Philly Tech People News 7/31/2011

EX-COMCAST SVP OF USER EXPERIENCE AND PRODUCT DESIGN, GERARD KUNKEL, JOINS MICROSOFT
--Will Serve as Media Strategy Advisor to Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business
(InteractiveTV Today)

Licata Rejoins Greenblatt at NBC Entertainment as EVP, Communications
Former Showtime Exec Joins In Newly Created Position
(Multichannel News)

SAP Appoints Industry Veteran Kevin Nix to Lead Line of Business OnDemand Solutions (PR Newswire)

Digitas/Razorfish Health Promotes Pair to Global Co-Presidents (Mediabistro: AgencySpy)

AT&T Names New Wireless Network Lead in Philadelphia (PR Newswire)

Seasoned Healthcare Communications Professional Joins Precyse Executive Leadership Team (PR Newswire)

MTI Names Kyu Om Vice President, Business Development (Business Wire)

Healthcare Data Solutions Announces New Director of Compliance Solutions (PR Web)

InterComponentWare CFO Rob Longo Hired as CFO/COO of Totem (PR Web)

Alteryx Names George Mathew as President and COO (PR Newswire)



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Easing shift from paper to computer
Delaware is the national leader in push to electronic medical records - thanks to Beth Schindele and staff.
(Philadelphia Inquirer)


The Long Reach of Oracle’s Larry Ellison (All Things Digital)

SAP And Oracle Battle, Customers Avoid Choosing Sides (Information Week)

Why Amazon Should Buy Hulu (Read Write Web)


Quality Systems, QlikTech earnings reports

What are probably the two hottest publicly traded tech companies with a major presence in the Philadelphia area announced quarterly results yesterday.

Quality Systems, Inc. is not actually based here, but in Irvine, CA, though virtually all of its revenue generating business comes out of its Horsham-based NextGen Healthcare unit. NextGen provides electronic health record (EHR) systems to health practices and hospitals, though it has historically gotten most of its business from smaller practices. It has benefitted from the up to $19 billion in subsidies offered through the HITECH Act (part of the stimulus package) that go to physicians who convert to electronic records and achieve what the government defines as "Meaningful Use".

In its Q1 2012 results reported yesterday, Quality Systems announced its first $100 million quarter, as revenue grew 21% and net income increased 57%, beating estimates. The company also announced that its Board had approved a two-for-one stock split. Quality Systems is now trading at $89.30, giving it a market value of $2.6 billion.

The other significant announcement yesterday is that Quality Systems' President (and former NextGen President), Patrick B. Cline, is retiring at the end of the year. Cline, who is a fairly young guy, said during NextGen's conference call that his only plans for now were to spend more time with his family, although he might consider taking on something else in the future. Cline co-founded Clinitec, based in Horsham, in 1994; it was acquired by Quality Systems two years later and became the foundation of NextGen Healthcare. Cline is widely respected in the industry. No successor has been named.

QlikTech, the Radnor-based in-memory Business Intelligence vendor that did its IPO a year ago, announced that revenue grew 45% in its second quarter to $74 million. The company posted a small GAAP loss (and a tiny non-GAAP profit) as it continued to push the accelerator down to achieve growth. Headcount is now at 967, up 49% from a year ago, of which over 100 are based in Radnor, a company spokeperson says. (QlikTech was started in Sweeden before moving its headquarters here).

QlikTech now has 21,000 customers, up from 15,000 a year ago, and is seeing more deals in excess of $100,000, from both new and existing customers. As it moves more into the core of the enterprise, QlikTech has needed to enhance its higher level sales resources. It announced yesterday that it had named Joe DiBartolomeo as President of the Americas. DiBartolomeo was a long-time Oracle exec who most recently was heading a unit at Dun & Bradstreet.

QlikTech raised its revenue guidance for 2011; it now expects revenue in excess of $300 million. However, QlikTech also raised its full year operating expense outlook. While it is aggressively spending and expanding to go after the large market opportunity it sees, there are certainly some analysts who have concerns about the expense growth rate and think that maybe a $300 million software company ought to be showing a little more profit.

QlikTech is now trading at over $30, up about 5% on the day, and its market value is $2.45 billion.



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How people watch Hulu, Netflix (Nielsen)

Data recently released by Nielsen show starkly the differences in how people use Netflix versus how they use Hulu. Probably not a big surprise to people, but interesting nonetheless.

An overwhelming majority of Hulu viewers watch it directly on a computer, while less than half of Netflix viewers do. Also, notably, a whole lot more Neflix users connect via Wii, PS3 or Xbox Live.




Hulu users watch mostly TV shows, while Netflix viewers watch more movies.




Source: Nielsen Blog.


Judge threatens to hold up Comcast-NBCUniversal antitrust settlement

Judge Threatens to Hold up Comcast-NBCUniversal Merger Approval (Hollywood Reporter)

Actually, Federal Judge Richard Leon is threatening to hold up court approval of the antitrust
settlement that allowed the merger to go forward. His primary concern is that content producers can't appeal the outcome of binding arbitration with Comcast. At first glance, this may force some
minor modifications if necesaary, but probably won't be too big a deal.


Daily Links 7/28/2011: Quality Systems posts strong results; President Patrick Cline to retire

Quality Systems, Inc. Reports Record Fiscal 2012 First Quarter Results; Board Approves 2:1 Stock Split; and President Patrick B. Cline Plans to Retire (Business Wire)
Net income up 57% on revenue growth of 21%. Quality Systems' primary business is NextGen Healthcare of Horsham.

QlikTech Announces Second Quarter 2011 Financial Results (Business Wire)
Revenue up 45%, small GAAP loss; new President of the Americas named.

SunGard Announces Second Quarter 2011 Results (Business Wire)

Pac-12 to Kick Off Home-Grown TV Unit National network and six RSNs will launch in 2012 (Ad Week)
Comcast one of the cable systems it will launch on.

Comcast To FCC: We’re Complying With Merger Rules—Bloomberg’s Playing Games (paidContent)

Sharpton’s Push for Comcast Raises Issues About Possible MSNBC Job (New York Times)

Amazon Inks Deal With NBCUniversal To Stream 1,000 Movies & TV Shows (Mashable)

Kagan: Cable Subs Dip as Multichannel Subs Rise
Report says overall growth came despite increasing online video competition and weak housing market
(Broadcasting & Cable)

CEO Geoff Cook: Why We Sold myYearbook (paidContent)

Heartland Payment Systems Reports 35% Increase in Second Quarter Adjusted Earnings Per Share (Business Wire)

SAP, Rent-a-Center in Battle Over Millions in Fees (PC World)

Clearwire's Future Unclear at Sprint (Light Reading Mobile)

DCED: New Round of Investments Spurs Creation and Application of New Technology Industries in Pennsylvania (PA DCED Press Release)



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Daily Links 7/27/2011: paidContent profiles Philadelphia newspaper owner Randall Smith

Safeguard Scientifics Announces Second Quarter 2011 Financial Results (Business Wire)


Jim Snabe, co-CEO SAP explains current business drivers (ZDNet Blogs)

SAP Co-CEO McDermott Talks up HANA, Mobility and SaaS (PC World)

Google and SAP Team-Up to Help You Visualize Big Data (ReadWriteWeb)

InterDigital Announces Second Quarter 2011 Financial Results (Business Wire)

Huawei 'puzzled' at InterDigital patent complaint (CNET News)

Who Is Randall Smith And Why Is He Buying Up Newspaper Companies? (paidContent)
About the mysterious character whose company controls Philadelphia Media Network and Journal Register (a Wharton MBA by the way); will Journal Register CEO John Paton have a new job soon?

Founder Office Hours With Chris Dixon And Josh Kopelman: Schedit (TechCrunch)

Gamma Basics Launches grayCAD, Groundbreaking New Medical Radiation Safety Software (PR Web)
Backed by Bentley family interests.

VITA Products Launches Innovative Contactless Payment Program (Business Wire)

The Pros and Cons of Moving Your Business Into the Cloud (Mashable)
Interviews Chris Cera, CTO for Philly-based Vuzit.

Comcast, Level 3 Still At Impasse Over Internet Connection Fees
Level 3 CEO Crowe: 'Huge Battle' With MSO Over Terms of Traffic Exchange
(Multichannel News)

Quality Systems Leverages Fed Stimulus In Health IT (Investor's Business Daily)
Quality Systems' primary business, NextGen Healthcare, is based in Horsham.

Beige Book: Third District-Philadelphia, July 27, 2011 (Federal Reserve Board)



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Philly Tech News "Young Companies to Watch"



Young

Companies

To Watch



This is my somewhat objective, somewhat subjective, imperfect ranking of Philly area startups in terms of their potential, which is normally on the right sidebar. I use financial data when available, and other metrics that are indications of market acceptance. Also considered are factors such the background of founders, quality of investors, amount of investment (though not always a good indicator), the quality of their proprietary intellectual property, and industry recognition. Not interested in revenue for its own sake, but rather the potential for profitability, competitive advantage and market value.


I've found this has generally been a good representative sample, although I've probably completely missed the boat on a few and certainly some other companies should be on the list that aren't. Startups are funny; some take off like rockets almost from the beginning, while others lie fallow for several years before suddenly finding traction.


These are all privately held companies, or companies which are less than 50% owned by a public corporation. The order in which they are listed is not meant to be a precise ranking, but a general indicator of their potential market value. All these companies rely on information technologies for their core offerings, and have headquarters or co-headquarters in the Greater Philadelphia area. The rankings tend to emphasize product-oriented ventures over agencies or consultancies. I update them regularly based upon new information. Four of these companies have been acquired in the last month.



Octagon Research Solutions (Wayne) Life Sciences clinical data management systems company recently announced it was adding 100 employees.

myYearbook (New Hope) Teen-oriented social networking site says it has $30 million annual revenue run rate. Acquisition announced by Quepasa for $100 million in stock and cash (mostly stock) on July 20. Backed by First Round Capital among others.

Portico Systems (Blue Bell) Provider Management solutions for Healthcare payers, recently acquired by McKesson for $90 million; backed by Safeguard Scientifics and Edison Ventures.

AppLabs (Philadelphia, Hyderabad, and London) Though most of its employees are elsewhere, AppLabs is a huge player in the applications software testing business.

InstaMed (Philadelphia) Though very different from Portico, another company focused on processing medical payments.

iPipeline (Exton) SaaS applications for marketing and CRM in the insurance industry.

StarCite (Philadelphia) Corporate event management site is 36% owned by Internet Capital Group. After a period a rapid growth, experienced declining revenue and losses over the past three years, although ICG claims there is "vibrant growth" in 2011 (though it doesn't cite financial figures). Starcite has reportedly hired an advisor to seek new investors or possibly sell the company. Underscoring its dilemna, competitor Cvent just raised $136 million.

ISGN (Bensalem) Mortgage processing and management systems; started building up around time housing bubble burst, but expanded through acquisition and has apparently done allright; raised $25 million from New Enterprise Associates and others in 2007.

Quintiq (Radnor & The Netherlands) Supply chain software vendor just sold reported 48% stake to LLR Partners and NewSpring Capital; says its revenue was $48 million last year, with 40% growth.

Neat Company (Philadelphia) Digital scanning and filing solutions. Much more of a software company than a hardware company.

SevOne (Wilmington) Sophisticated network performance management tools; Comcast was an early customer.

AWeber (Huntingdon Valley) A leader in the hot email marketing management software market for small businesses.

appMobi (Lancaster) appMobi has made waves with its mobile apps development platform. Grew out of Internet-based music service FlyTunes.

LifeShield Security (Yardley) Originally named Ingrid Home Security, IP-based home security system vendor has raised more than $30 million (just closed $8 million round) and is headed by former Nutrisystem CEO Michael Hagan; will they need a bigger partner?

Fiberlink Communications (Blue Bell) Offers cloud-based SaaS app for mobile device security (MaaS360), recently named to AlwaysOn Mobile 100 though I haven't seen any recent financial data for them.

NextDocs (King of Prussia) Uses Microsoft SharePoint to deliver Life Sciences document management solutions software; says it has 85 employees and revenue will be over $10 million this year.

Evolve IP (Wayne) Raised $16 million in 2008 and another $9 million in 2010; provides communications as a service to businesses.

Monetate (Conshohocken) First Round Capital-backed advertising technology firm serving ecommerce sites just moved into larger Conshy offices, says it hopes to double employment from 50 to 100 in 12 months.


Smarter Agent (Camden) Mobile real estate apps developer recently raised $6 million more, bringing its total funding to $18 million; investors include Ira Lubert.

Alteva (Philadelphia) Hosted VoIP & Unified Communications provider just acquired by Warwick Valley Telephone (NY) for $17 million.

Viridity Energy (Conshohocken) Developing software and systems to enable institutions and enterprises to create mini-smart grids. Raised $14 million from investors including Intel Capital early this year. Founded by ex-PJM Interconnection execs.

Safend (Philadelphia & Tel Aviv) Provides endpoint security tools, somewhat similar to Fiberlink Communications. Backing from Intel Capital.

MobileMD (Yardley) Provides HIE (Health Information Exchange) systems to providers such as Main Line Health.

TicketLeap (Philadelphia) Online ticketing platform; started off serving mostly smaller events but tested scaling up by handling ticketing for Comic-Con 2011.

Venmo (Philadelphia) Easy to use mobile payments system. All the big guys are getting in the market, but recent Accel Partners (Facebook etc) press release confirms some earlier but unconfirmed reports that they are an investor in Venmo.

Movitas (Bryn Mawr) Mobile apps for travel, tourism and meetings industries; acquired PhindMe, another local mobile startup, in 2010.


ClickEquations (Conshohocken) Search advertising software firm backed by First Round Capital and Internet Capital Group; recently acquired by another ICG partner, Channel Intelligence, for an undisclosed amount.

PHD Virtual (Philadelphia) Virtual backup system for VMWare and Citrix; Citrix is an investor.

RJMetrics (Philadelphia) Self-funded startup helps Internet-based companies analyze all the data generated by their websites; still small but seems to be on a nice growth path. Now has 11 employees, and moved from Camden to Philly in the beginning of this year.



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Daily Links 7/26/2011: SAP posts strong earnings; InterDigital files patent complaint

InterDigital Gains on Apple-Google Patent Rush (Bloomberg)
Suggests that InterDigital may fetch as much as $5 billion.

InterDigital Files Complaint Against Nokia, Huawei and ZTE With International Trade Commission
Company Seeks Importation Ban for 3G Wireless Products that Infringe on U.S. Patents
(Business Wire)

With Bidders Watching, Interdigital Goes On A Mobile Patent Offensive (MocoNews)

SAP AG: SAP REFINES OUTLOOK FOR NON-IFRS SOFTWARE AND SOFTWARE-RELATED SERVICE REVENUE AT CONSTANT CURRENCIES AND NON-IFRS OPERATING PROFIT AT CONSTANT CURRENCIES (DGAP)
Pre-release update: SAP sees annual results at higher end of previously forecasted range based on strong second quarter.


SAP Reports 35% Growth in Software Revenue at Constant Currencies and 20% Growth in Non-IFRS Software and Software-Related Service Revenue at Constant Currencies for the Second Quarter (PR Newswire via MarketWatch)

SAP Q2 Revenue Rises 14 Percent (PC World)

SAP users not readily adopting BusinessObjects, user group finds (Computerword UK)

Lockheed Profit Rises 3.9% on F-35 Orders (Bloomberg)

AMETEK ANNOUNCES RECORD RESULTS (PR Newswire)

Comcast, NBCU Bring Dynamic Ads to VOD
Kraft, Chrysler are initial sponsors
(Broadcasting & Cable)

Netflix proclaims Internet as future, but data caps loom as threat (Washington Post: Post Tech)
Quotes Wharton Prof Kevin Werbach.

Safeguard Scientifics Partner Company Portico Systems Closes Sale to McKesson (Business Wire)

Commonwealth to Host Meeting to Discuss Statewide Health Information Exchange (PR Newswire)



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Daily Links 7/25/2011: Comcast teams with Elemental Technologies for OTT technology; Netflix expects slower subscriber growth

Comcast Teams With Elemental Technologies to Stay Ahead of Netflix and Hulu (ReadWriteWeb)

Former Comcaster Kunkel Joins Microsoft's Entertainment Unit
Exec Previously Headed Up GuideWorks Joint Venture
(Multichannel News)

Netflix, you’ve got some ‘splainin’ to do! (Gigaom)

Netflix Says Its Price Hike Will Clip Revenues For a Quarter (All Things Digital)

Netflix expects subscriber growth to slow in Q3 (VentureBeat)


DVL Announces New Data Center Installation At The Microsoft Technology Center In Malvern, PA (Business Wire)

appMobi’s cloudKey Revolutionizes E-Commerce Security by Eliminating Credit Card Databases
Patent-pending "Distributed Key" technology stores personal information locally, locked with secure keys delivered from the cloud
(Business Wire)

Healthcare Disruption: Pharma 3.0 Will Drive Shift from Life Science to HealthTech Investing (Part I of III) (TechCrunch)

Behind Wharton's record-breaking female enrollment (Fortune)

Unisys Announces Second-Quarter 2011 Financial Results (PR Newswire)
Revenue down 10% despite 5% positive foreign currency impact.

Walker brothers are fast-moving entrepreneurs (Philly.com:
Philly Inc)

CDI IT Solutions Moves to New Office in Charlotte, North Carolina (PR Newswire)



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SAP Americas keeping cool with ice, lots and lots of it (Philadelphia Inquirer)

SAP Hopes Partners Will Rev up Mobile Apps Sales (PC World)

Church of God Sues Sony Pictures and Comcast for Copyright Infringement Over Logo (Torrent Freak)


Daily Links 7/22/2011: Reports (doubted by some) that Apple might bid on Hulu

Apple Said to Consider Making Bid for Hulu (Bloomberg)

Don’t Hold Your Breath on That Apple Hulu Deal (All Things Digital)

Analyst: Comcast Stock Price Values NBCUniversal at 'Close to Zero' (Hollywood Reporter)

Big Cable Braces For A Lousy Quarter (All Things Digital)
Comcast reports earnings on August 3.

Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg Steps Down, COO Lowell McAdam Steps Up (TechCrunch)
I admire Seidenberg greatly for challenging the Telco culture and investing in FiOS; whether that will ultimately be judged to have been a good investment remains to be determined.

IPhone Bolsters Verizon Results (New York Times)

FiOS Sizzles In Verizon's Q2, Topping $2 Billion
Fiber-Optic Network Services Now Represent 57% Of Telco's Consumer Wireline Business
(Multichannel News)

Congress, FCC hit brakes on T-Mobile, AT&T merger (The Hill)

Show Us the Money: Five PA Venture Capitalists to Watch (Keystone Edge)

Digital Media-Buying Platform MediaMath Nets $20 Million
Startup to Expand Into Video, Social and Mobile Ad Buying
(Ad Adge)
Previous investor Safeguard Scientifics leads Series B round.

SAP BusinessObjects Customers Await New Platform (Information Week)


Anexinet rebounds, seeks software pros (Philly.com: Philly Deals)

Publicis Revenue Increases on Latin America, Digital Media (Bloomberg via San Francisco Chronicle)

Lovell Minnick To Exit ALPS After 6 Six Years (PE Hub)

Ben Franklin TechVentures Named to Inc. Website’s Top-10 List (Press Release)
DreamIt Ventures also made the Inc. list (which I am not going to link to because their slide show keeps crashing my computer).



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Daily Links 7/21/2011: Comcast splits media business between WPP, Publicis

Comcast Splits Media Business Between WPP, Publicis
With NBC Acquisition, Conflicts Made It Difficult to Consolidate at One Shop
(Ad Age)

TruePosition Alleges Plot Against Its 9-1-1 Location System
(PC World)

TruePosition Announces Renewal of Agreement with AT&T (Business Wire)

Moto Mobility Zooms 17%: Nokia Results, Patent Issues In Focus (Barron's: Tech Trader Daily)
The InterDigital effect?
Update: Apparently investor Carl Icahn is pushing MMI to realize the value of its patent portfolio

Congratulations to myYearbook (Business Insider)
By First Round Capital Managing Partner Chris Fralic.

Express Scripts will buy rival Medco for $29.1B (AP via Forbes)
Both have fulfillment operations in Philly area; merger could also mean more pricing pressure on Pharma companies.

July 2011 Business Outlook Survey (Philly Fed)
Not great, but a better outlook than last month.
Factory activity rebounds in Philly region (MarketWatch)

Philadelphia official fired for accepting meals, gifts from city contractors (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Comcast kills off Stephen King movie series (Marketplace)

Will Cisco Bail on Set-Top Boxes? (Light Reading Cable)

Case Study: Philadelphia Museum Uses Foursquare to Increase Awareness (Street Fight)

McDermott Says SAP Has `Great' Position in Brazil
(Video: Bloomberg via Washington Post)

Talk About Agile Commerce: Monetate has moved, into a cool new space (Monetate Blog)



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MoneyTree: US Venture Capital investment way up, but Philly area down

While venture capital investment nationwide showed a signicant increase in Q2 2011, in the Philly area VC funding was down, acoording to data released today in the MoneyTree report from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA.)

Nationally, venture capital investments rose 19% in Q2 2011 to $7.5 billion in 966 deals, up 19% over Q1 2011. Internet-specific investments were reported to be at a ten year high, and investments in the Life Sciences sector also rose 37% from the previous quarter.

However, VC investment in the Philadelphia Metro area in Q2 2011 was $89 miliion, on 29 deals, down from $128 million in the previous quarter and the lowest amount since Q1 2010.

Of that $89 million, $30 million went to Neuronetics of Malvern, a company that uses magnetic fields to treat depression. There were few large IT or Internet-related deals; the largest was $18 million for Pet360 of Plymouth Meeting, a deal I wrote about a couple of weeks ago.


Other significant investments were in ProtonMedia of Lansdale ($4.5 million) led by Kaplan VC LLC, InstaMed Comunications of Philadelphia ($4 million) from the New Jersey Technology Council and US Bancorp, Collections Marketing Center, Inc. of Wilmington ($2.6 million) led by Milestone Venture Partners and Osage Partners, LLC, Agilence Inc. of Camden ($2.6 million) from MMV Financial, Inc., Aklero Risk Analytics, Inc. of Fort Washington ($1.2 million) led by Robin Hood Ventures, and TimeSight Systems, Inc. of Mount Laurel ($1.1 million) led by Contour Venture Partners and New Venture Partners LLC.

Smaller amounts went to Ryzing LLC (Philadelphia), Sanovia Corporation (Philadelphia), Careerminds Group, Inc. (Hockessin, Delaware), CityRyde LLC (Philadelphia), Yorn LLC (Conshohocken), and AlignAlytics (Wayne), formerly AlineGRC.


Daily Links 7/20/2011: myYearbook acquired for $100 million

Latino Social Net Quepasa Buys myYearbook For $100 million (paidContent)
Perhaps a bit less than I thought it might be worth.

This 21-Year-Old Just Sold Her Startup For $100 Million (Silicon Alley Insider)

Facebook For Latinos Quepasa Buys myYearbook For $100 Million In Cash And Stock (TechCrunch)
Includes letter from CEO Geoff Cook to employees.

Meet Google’s Latest Takeover Target: InterDigital (Wall Street Journal: Deal Journal)
Apple is also interested, according to this Bloomberg report.

TruePosition® Lawsuit Alleges Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent and Qualcomm Conspired to Eliminate a Predominant Mobile Positioning Technology Used in Emergency Response and Law Enforcement (Business Wire)

Exclusive: Dotcom Era Survivor Cvent Raises $136 Million Round (TechCrunch)
Competes against Philly-based and ICG-backed Starcite in the corporate meetings management software business.

SAIC To Acquire Vitalize Consulting Solutions (HISTalk)
Based in Reading, MA, Healthcare IT consulting firm Vitalize has offices in Chadds Ford Kennett Square.


eBay Beats The Street; Revenue Up 25 Percent To $2.8B; PayPal Posts First $1B Quarter
(TechCrunch)
Takes some charges from GSI Commerce acquisition.


Study: Sharp Rise in ERP Users Mulling Support Alternatives (PC World)

Lockheed Martin offers buyouts to 6,500 employees (Washington Post)
About 300 Valley Forge employees among those eligible for buyouts.

Lifeshield Security Locks Up More Than $8 Million in Third Round of Funding (Globe Newswire)

Unlock or unplug remotely with home automation (Philadelphia Daily News)

TE Connectivity profit beats forecasts (Reuters)
TE Connectivity (formerly Tyco Electronics) has its operational headquarters in Berwyn.

Warwick buys Alteva: Are hosted VoIP valuations rising? (NPRG Insights)

Oracle Makes Fusion Applications 'available' (PC World)



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Daily Links 7/19/2011: InterDigital to seek acquisition offers or sale of some IP assets

LLR Partners and NewSpring Capital Invest in Quintiq, Supporting its Continued Drive for Market Leadership (PR Newswire)

Quintiq raises capital from LLR, NewSpring (Philly.com: Philly Inc)
Says new investors' stake is 48%.

InterDigital Exploring Potential Strategic Alternatives (Business Wire)
InterDigital up 24% so far today on the news.

InterDigital explores ways to sell patents or company (Reuters)

Celtics-CSNNE deal includes an equity stake (Boston Globe)

Yahoo Would Buy Hulu For $2 Billion – But Only If It Came With Four Years Of Exclusive Rights (Silicon Alley Insider)

Oh no he didn’t: AT&T’s CEO calls DSL obsolete (Gigaom)

Cable Calls for Backup (Light Reading Cable)
Backup system co-developed by and tested at SCTE headquarters in Exton.

Comcast partners with ColoHouse for Fla. disaster recovery (CED
Magazine)

Battelle Places Order with Instem for Provantis Preclinical and submit-SEND Software Solutions
Instem Solutions to Automate Full Range of R&D Processes
(Business Wire)

Greenlink Changing the Daily Deal Market with New Social Couponing Product (Business Wire)

Winshuttle acquires Calif. software company ShareVis (TechFlash)

How SAP Business ByDesign fits into the SaaS ERP landscape (SearchSAP.com)

SunGard Availability Services Announces Expansion into India (PR Newswire)

Texting While Walking Could Get You Fined in Philly (PC World)
Apparently, the story is not accurate; there will be no citations or fines for texting while walking, the Nutter Administration says.



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Yuengling turns to Wayne-based Deacom for ERP System



Pottsville-based D.G. Yuengling & Son, which is said to be the oldest continously operating brewery in the US (founded in 1829) and the fourth largest by volume according to The Brewing Association, has a name that is almost generic for lager in much of Pennsylvania. And its growth, particularly over the past 15 years, has seen its distribution area expand to include most of the East Coast (it just recently announced it is moving into Ohio).


Although the Yuengling family, which still owns and runs the company, has historically been conservative about pursuing growth, consumer demand in a sense has pushed the company to grow with it; Yuengling now produces about 2.2 million barrels per year, up from less than 500,000 in the early 1990s. Yuengling has three brewing facilities now: two in Pottsville-the historic building and a larger one built in 2000-and one in Tampa. It came close to purchasing another in Memphis last year but decided against it, expanding its newer Pottsville brewery instead. (See a recent profile from the Allentown Morning Call).


Yuengling's expansion had stretched its old information systems, consisting mostly of a Unix-based system and various spreadsheets, which in turn may have limited its ability to pursue new opportunities. So it turned to Deacom Inc. of Wayne to increease its ability to manage mutiple functions across the enterprise by implementing Deacom's ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software. The system went live in June. Functions implemented include accounting, sales order management, regulatory reporting, purchasing, production scheduling, inventory, order entry, and retail point of sale (POS). Wendy Yuengling, Project manager at D.G. Yuengling & Son, said in a statement, "“We wanted a system that would reduce the redundancy in our work and minimize much of the manual data entry, which exposed us to the potential for human error. In addition, we needed the ability to work within one system of shared data that would give us greater control and enhanced reporting capabilities".


A key to Deacom being chosen is that it is designed to handle the specific requirements of batch process manufacturing, as opposed to discrete manufacturing. Deacom, which was founded in 1995, says it has over 100 customers in industry segments including lumber and building supplies, food processing, paint, specialty chemicals and pharmacuetical manufacturing. Founder Jay Deakin, who grew up in Gladwyne and played on the golf team at the University of Miami (FLA) back when they had one, started Deacom out of his mother-in-law's basement. In a telephone interview with Philly Tech News, he said that he learned about the specific needs of batch process manufacturers when he built a system inhouse for a previous company he managed because he could not find a adequate solution off-the-shelf. Deacom's application modules are based on proprietary software it developed, though the tools under the hood are mostly Microsoft, such as SQL Server and .Net.


Deakin says he often goes up against the big guys (SAP, Oracle) in competitive situations. The company has no debt or VC money, according to Deakin, and is looking at a period of accelerating growth after being fairly conservative about expansion for a while. Headcount is now 30, and he sees that increasing to about 40 over the next 12 months. While he says Yuengling is not Deacom's largest account, it is probably its most visible to the public.



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Hungry for growth, Comcast sets sights on small business (Minneapolis Star Tribune)

How Alden Global Capital has become a major player in the media business (Poynter)

Jane Fonda jabs at QVC over canceled TV appearance (Reuter via LA Times)


Philly Tech People News 7/17/2011

Time Warner Cable Names Zelesko SVP Web Services And Technology
Responsibilities Include TWCable TV Efforts to Reach Connected-TV Devices
(Multichannel News)
Former head of engineering at Comcast Interactive Media.

Harleysville Group Names Herenstein Chief Information Officer (Business Wire)

Washington Metro hires new social media manager
(Washington Post)
Former SEPTA manager of communications Brian Anderson moves to DC.

Electronic Ink Appoints Jeffrey A. Judd Vice President of Client Strategy and Midwest Managing Director (Electronic Ink Press Release)

Janney grabs a Merrill star (Philly.com: Philly Deals)


NBCU Promotes Jodi Kahn to President of iVilliage
Will focus on expanding brand's presence to multiple platforms
(Broadcasting & Cable)

Jennifer Salke Named NBC Entertainment President
Exec joins net from 20th Century Fox Television
(Broadcasting & Cable)

Drexel University Online Introduces New President and Senior Management Team
Kenneth Hartman, Mark Shay and Todd Lucca make up new senior leadership.
(PR Web)

Apollo Health Street Adds Four Healthcare Veterans to Sales Team
(Business Wire)

Haverford Trust Adds to 'Entrepreneur Appeal,' Appoints Award-Winning Entrepreneur to Board
Leading Business Technology Entrepreneur, Diego F. Calderin, Joins Board of Directors
(Marketwire)

ICG Commerce Forms Executive Advisory Board for Manufacturing Industry (Globe Newswire)

Todd Kuhn Joins Viamedia as VP/GM for Pennsylvania Sales Operations (PR Newswire)


Building a New Kind of Software Company (Sandhill.com)
By Lars Bjork, CEO of Radnor-based QlikTech.

Working Separately, Together
(New York Times)
Features Philly's Indy Hall.


Get excited, people! Microsoft Store may be coming somewhere near Philly area by 2014

I'm sure everyone in the Philly area feels a void from not having an official Microsoft store nearby.

But one might be coming-by 2014, perhaps.

At the 2011 Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference, Microsoft COO Kevin Turner outlined the company's plans to expand its branded store chain to 86 stores by 2014. Specific locations were not named, but this somewhat fuzzy map from a slide show he presented shows possible locations:






If your eyes are sharp, maybe you can pinpoint their placement better than I can, but it looks to me like a couple of them might be in (or near) the Greater Philadelphia area. One looks like its in Delaware.


More on the Alteva acquisition

I listened to the conference call today with Warwick Valley Telephone President & CEO Duane W. Albro regarding its acquisition of Philly-based hosted VoIP and Unified Communications provider
Alteva, which was announced yesterday. He stuck very close to the wording of the press release, adding very little new information.

Warwick Valley plans to merge Alteva with its CLEC (Competitive Local Exchange Carrier) business US Datanet, which appears to be based in Syracuse. Which raises the question, what will happen to Alteva's operations here?


"Alteva absolutely plans to stay in Philadelphia", Alteva CEO David Cuthbert said today in a statement sent to Philly Tech News. "This is our home and where we grew our business and will continue to grow our business". Cuthbert also says, "Regarding our employees, there will be no job cuts whatsoever as it pertains to this new relationship. We expect our Philadelphia based team, and Alteva based team to continue to grow in the months ahead. In fact, we are in the process of hiring multiple account managers and additional positions throughout our organization".

Cuthbert also emphasized that Alteva is "completely dedicated" to continiung to serve the needs of its clients and partners in the area.

Though publicly traded (NASDAQ: WWVY) , Warwick Valley is not a very large company; its quarterly revenues seem to be running at a flat $6 million per quarter rate. Albro did say during the conference call that Warwick was paying 3.1 x current revenue for Alteva and the acquisition would increase its revenue base by 30%, so presumably Alteva's revenue is around $6 to $7 million. Warwick Valley has not yet broken out its existing CLEC revenues in its financial statements.

Update 7/18: An Alteva spokesperson says David Cuthbert will continue to serve as CEO of Alteva, in addition to being President & COO of Warwick Valley, Louis Hayner will also have a duel role as Chief Sales Officer of both Warwick Valley and Alteva, and Alteva founder Bill Bumbernick will continue to assist the company as a consultant. Mark Marquez, Chief Technology Officer/Systems Architect at Alteva, will become Chief Network Officer for Warwick Valley.



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Daily Links 7/15/2011: QlikTech off 10% on downgrade

Waiting for Canoe (SNL Blogs)
Is Canoe Ventures adrift?

Invidi Preps 'SnapPing' TV Tags For Second-Screen Interactivity
Addressable-Ad Firm Solution Allows Audio, Speech, Text and Image Recognition
(Multichannel News)

Is Comcast Headquartered Near Lake Woebegon? (Forbes Blogs)

Hedge fund buys local publisher Journal Register (Philadelphia Inquirer)
Alden Global Capital also holds a "significant stake" in Philadelphia Media Networks (owner of the Inquirer and Daily News), which raises the possibility of more cooperation between them in the future, the Inquirer reports.

Qlik Technologies shares tumble after downgrade (AP via Forbes)

Guardian Capital Partners Acquires R&D Circuits (Business Wire)

Boathouse Capital Closes $120M Debt Fund (PE Hub)

Quality Systems Inc. Opens Innovation Centre in India (Business Wire India)
Quality Systems is parent of Horsham-based NextGen Healthcare.



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Philly-based hosted VoIP & Unified Communications provider Alteva acquired

Alteva, a Philadelphia-based hosted VoIP and unified communications provider, has been acquired by the Warwick Valley Telephone Company of Warwick, New York, it was announced today. The total value of the acquisition is $17 million in cash and stock ($11 million in cash, $4 million in stock and $2 million in potential earnouts).

Warwick Valley intends to combine Alteva's operations with its USA Datanet CLEC (Competitive Local Exchange Carrier) business as it seeks more growth than its traditional local telephone business offers. Warwick is in Orange County, in the far northern exurbs of New York. Warwick Valley will hold a conference call tomorrow to explain the deal.

Alteva was founded in 2003 by Bill Bumbernick and is headquartered in the Bourse building along Independence Mall. No word yet on what this deal will mean for its Philadephia presence.

You can see my previous pieces on Alteva here
and here.



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Robert Sandie on being pushed out at Viddler

Viddler co-founder Robert Sandie posted a rather blunt (though restrained) note on his personal blog yesterday about him being forced out as the company's CEO/President. He will continue to serve on the board and still has a significant stake in the company, but will no longer have an operational role. No word yet on his replacement. He says he will probably leave Bethlehem and move elsewhere, mentioning Philly as one possibility.

Sandie says the online video service is "profitable, 25+ employees and growing". Interestingly, he also says that "after the fate of Viddler is decided, I will probably be more public on lessons learned/etc". Does that mean the company is actively considering a sale?

Ben Franklin Technology Partners NE and First Round Capital are the only institutional investors I am aware of. (Update: ITJ Ventures was apparently another investor. I was wrong about First Round having ever been involved.)



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Daily Links 7/14/2011: Cuts at Digitas Health; Journal Register sold to hedge fund

Software AG Drops as Sales Miss Estimates (Bloomberg)
Cites fall in demand for SAP-related products. Softwsre AG also has an area presence through its acquisition of IDS Scheer a couple of years ago.

Software AG's weak Q2 rattles investors, shares plummet (Reuters)

Axe falls at Digitas Health (Medical Marketing & Media)

‘Digital First’ (Yardly-based) Journal Register Sold To Hedge Fund (paidContent)

Can Discounted Tablets Lure New Newspaper Subscribers? (Knowledge@Wharton)

Philadelphia 76ers Owner Reaches Agreement to Sell Team to Apollo’s Harris (Bloomberg)

Comcast Bans Seattle Man From Internet for His Cloudy Ways (Wired: Epicenter)

Safeguard Scientifics Celebrates 40 Years of Trading on the NYSE
Milestone to be Commemorated Today with Ringing of the Closing Bell
(Business Wire)

Jaspersoft Closes New Financing (PR Newswire)
Open Source BI vendor raises $11 from backers including return investor SAP Ventures.


Obama’s health IT coordinator: Know the regulations (Philadelphia Business Journal)



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Daily Links 7/12/2011: Workday enters market for Higher Ed administrative systems

Octagon Research Solutions, Inc. Advances Regulatory Cloud Strategy, Expands Internationally (Business Wire)

Cigna adding Conn. jobs, stirring concerns about Phila. staffing
(Philadelphia Inquirer)
Update: Cigna announces its moving corporate headquarters from Philadelphia to Connecticut


Verklin Out At Canoe, Timko Named Interim CEO
MSO-Owned Advertising Venture Has Yet to Show Traction
(Multichannel News)

Philadelphia newspapers unveil plans to deliver subsidized Android tablets to subscribers (Liliputing)
Includes video of yesterday's press conference.

Workday Delivers First Unified Higher Education Administrative Solution in the Cloud (Workday Press Release)
Sounds as if Workday is going right after SunGard Higher Ed and Oracle Peoplesoft.

SunGard Higher Education Launches Integration Certification Program for Collaborative Member Solutions (SunGard Press Release)

MyYearbook chases engagement, games and mobile for social networking success (Gigaom)
Story totally misses the fact that myYearbook is geared towards teens.

Turntable.fm Has Lots Of Buzz, But Will The Labels Crush It? (paidContent)

Google Hand Holding Brings Pharma to YouTube (ClickZ)

Janney Montgomery Scott settles SEC charges (AP via Business Week)

Dealtalk: Barnes & Noble won't get better bid than Malone's (Reuters)



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Daily Links 7/11/2011: Philadelphia Media Network to offer Android tablets, launches new media venture incubator

Philly Papers to Sell Android Tablets (Ad Week)

Philadelphia Daily News to become ‘loud, irreverent, fun tabloid’ (Poynter)
Philadelphia Media Network also announces launch of "Project Liberty", incubator for new media ventures in cooperation with Ben Franklin Technology Partners, Drexel, the Knight Foundation, and DreamIt Ventures.

VCA Antech, Inc. to Acquire MediMedia Animal Health, LLC Unit of MediMedia USA Inc. (Business Wire)
Yardley-based animal health marketing data & communications firm Vetstreet sells for $146 million.

Halma Buys Avo Photonics For Initial Cash Consideration of $9 Million (Dow Jones via Fox Business)
Also potential for additional $11 million payout.


Cisco Set-Top Plant Is for Sale (Light Reading Cable)
Is Cisco considering exiting the business entirely?

After early zeal, TV networks pull back Web series (AP via Boston Globe)

NHL Hands Extensive Ad Sales Responsibilities Over To NBCU (paidContent)

Guess what? Netflix won’t buy Hulu
(Gigaom: NewTeeVee)

TripAdvisor Buys Once-Popular Facebook App Where I’ve Been (All Things Digital)
Where I've Been was actually started by Craig Ulliott when he was in Philadelphia before he got funded and moved to Chicago.

ShopRunner takes to the streets
The shipping service soon will launch a mobile app aimed at shoppers in stores.
(Internet Retailer)
ShopRunner is one of the ventures spun out from GSI Commerce prior to its acquisition by EBay and is part of Michael Rubin's new ecommerce holdings.

SAP creates 100 jobs in Ireland to expand technical and R&D functions (Computer Weekly)



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Auditors: Army's Huge SAP Project 'at High Risk' (PC World)

Comcast Likely to Deploy New ZigBee Living-Room Networking (PC Magazine)

Cable association to FCC: AllVid is DOA
(Gigiom: NewTeeVee)

SEC filing cracks the egg on Chegg’s Notehall purchase (VentureBeat)
Notehall was a DreamIt Ventures portfolio company.


Daily Links 7/8/2011: SAP Human Resources chief Angelika Dammann resigns

Why Verizon should buy Hulu (Gigaom)

Netflix: Is it broadband’s cash cow or data hog?
(Gigaom)

Comcast XFINITY TV Gets Honeycomb Support, Your Tablet is Your New Remote (Phandroid)

FCC commissioner blasts his agency for over-regulation (The Hill)


FCC Submits Net Neutrality Regulations
(National Journal)

ANGELIKA DAMMANN RESIGNS FROM SAP EXECUTIVE BOARD (SAP Press Release)
She wasn't there for very long, but says leaving for personal reasons (though there is perhaps a little more to the story )

Why Workday is a Major Threat to SAP (Jarret Pazahanick)

SAP core applications certified on Oracle Exadata (ZDNet Blogs)

Beyond SaaS; Cloud Computing Update and Investment Opportunities
(Enterprise Irregulars)

Although Many Investors Are Spinning, Turntable.fm Has Not Yet Picked A DJ (TechCrunch)
Contrary to yesterday's Business Insider report (though it may be just a matter of timing).


Curt Schlling Is Back Pitching His Start-Up (Wall Street Journal: Venture Capital Dispatch)



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Medical Marketing & Media looks at the top agencies



The July "Agency Issue" of Medical Marketing & Media Magazine is out, profiling what it has identified as the 75 largest agencies in the healthcare advertising business. As always, many of them are based in or around the Philadelphia area, including:

Cadient Group (Conshohocken)

CDM Princeton (Princeton)

Digitas Health (Philadelphia)

Dudnyk (Horsham)

Razorfish Health (Philadelphia)

RosettaWishbone (Hamilton, NJ)

Roska Healthcare Advertising (Montgomeryville)

Saatchi & Saatchi Healthcare Innovations (Yardley)

Vox Medica (Philadelphia)


Others with an established presence in the Philadelphia area include Blue Diesel, evoke interaction , imc2 Health & Wellness, and Publicis Healthware International. San Francisco-based Eveo says it is hoping to add a Philadelphia office.

Most of the Philly area agencies claimed low double digit revenue growth last year-a few considerably higher. Digitas Health reported revenue growth in the mid-teens, as revenue exceeded $100 million. Recently Publicis announced a reorg that might be a step towards integrating Digitas Health and sister agency Razorfish Health to some degree. Publicis also consolidated its Publicis Healthcare Communications Group shops, including Saatchi & Saatchi Healthcare Innovations (which used to be based in Newtown), into new offices in Yardley.

Of course, Publicis's other big move this year was its $575 million acquisiton of Hamilton, NJ-based Rosetta Marketing, which has a substantial healthcare business beefed up by its acquisition of New York-based Wishbone at the end of 2009. Last year, its healthcare unit, now rebranded as RosettaWishbone, generated $68 million in revenue.

Conshohocken-based Cadient Group said it experienced double-digit growth in the second half of 2010 after some of its clients' brands failed to launch in the first half due to non-approval. Cadient reintegrated strategy, digital and tech solutions, which had been separated into different units in 2009.
Cleveland-based Blue Diesel, with offices in Newtown, and Dudnyk also reported strong growth. Roska Healthcare Advertising, which reported 2010 growth of 30%, says the business is changing and it is increasingly emphasizing a multichannel approach to meet client needs.



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Daily Links 7/7/2011: Lengthy contract extensions for SAP co-CEOs

Lubert-backed SmarterAgent lures NY, Seattle techs (Philly.com: Philly Deals)

SAP: No Change at the Top as Board Extends CEO Contracts (PC World)

Rimini Street second quarter bookings, revenue jump (ZDNet Blogs)

Can Comcast Stop Losing Video Subscribers? (Light Reading Cable)

OH My! Omnicom, Horizon Team Up To Pitch Comcast (MediaPost: Media Daily News)

Comcast to hike rates 3.3% for cable TV customers (Lancaster Intelligencer Journal)
Not clear from this article which parts of Pennsylvania this applies to right now, but they'll probably get everyone eventually.


Major ISPs agree to "six strikes" copyright enforcement plan (Ars Technica)

Liberty Media’s Malone Says Buyouts of Live Nation, HSN May Make Sense (Bloomberg)

Third Circuit Remands Newspaper-Broadcast Rule Change Back To FCC
Upholds Decision Not To Loosen Other Regs
(Multichannel News)

Back to the future for Safeguard (Philadelphia Business Journal)

APAC Customer Services to be Acquired by One Equity Partners
(Business Wire)
JPMorgan investment arm will merge APAC with Horsham-based NCO Group.

Turntable.fm and the Siren Song of the Start-up Pivot (Betabeat)
First Round Capital portfolio company reportedly raising funds at $40 million valuation.
Update: Turntable.fm  funded  at $37.5 million valuation

Commonwealth Court rules in Department of Public Welfare's favor over its bid award to Deloitte Consulting LLP (Harrisburg Patriot-News)

With new web addresses, Internet continues to grow (Philadelphia Inquirer)



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