Highlights: Last week on Philly Tech News (11/28 to 12/4 2011)



Obviously, the two biggest news items of the week were the deal between several cable companies and Verizon Wireless, which on the surface may look like a simple sale of wireless spectrum, but in fact raises a number of issues which I believe will face intense public and regulatory scrutiny; and SAP's Saturday announcement of an agreement to acquire Cloud/SaaS Human Capital Management vendor SuccessFactors for $3.4 billion. On the Veizon Wireless deal, Bernstein analyst Craig Moffett emailed the New York Times: “This is a REALLY big deal. Maybe the most significant deal the industry has ever seen. And that’s a pretty amazing thing to say for a deal where less than $4 billion changes hands.” On the SAP deal, I put together a post highlighting the views of leading enterprise software analysts on the SuccessFactors acquisition.


As TechCrunch reported, Malevern-based AboutOne raised $1.6 million in a round led by Golden Seeds and has a new partnership with Microsoft.

Dell Boomi enhanced its services with the announcement of its Cloud-Based Master Data Management Solution.

Clearwire got a major lifeline from Sprint in the form of a $1.6 billion financing deal; but it doesn't matter much to Comcast since they've gone in a different direction and will be phasing out its marketing relationship with Clearwire, though Comcast will still own a small stake in the company for now.

In Philly Tech People News, former TruePosition Inc. EVP Fred Beckly has joined New Hope-based Quepasa Corporation (myYearbook's parent) as General Counsel and Executive Vice President of Business Affairs. And Katy Theroux, a top exec with New Jersey-based standards and solutions organization GS1 US, was elected the first female Board Chairman of Philadelphia's Peirce College.



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Daily Links 12/5/2011: ReadWriteWeb names Lancaster-based appMobi its "most promising company for 2012"



Lancaster-based appMobi is ReadWriteWeb's Most Promising Company For 2012 (ReadWriteWeb)

Taleo, Kenexa Spike On SAP/Success Factors Deal; Who Is Next? (Forbes: Tech Musings)

SAP Overpaying For SuccessFactors, S&P Analyst Says (Forbes: Tech Musings)

SAP splashes out in cloud-computing frenzy (Reuters)

Kenexa's Growing HR Footprint (ZDNet Blogs)

IBM Rachets Up Acquisition Machine (Wall Street Journal: Deal Journal)

PhillyInc: Venture capital still on the upswing (Philadelphia Inquirer)

CMCSA, TWC: Stifel Ups To Buy On Wireless Deal (Barron's: Tech Trader Daily)

Comcast to start selling Verizon mobile early 2012 (Reuters)

Comcast CFO: NBCUniversal Integration Continues to Go 'Really Well' (Hollywood Reporter)

The Future of TV Begins Now on Xbox 360 (Microsoft News Center)
FiOS later this month; Comcast Xfinity On Demand in "early 2012".

Razorfish CEO to Set New Digital Course for Publicis in Wake of Lang Departure (Ad Age)
Implications for Rosetta Marketing?

Siemens amps up its smart grid bid with eMeter startup acquisition (VentureBeat)
eMeter has also been working closely with SAP on applications.

USA Technologies replaces CEO who posed as investor (Philadelphia Business Journal)



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