phillytechnews twitterfeed 8/30 to 8/31/2012

Posted: 31 Aug 2012 06:41 PM PDT
phillytechnews: Blue Moon You saw me standing alone Without a dream in my heart Without a love of my own Blue Moon
Posted: 31 Aug 2012 03:49 PM PDT
phillytechnews: Daily Links 8/31/2012: Bill McDermott talks to Churchill Club http://t.co/aE4nkJkd
Posted: 31 Aug 2012 03:18 PM PDT
phillytechnews: New PTN Post: Time Warner Cable invests to build out fiber to some NYC businesses; What are Comcast's plans? http://t.co/hQjUsC2b


Time Warner Cable invests to build out fiber to some NYC businesses; What are Comcast's plans?


Tom Paine



Time Warner Cable's announcement this week that it would invest $25 million to provide fiber to the premise connectivity to selected business locations in parts of New York City generated some hype and inaccurate comparisons from those who compared it to Google's fiber buildout in Kansas City. Time Warner Cable's (TWC) announcment was somewhat vague, besides mentioning a few specific locations, in terms of how broad the coverage would be. And $25 million isn't a great deal of money when you consider a city with the telecommunications infrastructure of New York. Google Fiber's Kansas City project is planned to be residentially focused rather than aimed at businesses, and its investment there would reportedly be several hundred million dollars.

I had heard that Comcast had done a few small fiber buildouts such as this in some downtown areas, so I reached out to Comcast to ask about specifics. A company spokesperson responded by email: "Since 2011, we have been giving businesses more options for connectivity by bringing fiber into sections of cities that are becoming high-tech hubs". Specifically mentioned were a project with the city of Seattle to bring broadband to its Pioneer Square area, a similar partnership with Boston for its "Innovation District", and another arrangement for downtown San Mateo, CA. I'm not certain about the precise network architecture Comcast is using in these areas; it says it offers speeds of up to 100/10 Mbps which I believe can be delivered through its usual fiber optic-coaxial hybrid using Docsis 3.0, but also can provide speeds of up to 10 gigabits per second for heavy users. The latter would preumably require a direct fiber connection to the building.

Comcast says it will "continue looking for more places to expand – giving more businesses more options for affordable high-speed connectivity - but at this time has nothing specific to announce". There was no information available on any plans for Philadelphia.

Of course, in both New York City and Philadelphia the cable operators may face competition from Verizon's FiOS, although the buildouts in both locations are preceding at a snail's pace (but its much further along in New York.) Google Fiber says it will offer symmetrical 1 Gbps connections to individual residences for $70 a month (after an up front fee). Time Warner Cable says its service "enables businesses to be connected to a dedicated Internet network that provides speeds that reach 1 gigabyte per second and faster". although its not clear whether that kind of speed would reach every tenant in a large multi-tenant facility such as the Empire State Building, one of the facilities TWC named as having been recently wired.

Both TWC and Comcast have rapidly growing business telecom services segments. In its most recent earnings report released early this month, Comcast said its Business Services revenue increased 34 percent to $582 million.



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More views on IBM-Kenexa deal

Tom Paine

I'm trying to dig in and get a more complete picture of IBM's $1.3 billion acquisition of Wayne-based Kenexa, announced on Monday, and the plans for it going forward.

What it is not: despite some media reports, I do not see it as IBM acquiring a technologically superior Cloud or SaaS platform through which it can expand into other verticals beyond talent management. SAP acquired SuccessFactors partially for that purpose, but I doubt Kenexa's overall technology (or technology leadership) is good enough to play the same role for IBM.

What Kenexa and its CEO Rudy Karsan are recognized for is providing thought leadership and superior services in the talent management space, particular around recruiting and talent assessment. But it is a company that has always, in my view, led with a consultative emphasis with technology following, rather than the other way around. That is not necessarily a negative, since Kenexa has usually achieved a solid understanding of customer needs before seeking out technology solutions for them. But it has resulted in Kenexa having many pieces of technology gained through acquisitions spread about in different places rather than being integrated around one platform.

In announcing the acquisition, IBM emphasized Kenexa's potential as a "social business" tool, but in fact Kenexa is not a highly social solution today. This is where IBM hopes to be transformative. Kenexa will become part of IBM Collaboration Solutions (formerly Lotus), IBM's core social enterprise business run by General Manager Alistair Renee, while also working closely with IBM's Global Process Services unit. Thematically, Kenexa fits into IBM's concept of creating a "smarter workforce". IBM apparently also aims to pitch talent management solutions more directly to the CEO function rather than to HR, as has usually been the case.




Daily Links 8/29/2012: Razorfish Health merges with Publicis Healthware; Google said to hire banker to sell Motorola Home



Philly-based Razorfish Health in merger with Publicis Healthware (Medical Marketing & Media)

Google Said To Hire Barclays To Sell Motorola’s Home Business (Bloomberg)

Comcast-Spectacor hasn’t spoken with Kings at all, arena project barely off the ground (NBC Sports)

The arena: impressions of a presentation (Virginian-Pilot)

Why The Cable Companies Aren't Screwed (Silicon Alley Insider)

Why Time Warner Cable’s NYC fiber rollout is nothing like Google’s (Gigaom)

Internal Oracle Document Details HCM Software Strategy Plans (PC World)

Ariba Shareholders Approve Acquisition by SAP (PR Newswire)
Companies say regulatory approval, deal closure anticipated in 4th quarter.

New SAP Software Gives Customers '360-degree' Insight Into IT Environments (PC World)


Dash for a Good Cause: How Business Intelligence Transformed My Daughter’s Fundraiser (Derek Loranca/The Decision Factor)
Derek P. Loranca is a Philly area resident who works for a Fortune 100 corporation as a BI Specialist. He is also active in the SAP BI community.

Wendy Warren leaves Philly.com for NBCWashington.com (Poynter)


How Technology has Changed, One National Geographic at a Time (John Gelhard/CarrierBid Communications)
John Gelhard is a principal of Philly-based telecom consultant CarrierBid Communications.

Aetna, eviti Launch a Decision Support Program to Make Cancer Care More Effective and Efficient (Business Wire)
eviti is based in Philadelphia.


Federal Reserve Board Beige Book: Philadelphia, August 29, 2012 (Federal Reserve Board)



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Highlights last week on Philly Tech News (8/20/2012 to 8/26/2012)

SAP co-CEO Jim Hagemann Snabe said in an interview with a German newspaper last week that "further acquisitions are possible", a comment that set off alarms for some because similar comments from him in the past have preceded major SAP buys. However, this time he specified that no particular deal was in the pipeline right now, and it seems unlikely to me that SAP would try to pull something else off until the Ariba deal is settled.

The proxy battle over NextGen Healthcare parent Quality Systems ended with what appears to be a partial victory for dissident shareholder Ahmed Hussein, as he and NextGen Healthcare founder and former Quality President Patrick Cline were elected to the board. Former NextGen President Scott Decker announced he was leaving the company. It was not clear whether the timing of the departure of Decker was related to the proxy battle. Electronic health records vendor NextGen, which is based in Horsham, constitutes most of Quality Systems' business.

Inc. Magazine released its annual Inc. 5000 report, and the top Philly metro companies are shown here. Leading the way are Leadnomics (Philadelphia), Accolade (Plymouth Meeting), and WebiMax (Mount Laurel).

Fallout continued from Comcast's layoffs at NBC's Tonight Show and Jay Leno's pay cut, which created a bit of a chill over the classic car market. Comcast won a stay from the US Court of Appeals' DC Circuit delaying enforcement of the FCC's order that the cable operator place the Tennis Channel on the same tier as the Comcast-owned Golf Channel and NBC Sports Network. And a story broke that Comcast-Spectacor and Live Nation were making a proposal that Virginia Beach build a new arena with the supposed promise of an NBA team (the Kings, it was rumored), though Comcast-Spectacor denied in a statement that any specific pro team was lined up. The proposal to Virginia Beach's City Council was to be made today.



Harrisburg Patriot-News to go to three days per week print schedule; Are Advance Publications' NJ papers next?




Tom Paine

Advance Publications is expanding its transition to a three days per week print schedule for its newspaper properties. The new format, which Advance first initiated at a Michigan paper and then expanded to Alabama and New Orleans, is now being rolled out to Harrisburg and Syracuse.

The Harrisburg Patriot-News and Advance's online arm in Pennsylvania, PennLive.com, will form one organization, PA Media Group, and the company will change its print schedule to three days a week beginning in January 2013, the Patriot-News announced today. "At the same time, the organization will intensify its online and digital news-gathering efforts 24 hours a day, seven days a week", the Patriot-News says. A print edition will continue to be published on Sundays and the other two editions will be "on the scale of the current Sunday editions". Sunday circulation has fallen from 176,000 in 1992 to 118,000 today, and daily circulation has taken a similar plunge, according to the paper. A similar announcement was made today by the Syracuse Post-Standard.

No word yet from Advance's New Jersey group, which includes the Newark Star-Ledger, The Times of Trenton, and the NJ.com website, but it would not be surprising if they were the next to fall.

Obviously, with few exceptions the newspaper industry business model is still trying to find a bottom.

A personal note: as a child I delivered Advance Publications' flagship paper, the Staten Island Advance, and the Star-Ledger.



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Daily Links 8/28/2012: News from VMworld



Unisys Rolls Out Updated Private Cloud Solution (CRN)

Devon IT Selected By Acer As Software Provider For Its New Line Of Thin Client Solutions (Press Release)

VMworld shows a VMware in flux (Gigaom)



Active in Cloud, Amazon Reshapes Computing (New York Times)

Time Warner Cable Boosts New York Speeds as Google Project Looms (Bloomberg)
Don't really consider this comparable to Google Fiber, as that project is consumer-oriented and TWC's is business-oriented. Comcast has done a couple of limited buildouts like this in small parts of certain cities (Boston, Seattle, I believe), but don't know if they have anything planned for Philly.

Comcast's ThePlatform Opens Window On Video Storefronts
Commerce Extension for MPX Enables Multiscreen Transactional Content Purchases
(Multichannel News)

ESPN shells out $5.6 billion to keep Major League Baseball (LA Times: Company Town)
Double ESPN's previous deal per annum. We (consumers) will pick up most of the tab through ever increasing cable prices. NBC still looking to get foot in MLB door.

Takeaways from three years of angel investing (Gabriel Weinberg's Blog)


phillytechnews twitter feed 8/26 to 8/27/2012

Posted: 27 Aug 2012 03:46 PM PDT
phillytechnews: @Support Every time I try to use your new reply format, my browser hangs (Safari). Wish you would fix this.
Posted: 27 Aug 2012 03:30 PM PDT
phillytechnews: Daily Links 8/27/2012: Dark days at The Tonight Show http://t.co/OSv3VsMc
Posted: 27 Aug 2012 02:45 PM PDT
phillytechnews: Comcast-Spectacor, Live Nation to present to Va Beach City Council tomorrow http://t.co/j7nkyhZO


IBM to acquire Wayne-based Kenexa for $1.3 billion



Tom Paine

Wayne-based Kenexa, one of the Philadelphia area's largest software as a service (SaaS) vendors, announced this morning it had agreed to be acquired by IBM for slightly less than $1.3 billion. That represents a 42% premium over its closing price on Friday.

Founded in 1987 by Chairman & CEO Rudy Karsan and others, Kenexa began primarily as a consulting and staffing firm helping its corporate clients manage their recruiting processes. Kenexa did not start off as a technology provider but evolved into one through internal development and numerous acquisitions. Although it later exited the staffing business, consulting services are still an important part of its overall offering. Kenexa completed its IPO in 2005. In 2011 it had revenue of $283 million and a net loss of $7 million. Kenexa has about 2,800 employees and about 8,900 customers.

The IBM-Kenexa deal follows a series of M&A transactions in the Human Capital Management (HCM) SaaS space, as SAP acquired SuccessFactors for $3.4 billion, Oracle acquired Taleo for $1.9 billion, and Salesforce acquired a smaller firm named Rypple, around which it is building its Work.com platform to be introduced next month at Dreamforce. Also, emerging powerhouse Workday is planning an IPO later this year. Kenexa, however, is not the same kind of animal as most of these, as it strengths are still in the talent acquisition (recruitment) and onboarding areas, although it has broadened its portfolio. Taleo is probably its most comparable major competitor.

While IBM emphasized in its announcement the "social business" aspects of Kenexa's platform, and many of the media accounts picked up that theme, I wouldn't really think of Kenexa as being a big social play right now though I'm sure its trying to move in that direction.



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Daily Links 8/27/2012: Dark days at The Tonight Show



Acer Enters Thin Client Market With New Veriton N Series Enabling Flexible and Efficient Virtualization (Marketwire)
Incorporates technology from Devon IT as part of offerings.

Verizon Avoids FiOS TV Injunction
(Light Reading Cable)

'The Tonight Show' experiences dark days
The NBC program starring Jay Leno suffers a ratings slide and layoffs amid instability in the TV business — and after network missteps. And the stakes are rising.
(LA Times)

After meeting with Apple execs, analyst expects no television solution any time soon (Fortune Tech)

Assessing Virginia Beach as a suitor of the Sacramento Kings (Sacramento Bee)
Comcast-Spectacor to present to Virginia Beach City Council tomorrow.


Thoma Bravo Buys Software Company Deltek For $1.1 Billion (Bloomberg)


PANL: Samsung Jury Defeat Negative, Says Canaccord; Goldman Defends (Barron's: Tech Trader Daily)

A Comparison between Pacific Crest’s 2011 and 2012 SaaS Survey Results (Trident Capital Blog)

PA eHealth Collaborative Announces $6 Million in Grants to Advance Electronic Exchange of Health Information (PR Newswire)

Virtua Reaches Major Milestone in Multi-entity Health System IT Adoption
Using Siemens embedded, workflow-driven, enterprise health IT solutions, Virtua clinicians are electronically managing patient care orders and the complete care process.
(PR Newswire)



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My Father, the Cable Pioneer (New York Times)

QlikTech partnership provides new front end for Google BigQuery (Ovum)




The question every healthcare IT startup must answer (VentureBeat)
Guest post by Dr. Gary Kurtzman, managing director of Life Sciences at Safeguard Scientifics.

Reactions to Verizon’s Deal With the Cable Companies (New York Times: Bits)



Daily Links 8/24/2012: NextGen Healthcare founder, former Quality Systems President Cline elected to Qaulity Systems board


An entrepreneurial spirit grows in Phila. (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Quality Systems, Inc. Announces Results of Annual Shareholders Meeting (Business Wire)
Patrick B. Cline, co-founder of Clinitec (now NextGen Healthcare) and former President of Quality Systems, joins Quality's board as member of dissident shareholder Ahmed Hussein's slate, after last week's proxy vote. This follows the just announced departure of NextGen President Scott Decker. NextGen Healthcare, based in Horsham, is a unit of Quality Systems and a provider of Electronic Health Records (EHRs) and systems.

Salesforce.com: 5 nagging questions ahead (ZDNet Blogs)

The Dreamforce party dampener (Dennis Howlett/ZDNet)

Salesforce.com Future Includes a Marketing Cloud, Deeper Workday Links and More HTML5 (PC World)



SAP Co-CEO: European Crisis, Germany & Acquisitions/Interview with Bill McDermott (Video: CNBC)


No Wi-Fi or backhaul restrictions in FCC's approval of Verizon's cable deals (FierceCable)

Comcast scores stay of FCC order in Tennis Channel fight (LA Times: Company Town)
This seemingly unending volley just keeps on going back and forth.

Penn amps up role in Coursera online-education effort (Philadelphia Inquirer)



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phillytechnews twitter feed 8/22 to 8/23/2012

Posted: 23 Aug 2012 03:28 PM PDT
phillytechnews: Daily Links 8/23/2012: Quality Systems Elects Two Directors Nominated by Dissident Board Member http://t.co/0ULkX0Ta
Posted: 23 Aug 2012 01:51 PM PDT
phillytechnews: http://t.co/xKe4EJnS beats, although not by as much some may have expected http://t.co/u5cagVdq
Posted: 23 Aug 2012 01:48 PM PDT
phillytechnews: @bobmoul Some use the more formal version


Daily Links 8/23/2012: Quality Systems Elects Two Directors Nominated by Dissident Board Member



Quality Systems Elects Two Directors Nominated by Dissident Board Member (Dow Jones Newswires via Fox Business)

Google's audacious bet on fiber -- and why it could work (Fortune Tech)

Verizon-Cable Spectrum Deal Said to Get Unanimous FCC Vote (Bloomberg)

Verizon Wireless's Cable Cold Zones (Light Reading Cable)

Appeal could delay resolution of class action against Comcast (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Virginia Beach spokesman: Comcast guaranteed pro team (Sacramento Bee)


Comcast Adds Live Disney Channels to Xfinity.com/tv
Provides live online streams of Disney Channel, Disney Junior and Disney XD to authenticated subs
(Broadcasting & Cable)

Salesforce.com Reports Q2 Revenues Up 34% With EPS Of 42 Cents (TechCrunch)

Salesforce.com Profit Forecast Misses Estimate as Rivals Move In (Bloomberg)

Ten ways Workday looks like the Apple for enterprise (Dennis Howlett/ZDNet Blogs)

Analysis: Cisco, EMC partnership turning into rivalry (Reuters)

CEO Vs. CIO: Big Data Security Battle
Many execs don't see eye-to-eye on new cloud computing environments now, but who has the advantage in the long term?
(Information Week)
Interview with Ryan Caplan, president and CEO of Wayne-based Coldlight Solutions.

Small-Business Finance Platform On Deck Raises $100 Million (All Things Digital)
First Round Capital was an early backer of On Deck, with SAP Ventures getting in later.



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Daily Links 8/22/2012: Judge says TruePosition lawsuit can proceed; NextGen Healthcare President leaving



Quality Systems, Inc.’s NextGen Healthcare President Scott Decker to Leave Post
I have no information about what came out of last week's shareholders meeting and proxy fight, so I don't whether this move was related to that. NextGen Healthcare is based in Horsham.

Comcast losses bid to limit class action case (Reuters)

Comcast to unite forces in Chattanooga (Chattanooga Times Free Press)

Motorola Mobility Licenses Comcast Software to Expedite Next-Gen Video Services Delivery
Reference Design Kit Speeds Set-Top Development to Rapidly Drive the Evolution of TV
(PR Newswire)

Motorola Still Tight With Comcast (Light Reading Cable)

NJ governor signs university merger bill (AP via CBS Money Watch)

Aereo sues to squash copycat BarryDriller (Gigaom)


Liberty Media unit [Berwyn-based TruePosition] mobile phone lawsuit can proceed: judge (Reuters)

Siemens Healthcare Enters into Definitive Agreement to Acquire [Plymouth Meeting-based] Penrith Corporation (PR Newswire)

Robin Hood Ventures funds OneTwoSee (Philadelphia Business Journal)

T-Mobile USA to offer unlimited HSPA+ data from Sept. 5 (Computerworld)



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Top 100 Philly Area firms on 2012 Inc. 5000




Tom Paine


Here are the top 100 Philly area firms on the 2012 Inc. 5000. The top 3 are Leadnomics (Philadelphia), sales lead information, #26 nationwide; Accolade (Plymouth Meeting), health care assistance services, #33; and WebiMax (Mount Laurel), SEO/SEM services, #37.

I like to point out that some of the highest ranked companies are starting from a very small base, and that revenue growth by itself is often not the best indicator of future success. There are presumably others that could qualify for this list but prefer to keep their revenue figures confidential. Also, this year Inc. seems to have a (free) signup requirement if you are to have access to all the information.



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Snabe: "Further acquisitions are possible" for SAP




Tom Paine



When SAP co-CEO Jim Hagemann Snabe says the company is considering making other acquisitions, as he told a German newspaper in an article appearing in its Monday edition, I listen, because his statements have proven to be accurate predictors. He made similar comments shortly preceeding two of its past three big deals - Sybase and SuccessFactors - though I don't recall if he made such a comment before the Ariba acquisition was announced.

In this case, though, he did specify that that there were no concrete plans at present for any purchases, according to Reuters' report on the original article. So I wouldn't expect anything within the next few months at least. And I would guess that SAP would like to get the Ariba deal done (DOJ came back for more information) before swallowing any other large foreign objects.

Nonetheless, Snabe's comments will probably start a whole new round of the popular guessing game "Who will SAP buy next", with enterprise social media (Jive, Lithium?) near the top of many lists as it has been for a while.


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Jay Leno takes pay cut at NBC



Verizon learned from AT&T’s mistakes to push spectrum deal with cable operators (The Hill)

'Tonight Show' and Jay Leno get hit with budget cuts (LA Times: Company Town)


phillytechnews twitter feed 8/17/2012

Posted: 17 Aug 2012 07:22 PM PDT
phillytechnews: @anniemal meant on 2 levels: not good for aspiring MLB player to get stuck there; but know you're from there and didn't mean to put it down
Posted: 17 Aug 2012 07:13 PM PDT
phillytechnews: RT @brelow: Whoow! @Curalate is taking home hardware for @Geekadelphia's startup of the year. Drinks on @ApuGupta all night #phillygeeka ...
Posted: 17 Aug 2012 07:12 PM PDT
phillytechnews: @anniemal @jtramsay Nobody should be stuck in Allentown forever
Posted: 17 Aug 2012 03:55 PM PDT
phillytechnews: New PTN Post: My view: Verizon Wireless-Cable deal gets off light http://t.co/WRPVThnG


My view: Verizon Wireless-Cable deal gets off light



Tom Paine


I see terms such as "stringent" or "tough" restrictions or "strict remedies" appearing in some of the headlines popping up about Department of Justice's blessing of the spectrum swap and joint marketing and technology development agreements between Verizon Wireless and a group of cable operators led by Comcast. In my view, the companies got everything they were after for now.

I'm a laissez-fare, anti-regulatory person generally who tends to oppose most antitrust enforcement in the technology area by the Federal government. For instance, IBM's virtual dominance of the computing market was ultimately dismantled by technological changes that would have happened anyway, and the same is largely true for Microsoft. I have no basic gripe about the spectrum sale. The cable consortium took a realistic look at the wireless market and determined they could not create another independent, viable competitor in that space, a view I agree with, so they decided to sell the spectrum rather than build it out. As a result, a vast quantity of prime spectrum will be available to meet soaring demand rather than being warehoused. Nor do I have a particular problem with the cable companies being able to resell Verizon Wireless service as part of a quad play.

But residential landline service still has an important utility element to it. And what does bother me is anything that threatens to further limit competition in broadband access. Many areas of the country only have one true choice for residential broadband service, some areas two, and very few have three. And many have relatively slow DSL as the only option, or in some rural areas not even that. (I don't consider satellite to be a realistic or competitive option for most.) And while some see wireless eventually replacing wired broadband for many applications, there will continue to be serious limits to wireless capacity. Wireless may ultimately surpass DSL, but it is unlikely in the forseeable future to match the types of gains in speed that Fiber To The Node (with Docsis) or Fiber To The Home (FiOS) networks will achieve.

The requirement that Verizon Wireless not sell the cable systems' services in areas where FiOS is already present is virtually meaningless; that's just asking a company not to compete against itself. Although Verizon management has often expressed a negative view of the economics of FiOS (something I don't necessarily accept, when looked at from the perspective of its impact on the entire enterprise value of Verizon's wireline business), certainly in areas where the capital costs are already sunk FiOS as a whole and even Video Service by itself must be cashflow positive. While I could envision a longer term scenario where Verizon might wish to get out of the video business (or perhaps even residential broadband all together) and sell the FiOS infrastructure to cable operators, that's not what was on the table right now.

Verizon has stated that it had already decided in 2009 not to expand FiOS further except for completing existing franchise agreements (and we will see how that works out in Philly), but we don't know for a fact that Verizon might not have considered further FiOS buildouts in the future. This deal essentially forecloses that possibility, making it more likely that much of Verizon's footprint will not have that other broadband choice. Unless you believe that Google Fiber or some other new competitor will emerge on a national level, which most analysts doubt.

The DOJ's language states that the joint marketing and technology ventures must be terminated after 4 years, but that really just means DOJ has the power to review them after four years. While that's nice, and makes long term planning for the joint ventures a bit cloudier, I'm not sure how meaningful it is. Its very difficult to unravel a fait accompli. I know I'm going against the grain of many in the financial community who believe that two complete, national high-speed residential broadband buildouts are economically impractical at this time, but I don't believe Verizon should be allowed such a incentive for not continuing to evolve as a competitor to Cable. This is not the outcome the Telecommunications Act of 1996 was expected to lead to. The precedent this agreement sets also opens the door for AT&T and other incumbent local carriers to reach their own agreements with cable operators in their areas.

Comcast has a tremendous lobbying organization and a great deal of political influence in Washington and with the White House right now. Just to be clear, I'm not implying anything undue, and in fact more Republicans will probably support this agreement than Democrats. Its just that I'm frankly surprised that DOJ (and apparently the FCC also) went so easy on it. The entire agreement between Verizon Wireless and the cable operators was carefully crafted to avoid many of possible legal challenges. Is there any room for state regulatory bodies to challenge the arrangement? I don't know, though I imagine what DOJ says takes precedence.

A couple of other outcomes from this might have a positive impact on the Philly area. One is that the technology joint venture between Verizon Wireless and and the cable operators will continue to develop. I've seen few details about it. The original announcement said it would be located in Philadelphia, but subsequent reports indicated it might be located in the New Brunswick area.

The other is that T-Mobile comes out of this a stronger competitor due to its acquiring AWS spectrum from Verizon Wireless, and this includes a big block in the Philly area. See my article from a few months on the spectrum dilemma T-Mobile faced as it moves to LTE.. This is a big part of the solution for them.







Daily Links 8/17/2012: Apple reported in talks with Comcast to carry live broadcasts on streaming device



Apple in talks with Comcast to carry live broadcasts on streaming device (Bloomberg via NJ.com)
I've always been skeptical of Apple's ability to partner with the cable business (or vice versa). Wouldn't necessarily draw conclusions from this report.

Apple's Pay-TV Path May Run Through Cable (Light Reading Cable)

Apple to Make Cable Set-Top Boxes? Not. Going. To. Happen (Video Nuze)

Apple: iPad Mini, iTV Now In Production, Analyst Reports (Forbes)

SAP Courts Startups From Health to Retail in Data Push (Bloomberg)

Tigerlabs Accelerator Showcases Its First Batch Of Startups At Princeton Demo Day (TechCrunch)

IRIS International Selects ThingWorx for Next-Generation Remote Service and Support of Medical Devices (Business Wire)



Change in direction at Novotorium; Mike Krupit leaving




Tom Paine

Langhorne, Bucks County-based incubator Novotorium is changing its direction, and losing the person who was the driving force behind its creation - General Manager Mike Krupit - it was announced yesterday.

Gary Baron, Chairman of Baron Innovation Group, which owns and funds Novotorium, will become the interim Managing Director, while the incubator shifts its focus to supporting wellness and healthy lifestyle businesses. This includes Baron's own startup, Healthy Food Now. Baron will be searching for "a seasoned senior executive from the health, wellness and nutrition community" to run the incubator on a permanent basis, the company said in a statement. Novotorium will continue to support the existing startups at the facility, Zuppler and TravelCare; and Baron’s core business, Voice Systems Engineering. The other members of the Novotorium team, Maria Collins, Alberto Janza and Chuck Hall will continue to be involved.

In an email sent to Novotorium supporters in which he announced his decision to leave, Krupit said, "After spending a lot of time and passion over the past year to get Novotorium off the ground, a series of events (dare I say “perfect storm”) has led me to consider my path and and redirect my focus".

Mike Krupit
Krupit described the Philadelphia region as "a pretty challenging startup environment". "Our model looked for bootstrapping companies at the launch and post-launch stage - and we struggled to find enough of them here. We ran into a lot of fences - geographic, institutional, financial. The startup communities in Philly, Princeton, and Lehigh have great spirit and camaraderie, but there is still a fair amount of insulation between entrepreneurs and the region’s big companies, universities, government, and capital".

Krupit also says he plans to continue working with startup businesses and "am now beginning such explorations". His LinkedIn profile shows him to be an advisor to Real Food Works, former Infonautics colleague Lucinda Duncalfe's new startup focused on plant based diets, an interest he personally shares.

Krupit, a New York City native with a computer science background, was an early member of the executive team at Josh Kopelman's first startup, Infonautics, and ended up running another renown area startup, CDNow, after it had been acquired by Bertelsmann.



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Daily Links 8/16/2012: Verizon-Cable Agreement Wins DOJ Approval Today (With Some Restrictions)




Verizon, Comcast Airwaves Accord Wins Antitrust Approval (Bloomberg)

Comcast Statement Regarding U.S. Department of Justice Verizon Wireless-SpectrumCo Commercial Agreements Consent Decree (Comcast Voices/Official Comcast Blog)

Critics Slam SpectrumCo Approval
Say Conditions Not Enough to Protect Consumers
(Multichannel News)


NBCUniversal can count its sprawling, multi-platform Olympics coverage as a win (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Is Apple's iTV television plan in trouble? (Computerworld Blogs)

Philly Fed factory activity shrinks for fourth month in August (Reuters)
But slightly improved from last month.
Philly Fed Press Release

Braintree expands mobile payment ambitions; acquires Venmo (Gigaom)
Venmo started in Philly, received backing from Accel Ventures, and moved to New York last year. Braintree is paying $26.2 million for it. Accel is also an investor in Braintree.

IMS Health Acquires Philly-based TTC, Strengthening Pharma R&D Services Capabilities
Delivers Industry-Leading Clinical Trial Cost Benchmarking Solutions
(Business Wire)
This is the second deal IMS Health has announced this week, the first being UK-based PharmaVentures Ltd, which maintains a database of Pharma industry transactions. While IMS Health's global headquarters are in Parsippany NJ, its US unit is based in Collegeville.

A New Day at Quewey (Quewey Blog)
Philly-based Q&A site pivots.

Peco suspends smart-meter installations after Bucks fire (Philadelphia Inquirer)



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phillytechnews twitterfeed 8/15/2012

Posted: 15 Aug 2012 03:39 PM PDT
phillytechnews: RT @seattletimes: Felix Hernandez has taken his place in the halls of baseball immortality after pitching a perfect game against the Tam ...
Posted: 15 Aug 2012 03:33 PM PDT
phillytechnews: New PTN Post: MoneyTree VC report: Which startups really are based in Philly area? http://t.co/GfLOKR2A


MoneyTree VC report: Which startups really are based in Philly area?



Tom Paine



In sorting through the Q2 2012 PricewaterhouseCoopers/National Venture Capital Association MoneyTree Venture Capital report (free registration) based on ThomsonReuters data, you can often come across some confusing information.

For instance, be wary of startups shown as being based in Delaware. Often they have nothing more to do with the state other than being registered there. For instance, Speaktoit, a Siri-like app for Android, is shown in the report as being based in Newark, DE, but CEO Ilya Gelfenbeyn told me by email when the funding was first announced in May that "we are in DC and now opening an office in Sunnyvale, CA", and only has a registration office in Delaware. Speaktoit recieved funding from Intel Capital. Another example is Roqbot, a social music service for businesses, which is shown as being based in Dover, DE, but is actually based in California. Google Ventures is among its backers.

Also, there are a number of startups listed as being located in Conshohocken. which happens to be the current location of First Round Capital's office until it moves to Philadelphia (as Josh Kopelman announced today). So it is no surprise that First Round is an early stage investor in each of them, although they won't be located there or in the Philly area at all in some cases. One, crowdfunding VC site FundersClub, lists three UPenn alumni as its top principals, although I haven't been able to determine yet where it is they call home. Another crowdfunding startup, Upstart, which lets investors back individuals rather than companies, is located in Palo Alto according to FormDs.com. Grokker looks like it is a reincanation of a visual search engine of the same name that shut down in 2009. which was also located in the Bay area. Another, Perceptual Networks, may have bi-coastal roots in terms of its founders, but Kopelman confirmed in his post today that it will have a Philly presence in that it will have space in FRC's new offices. I have no information on what Perceptual Networks is out to do yet.

Another interesting investment is that of Norwest Venture Partners in Media-based Alarm Capital Alliance, which provides home security systems through a network of third party dealers. The size of the investment wasn't disclosed. I know little about ACA, but I do know that Norwest usually invests in fairly sizable amounts of a few million or more. If I understand correctly, part of what ACA does is to provide dealer financing, so the Norwest investment could be related to that.

In all, it was a weak quarter for IT and digital-related investments in the Philly area. The total of all investment was less than $58 million, according to MoneyTree, but a quick glance indicates at least $44 million of that was in Pharma ventures and even some of remainder included the report was for companies not actually located in the area.

Philly Tech News' own database tracking Philly area (IT-related) VC investments doesn't exactly match the MoneyTree data, often because of timing differences. Some partial rounds often appear in different quarters. For example, MoneyTree shows a $3 million investment in InstaMed for the quarter, while my report includes the entire $14 million round the company announced in May.

Philly Tech News Philly VC Investments Database (Updated 8/15/2012)



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Daily Links 8/15/2012: First Round Capital moving from Conshy to Philly



Hello Philly! (Redeye VC)
First Round Capital moving from Conshohocken to Philadelphia.

SevOne P2P Sharing and Big Data Clusters For Monitoring On A Massive Scale (TechCrunch)
SevOne is based in Newark, DE.

Verizon, Comcast Agree to U.S. Demands on Airwaves (Bloomberg)

Here's Comcast's Coming Speed, Pricing Lineup
Competitive (FiOS) Areas to See Changes First
(Broadband Reports)

Best Buy, Target, Walmart, and others team up to create new mobile wallet solution (The Verge)

OLED displays to hit sales of $44B by 2019, with growth in TVs and mobile devices (VentureBeat)
If accurate, would be promising news for Ewing-based Universal Display.

Astea Reports Profitable Second Quarter 2012 Results (PR Newswire)
Horsham-based provider of field service management solutions grows revenue 32% and swings to net income of $885,000 from a loss of $839,000 a year ago.

USA Technologies Enters Mobile Acceptance Market
ePort Mobile Brings Turn-key ePort Connect Service Platform to Smart Phones and Tablets for Business Customers
(Business Wire)



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Highlights last week on Philly Tech News (8/6/2012 to 8/12/2012)



I looked at how HostMySite, the Newark, Delaware-based small business-oriented web hosting service that was folded into the more enterprise-oriented Hosting.com, has been broken out as a separate division and given increased emphasis.

Liberty Interactive reported that revenue at its QVC unit grew 4% in the 2nd quarter, and that QVC's joint venture in China had been approved by Chinese officials.

SAP expert watcher Dennis Howlett discovered that there were some significant accounting issues at SuccessFactors prior to its acquisition by SAP.

Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania announced it had invested $1.375 million in seven early stage ventures.

Comcast CEO Brian Roberts discussed his vision for the company in an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek.

The latest Philly newspapers ownership group, Interstate Media General, told staff in a memo that the papers are still losing millions and it wants more cuts. Apparently, its capital may not be as "patient" as thought.

The city of Philadelphia named its first chief data officer, Mark Headd.


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Daily Links 8/14/2012: Verizon Wireless spectrum deal near regulatory approval (WSJ)


Verizon Wireless spectrum deal near regulatory approval - WSJ (Reuters)

Talks Falter Between Stacey Snider, Comcast (Hollywood Reporter)

New York Surpasses Boston as Tech Hub says First Round Capital’s Howard Morgan (Startup Grind)

Conshohocken-based New Horizons Enters into Definitive Agreement to Be Acquired by an Investor Group Led by Camden Partners (Business Wire)

Salesforce’s Answer To Facebook? Communities: A Private Social Network For You And Your Customers (TechCrunch)

Considering mobile POS? How URBN (Urban Outfitters) leverages apps for a streamlined in-store checkout (National Retail Federation Blog)

Drexel law professor creates a virtual venue for getting real-world experience (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Uber Hit With Cease And Desist In Boston, Promises To Continue “Full Speed Ahead” (TechCrunch)

RevitasNOW™ Brings the Power of Enterprise Revenue Dynamics to the Cloud
Revitas introduces a powerful cloud solution for optimizing and managing complex contracts, pricing, and compliance scenarios
(Business Wire)

S4 Worldwide Receives Investment from Ben Franklin Technology Partners (Business Wire)





phillytechnews twitter feed 8/12/ to 8/13/2012

Posted: 13 Aug 2012 03:00 PM PDT
phillytechnews: Daily Links 8/13/2012: Google cuts 4,000 at Motorola, but says impact at Horsham "minimal" http://t.co/rF9AdSIJ
Posted: 13 Aug 2012 02:14 PM PDT
phillytechnews: RT @ScottMAustin: Groupon's sequential revenue growth for past 6 quarters reads like this: 72%, 97%, 10%, 14%, 14%, 2%. Not exactly high ...


Daily Links 8/13/2012: Google cuts 4,000 at Motorola, but says impact at Horsham "minimal"



Motorola Set for Big Cuts as Google Reinvents It (New York Times)
It sounds as if this round might be mostly aimed at the handset business. Reports have suggested that Google may have decided to sell the Horsham-based home business, but this article doesn't clarify that.
Update: Some cuts at Motorola Home, but company says "the impact on Horsham is minimal", Light Reading Cable reports.

Google Faces a Big Set-Top Overhang With Expected Sale of Moto Home (Multichannel News)


Pay TV should be “afraid, very afraid” of Google Fiber, SNL Kagan says
(paidContent)

Dish Network's Ergen predicts a pay TV provider will launch a sports-free service (FierceCable)


Study Examines “Clubby” World of Venture Capital (Wall Street Journal: Venture Capital Dispatch)
Study by RJMetrics' co-founder Robert Moore finds that some VCs such as First Round Capital often co-invest with certain firms, while others like Edison Ventures frequently go solo.

Stick a Fork In It: Dell Is Done (PandoDaily)

Dell Is Done? Just a Little Premature (PandoDaily)
An alternative view.

Salesforce.com Just Landed Its Biggest Deal Ever, But Can’t Brag About It (All Things D)

T-Mobile USA Said To Be Target Of Trujillo Buyout Attempt (Bloomberg)

Echo Therapeutics Announces $20 Million Financing with Platinum-Montaur Life Sciences (PR Newswire)


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