the legal technology ecosystem. Based on its success in litigation support and eDiscovery service delivery, CloudNine assessed the legal technology industry, the eDiscovery technology ecosystem, and specific requirements of its customer base to determine the need for the development of a platform that simplified the expertise needed and reduced the number of individuals required for the conduct of eDiscovery projects. This assessment led CloudNine to develop a simplified eDiscovery automation platform that was released in 2014.
CloudNine was previously positioned as a technology company that developed an easy-to-use SaaS-enabled data discovery platform that large corporations, large law firms, and governments use to automate the analysis, collection, processing, and review of data for litigation, investigations, governance, and compliance. With the purchase of on-premise software products and expertise including the proven LAW Pre-Discovery, Concordance, ad EDA offerings, CloudNine looks to extend it is integration and automation capability beyond the cloud and into on-premise environments.
3.2 What is the positioning of the entire portfolio of CloudNine’s software offerings?
CloudNine seeks to help legal and information technology professionals solve data and legal discovery challenges by simplifying discovery across eight core discovery-related tasks that include:
- Data Discovery: Interrogation, Indexing, Preservation, Collection
- Legal Discovery: Ingestion, Processing, Review, Production
With the current CloudNine portfolio (on-premise and off-premise offerings), CloudNine can provide support with proprietary technology for the accomplishment of six of eight of the combined data and legal discovery tasks. Those tasks include:
- Data Discovery: Preservation, Collection
- Legal Discovery: Ingestion, Processing, Review, Production
From these proprietary technology-driven tasks, CloudNine can accomplish them in two different user environments. Those environments being off-premise and on-premise.
- On-Premise: Ingestion, Processing, Review, Production
- Off-Premise: Preservation, Collection, Ingestion, Processing, Review, Production
The on-premise capability of CloudNine will allow strong competitive positioning in the following situations:
- High Volume Processing Requirements
- Complex Data Processing Requirements
- High-Security Requirements (Behind the Firewall, Cross-Border Constraints)
- Organizational Standardization on LAW Pre-Discovery, Concordance, and EDA Products
The off-premise capability of CloudNine will allow strong competitive positioning in the following situations:
- Speed of Initiation/Access Requirement
- Simplicity of Implementation and Use Requirement
- Non-Public Cloud Security Requirements (Private, Protected Cloud Environment)
- Requirement for Supporting Professional Services
Additionally, with the connector interoperability (Outpost for Concordance and Law Pre-Discovery), CloudNine will be able to offer hybrid offerings of off-premise and on-premise solutions that allow for the automation of core discovery tasks across platforms and deployment environments.
4. Product Line Purchase Communications
All customer or potential customer requests for product and purchase information can be addressed through current account managers or by contacting CloudNine at 713-462-3885, info@cloudnine.com, or cloudnine.com.
All media or analyst (financial and industry) requests for comment or information can be directed to Daniel Yunger or Cathryn Vaulman of KEKST (212-521-4800).