How's Michael Rubin's Fanatics doing?

Tom Paine



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Terry Lefton writes in SportsBusinessJournal on "How Rubin is rocking sports licensing".

Michael Rubin is Chairman of Conshohocken-based Kynetic LLC and of Jacksonville-based Fanatics. (Actually, Fanatics now calls Jacksonville its east coast headquarters and it new San Mateo office its west coast headquarters.)

"In a short period of time, Fanatics has rocked the traditionally sleepy licensing industry through its aggressive acquisition and distribution strategy, to the point where competitors sarcastically refer to the company as simply 'the F word,'" Lefton opens.

Lefton interviewed Rubin in Houston before the Super Bowl.

Rubin: Revenue was $1.4 billion in 2016 and Rubin hopes it will grow 30 to 40% in 2017.

Been profitable since 2011 but "still in investment mode".

From 2010 through last year, "we grew Fanatics’ sports licensed business 5x."

"Do I believe that eventually there will be an IPO? Yes". But not planning for one now. Rubin says he still owns 70% of Fanatics.

Investing heavily in technology. Supply chain ("creating a faster supply chain is critical — that’s a big investment"), personalization of online experience. Building fulfillment centers.

Rubin discusses what he didn't like about the way he built GSI Commerce, and how he changed the business model for Fanatics.

Fanatics' last reported valuation was $3.1 billion based on a 2013 financing, with backers like Alibaba and Andreessen Horowitz.



2/28: Amazon outage breaks large parts of the internet; YouTube to launch pay OTT service




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Roku Got Close to $400 Million Revenue in 2016 (Variety)
Roku is reported to be raising at least $200 million at a $1.5 billion valuation.

Comcast coy about revised DOCSIS 3.1 rollout strategy following Tuscaloosa announcement (FierceCable)



YouTube, the world’s biggest video site, wants to sell you TV for $35 a month (Recode)


Comcast Takes Full Control of Japan Theme Park in Global Push (Bloomberg)

Hersheys to reduce global workforce by 15 percent (Reuters)






Amazon outage breaks large parts of the internet (Engadget)

Amazon’s web servers are back online after more than four hours of disruption (The Verge)



Why It’s So Hard to Build the Next Silicon Valley (Bloomberg)

Salesforce Revenue Forecast Falls Short as Cloud Rivals Gain (Bloomberg)




Philadelphia to offer free rent to lure suburban companies: Report
(Philadelphia Business Journal)
Sounds like it might be targeted toward WeWork. Need more info as to how this came about.


Workday's CEO says turmoil with Oracle's acquisition of NetSuite helped bolster a historic quarter (CNBC)
DuPont is a Workday customer, and Workday confirmed yesterday that it is assisting Dow Chemical in anticipation of the merger being completed.


Workday Falls: FYQ4 Beats, Street Annoyed ‘Billings’ View Taken Away
(Barron's Tech Trader Daily)


Changes in Oracle's Report Card
( Bill Kutik/HR Executive Online)


Why eBay’s Former CEO Is Joining This $1.4 Billion Cloud Company (Fortune)
John Donahoe was CEO of eBay when it acquired GSI Commerce in 2011. He left Michael Rubin with what turned out to be its most valuable business - Fanatics. How's Michael Rubin's Fanatics doing? OK.



Ericsson CEO Ekholm Says 5G Is Starting to Happen (Bloomberg Video)



Will SoFi expand into biz lending with its Zenbanx acquisition?

Tom Paine



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From Axios' Pro Rata (Dan Primack), on SoFi's recent deal to buy Claymont, DE-based Zenbanx, from a conversation with SoFi CEO Mike Cagney:

""Will SoFi expand into biz lending? "That's a very active dialog we have here, particularly with the Zenbanx acquisition that's synergistic to the business side. I think we'll decide that soon... One thing we are going to do first is launch a practice loan for doctors and dentists where they can borrow money to start their own businesses.""

https://www.axios.com/pro-rata-2286512637.html


The 2017 PACT Enterprise Awards finalists have been named

Tom Paine



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The 2017 PACT Enterprise Awards finalists have been named. The PACT Enterprise Awards will be held on May 18 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

While some of these firms are well established and known in the Philly Tech community, others are like spotting the best prospects in minor league baseball baseball heading towards the majors. PACT's committee has a good record in picking high achievers.

Last year's winning technology startup, energy data firm NavPort, was acquired in December by Canada's RS Energy Group, with backing from Warburg Pincus.

Philly Tech News profiled QuantaVerse (Technology Startup nominee) in December. The Wayne-based Fintech venture won the "Peoples' Choice" award at PACT's IMPACT 2016 Capital Conference in the fall, and has also been nominated for benzinga's Global Fintech awards.

Regulatory DataCorp, King of Prussia (Technology Emerging), was acquired last summer by Vista Equity from Bain Capital Ventures. It is in a field roughly similar to QuantaVerse, though at a more mature stage, as it provides software and data which helps financial institutions and others identify regulatory risk.

GSI Health, Philadelphia (Healthcare Innovator), is in the emerging field of Population Health Management systems.

AlphaPoint, Berwyn (Technology Startup), develops blockchain-powered enterprise solutions.



Below are all the 2017 Enterprise Awards Finalists:

Investment Deal
Accolade
Safeguard Scientifics/NewSpring
Tabula Rasa
Sponsors: Broadpath and Grant Thornton

Technology Company
EPAM Systems
ERT
Evolve IP
Sponsor: Comcast Business

Technology CEO
Billtrust, Flint Lane
IMS Technology Services, Jill Renninger
Quench, Tony Ibarguen
Sponsor: Cozen O'Connor

Technology Emerging
CorpU
Regulatory DataCorp (RDC)
Workplace Dynamics
Sponsors: Fox Rothschild and EisnerAmper

Technology Startup
Alpha Point
QuantaVerse
Roar for Good
Sponsors: Ben Franklin Technology Partners and Pepper Hamilton

Healthcare Innovator
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
GSI Health
Inovio Pharmaceuticals
Sponsor: Independence Blue Cross

Healthcare CEO
Excellis Health Solutions, Greg Cathcart
Phlexglobal, Rick Riegel
The One Health Company, Christina Lopes
Sponsors: EY and Morgan Lewis Bockius

Healthcare Emerging
CloudMine
Genisphere
VenatoRx Pharmaceuticals
Sponsor: RSM

Healthcare Startup
BioDetego
BlackFynn
PolyCore Therapeutics
Sponsor: University City Science Center


2/27: Comcast to Stream YouTube on X1; Apple and SAP Enterprise Partnership Launching First App in Marc




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Comcast to Stream YouTube on X1 Boxes (Multichannel News)

No AT&T-Time Warner merger review expected: U.S. regulator's chairman (Reuters)

AT&T Entertainment CEO Touts Rising Importance of Content (Hollywood Reporter)




MWC 2017: Apple and SAP Enterprise Partnership Launching First App in March (MacRumors)

Foxconn Rides Wave of 'iPhone 8' Expectations (Bloomberg)












Report: Amazon may launch new AWS productivity suite to take on Microsoft and Google
(Geekwire)


Salesforce.com Earnings Preview: Billings, M&A Outlook Eyed
(IBD)


PMV Pharma gets $74M boost for personalized chemistry (Med City News)
PMV Pharma is based in Cranbury, NJ.



Sequential Technology plans to grow workforce at Bethlehem data center it acquired from Synchronoss (Allentown Morning Call)


Is it the end of Verizon's printed phone books? Google and mobile phones threaten yellow pages (Philly.com)



Sunday Highlights: Philly-area real estate guru Nakahara joins Comcast board; Exyn unveils AI to help drones fly autonomously




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MobiTV raises another 21 million dollars (InformITV)

Post Cable Networks (Jon Steinberg CEO/Founder @ Cheddar.com /Medium)

Philly-area real estate guru Nakahara joins Comcast board (Philly.com)

Exyn unveils AI to help drones fly autonomously, even indoors or off the grid (TechCrunch)

SoftBank set to invest more than $3 billion in WeWork (CNBC)

Cloud companies are eyeing cell services, Nokia CEO says (PCWorld)




Moore Presents “Women in Animation Film Festival”
March 23-26 for Women’s History Month

MOORE PRESENTS “WOMEN IN ANIMATION FILM FESTIVAL”
March 23-26 for Women’s History Month

Philadelphia, PA – Moore College of Art & Design presents a four-day festival of animated feature and short films created by women, along with Meet-the-Artists discussions, an Adobe Creative Jam, and the annual panel featuring women game designers.

In conjunction with Women’s History Month, the “2017 MooreWomenArtists: Women in Animation Film Festival” begins Thursday, March 23, and continues through Sunday, March 26, in Stewart Auditorium on the College’s campus at 20th Street and The Parkway.

The Film Festival comes at a time when Moore is looking forward to graduating its first group of students majoring in Animation & Game Arts in May. All events are open to the public and admission is free. The schedule for the Festival, sponsored by Adobe and Animation Magazine, is as follows. For more information: moore.edu/womeninanimation2017

Thursday, March 23: 6:30 pm
Game Changers: Women Making Games
Kat Webster from Bioware, Lauren Brown from EA Games along with other women working in games and animation will discuss their creative process, careers and how they are affecting change in the industry. The panel will be followed by Q&A with the audience and a reception with the panelists. Admission is free.

Friday, March 24: 7:00 pm
Shorts Program #1 & Window Horses
A program of juried animated shorts by women will be followed by Asian-Canadian filmmaker, writer and visual artist Ann Marie Fleming’s Window Horses (2016) featuring the voices of Sandra Oh and Ellen Page. Window Horses (The Poetic Persian Epiphany of Rosie Ming) follows Rosie Ming (Sandra Oh), a young Canadian poet of mixed descent who grew up believing her father abandoned her. She's been invited to perform her poetry at a festival in Iran, where she finds that what she'd been told as a child may not necessarily be the entire truth. The film will be followed by a Meet-the-Artist Q&A. Admission is free.

Saturday, March 25: 1:00 pm
Shorts Program #2 & Emily Hubley screens works by Faith Hubley
This afternoon of animation will include a different juried program of shorts by women and then American filmmaker and animator Emily Hubley will screen a program of films by her mother and animation pioneer Faith Hubley, who died in 2001. Faith, who often collaborated with her husband, John, combined elements of myth, jazz, and a deeply felt humanism in her films, which included the Academy Award-winning shorts Moonbird (1959), The Hole (1962), and A Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass Double Feature (1966), as well as the Oscar-nominated Windy Day, Of Men and Demons, Voyage to Next and A Doonesbury Special. The film will be followed by a Meet-the-Artist Q&A. Admission is free.

Saturday, March 25: 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Adobe Creative Jam Tournament & Presentations
Adobe will present a Creative Jam event where local thought leaders share a behind-the-scene peek into their processes and projects; meanwhile, teams compete in a tournament that puts their creative skills to the test using Adobe Creative Cloud. The tournament begins at 5:00 pm in Moore’s studios and will be followed with presentations by thought leaders and the winning teams in Stewart Auditorium and a reception in Widener Memorial Gallery. Participation and admission are free. For more on this event: nvite.com/CreativeJam/moore

Saturday, March 25: 8:30 pm
Jessica Ciocci’s Animation Mix Tape
Jessica Ciocci is a founding member of the Pittsburgh, PA/Providence, RI art collective Paper Rad. The collective creates comics, zines, video art, net art, MIDI files, paintings, installations and music, and has work exhibited in major museums and galleries, including The New Museum of Contemporary Art and Deitch Projects. Ciocci’s work includes drawing, painting, craft, home-recording, photography, performance and animation. Her animated program will be loosely-based on her audio collage mix tapes and include a fully integrated video collage of inspiring women animators whom she admires. The screening will be followed by a Meet-the-Artist Q&A. Admission is free.

Sunday, March 26: 3:00 pm
A Family Friendly Animated Feature Film
Several animated works created by women are being considered. The selection will be announced soon.

Sunday, March 26: 7:00 pm
Shorts Program #3 & Rocks in My Pockets
The evening begins with the third juried program of animated shorts by women and continues with Rocks in My Pockets directed by Latvian-native Signe Baumane. Now living in New York City, the New York Foundation for the Arts Fellow in Film worked for independent animator Bill Plympton and later went on to create her own animated films, including Birth and Rocks in My Pockets. A story of mystery and redemption, this moving work is based on true events involving Baumane and four other women in her family, exploring their battles with depression. It raises questions of how much family genetics determine who we are and if it is possible to outsmart ones’ own DNA. The film will be followed by a Meet-the-Artist Q&A. Admission is free.

Moore launched the MooreWomenArtists Film Festival in spring 2016, which was inspired by the College’s MooreWomenArtists website, an online destination for all women visual artists to share ideas, issues, successes and histories.

Moore College of Art & Design educates students for careers in art and design. Founded in 1848, Moore is the nation's first and only women's visual arts college for undergraduates. The College's career-focused environment and professionally active faculty form a dynamic community in the heart of Philadelphia's cultural district, surrounded by world-class museums. The College offers ten bachelor of fine arts degrees for women and four coeducational graduate programs. In addition, Moore provides many valuable opportunities in the arts through The Galleries at Moore, Continuing Education Certificate programs for professional adults, the acclaimed Young Artists Workshop, The Art Shop and Sculpture Park. For more information about Moore, visit www.moore.edu



Saturday Highlights: Veeva defied detractors when it launched a cloud life sciences biz a decade ago; Softbank and Foxconn to deepen ties with joint venture




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Veeva defied detractors when it launched a cloud life sciences biz a decade ago (TechCrunch)

Tech groups Softbank and Foxconn to deepen ties with joint venture (Reuters)

A self-driving Uber ran a red light last December, contrary to company claims
(The Verge)

Buffett Says $100 Billion Wasted Trying to Beat the Market (Bloomberg)
Calls Jack Bogle a hero.

German software firm to enter Richmond area
(Richmond Times-Dispatch)
-Considered Philly.

Internet of Things in the enterprise: The state of play (ZDNet)

Why the FCC delayed new privacy regulations for AT&T, Verizon, and Comcast
(Christian Science Monitor)





Philadelphia-based LLR Partners files for fifth fund

Tom Paine



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Philadelphia-based LLR Partners has filed with the SEC for it fifth fund (LLR Equity Partners Parallel V, L.P.), as reported by ProRata. The amount it is targeting for the new fund was not disclosed in the filing.

LLR EQUITY PARTNERS IV, L.P., which closed in 2014, raised $950 million.


2/24: Honeywell sues Icontrol & Alarm.com to block competitors from merging; Roku raising new funding round




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Honeywell Sues Icontrol & Alarm.com to Block Competitors From Merging (Security Sales & Integration)

Tableau, Microsoft, Qlik Lead Gartner's BI & Analytic Platforms Magic Quadrant
(CMS Wire)
Qlik still in leader's quadrant, but slipped a bit from last year.


Biggest Mistakes To Avoid When Reading the Magic Quadrant (Cindi Howson / Gartner Group)






Candy.com’s sweet solution for EDI-to-ERP e-commerce integration (Diginomica)
Using Dell Boomi.

Jornaya Introduces Tool Ensuring TCPA Compliance on Leads from Facebook Ads
(Mobile Advertising Watch)

Comcast gets portion of Viamedia’s $225M local ad monopoly suit tossed (FierceCable)


Roku Raising New Round of Funding (Fortune)
At a reported $1.5 billion valuation.

Does radio have a future? Philly's Entercom makes $4B leap with CBS Radio deal (Phiily.com)


Surge of New Capacity Expected in Top US Data Center Markets This Year
(Data Center Knowledge)
Northern Virginia continues to lead the way.

UPDATE: $100M deal has start-up founder eager for Trump bank reforms (Philly Deals)




2/23: Uber troubles; Any review of AT&T–Time Warner merger?




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Lyft launches in 54 more cities across the U.S. (TechCrunch)

Early Uber investors say they’re ‘disappointed’ in the company’s response to sexual harassment claims (TechCrunch)
No comment, as far as I can see, from First Round Capital.

Waymo, Google’s self-driving car division, sues Uber over alleged patent infringement (Ars Technica)


Is anyone gonna review this AT&T–Time Warner merger or what? (The Verge)
Think AT&T's position is that a review is not needed. See below:

Time Warner sells Atlanta TV station for $70M to Meredith as AT&T merger looms (FierceCable)
What the Superstation-now TBS-grew out of. Originally just a UHF channel in Atlanta, and Turner got a satellite uplink. Legend.

Arris Plummets 14% on M&A, ‘Shocking’ Outlook; Raymond James Defend (Barron's Tech Trader)


Attention, Yankees fans: Comcast nearing YES Network return date (NJ.com)


OLED Tech Leader Universal Display Beats Q4 Goals, Will Pay Dividend (IBD)



USA Technologies: Poised To Finally Start Creating Shareholder Value (Nathaniel Grob/ Seeking Alpha)


Infor – ‘Manufacturing is in crisis, digital is about survival’ (Diginomica)

Amazon cites First Amendment protection for Alexa in Arkansas murder case (TechCrunch)




Arrris to buy Ruckus Wireless and ICX Switch business from Broadcom after Brocade deal closes

Tom Paine



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As was rumored and reported upon in January, ARRIS International and Broadcom Limited today jointly announced that they have entered into an agreement for ARRIS to acquire Brocade Communication Systems Inc.'s Ruckus Wireless and ICX Switch business for $800 million in cash, plus the additional cost of unvested employee stock awards, following the closing of Broadcom's acquisition of Brocade.

Some were skeptical that this deal would occur, but the reports in January were right on target. In addition, Arris' CFO signaled a possible move into wireless at a Wall Street conference in January.

"This portfolio will expand ARRIS's leadership in converged wired and wireless networking technologies beyond the home into the education, public venue, enterprise, hospitality, and MDU segments. ARRIS plans to establish a dedicated business unit within the company focused on innovative wireless networking and wired switching technology to address evolving and emerging needs across a number of vertical markets." Arris said in a statement announcing the deal.

Converged wired and wireless networking technologies, or 'hybrid networks', are the key. As I wrote last month, expect to see Ruckus technology deployed as Arris' two largest customers, Comcast and Charter, introduce wireless offerings this year. Making wireless cell networks and Wifi work smoothly together will be critical to the Cable companies' plans.

From January:

Why Arris might bid on Ruckus Wireless assets? For its own customers, of course


Startup Roundup: GovPilot and eureQa

GIVON ZIRKIND AND ESTHER SURDEN




                                     Michael Bonner of GovPilot and Badri Nittoor of eureQa. 
                                                  | Esther Surden / Marc Weinstein



GovPilot: GovPilot (Hoboken), a municipal software provider, released its newest software product, a mobile app called “GovAlert,” in both Android and iPhone versions. The app allows constituents to voice their concerns and send photos to their elected officials and to their municipalities immediately, in real time. Texts are automatically routed by zip code to the proper official/department for remedial action. And the app is free to constituents.

GovAlert is an outgrowth of GovPilot's software's “report a concern” feature, which was used quite successfully by Camden County in the summer of 2016 for mosquito control and Zika virus prevention, Camden Coutny freeholder Carmen Rodriguez, said in an article.

The app supports common non-emergency citizen complaints regarding such areas as mosquito control, animal control, buildings, businesses, construction, garbage, health and sanitation, traffic signals, parking and more. Once the complaint is classified, the user is prompted to describe the problem and provide a related image.

GIS software aids the government in analyzing the complaints, visualizing the problems, and responding more appropriately; also, the responses are given the necessary prioritization. GovAlert is integrated into GovPilot's municipality software, so it’s aware if a municipality is using GovPilot or not. If a municipality is using GovPilot, complaints via GovAlert are automatically streamed into the government's workflow, and GovPilot will advise the constituent of the steps being taken in the resolution process. For municipalities that are not using GovPilot, the complaints are texted to the mayor's office.







eureQua: eureQa (Cherry Hill), an SaaS automation platform for e-commerce testing, has raised $400K in follow-on funding from leading investors active in the Philadelphia area.

Participants in the current round included SRI Capital (Hyderabad, India), a seed-stage venture fund focused on the "as a service" economy and “deep tech,” along with Robert J. Ciaruffoli, former chairman and CEO of ParenteBeard (Philadelphia, Pa.); Walter Buckley, cofounder, chairman and CEO of Radnor, Pa.-based Actua (formerly ICG and Internet Capital Group); and Thomas J. Gravina, cofounder, CEO and chairman of GPX Enterprises (Philadelphia, Pa.), a private investment firm, the startup said in a release.

The company uses automation to bring speed, scale and efficiency to e-commerce software testing. Clients like Bare Necessities and Weight Watchers have reduced testing times by 85% and testing costs by 75% with the eureQa platform, eureQa claimed.

“Using eureQa, we are finding, validating and fixing a greater number of critical issues than we were before, and we are able to address these critical issues earlier in the project cycle. eureQa is key to our ability to hit our dates and launch with confidence, knowing we are stable,” said William Saccone, senior director, quality assurance at Bare Necessities (Edison).




Esther Surden is Publisher and Editor of NJTechWeekly, and a contributor to Philly Tech News. This article originally appeared in NJTechWeekly, and is republished here with her permission.



The end of OTT




Simon Frost
Guest Contributor





There shouldn’t be a single person reading this short article that isn’t familiar with the term OTT. Since the meteoric rise of video delivered over IP-based networks of another party and famous, internet-based companies that built value-based businesses on the top of those providing internet connectivity, we have become familiar with the term.

Delivering video over IP isn’t new of course. It has been with us for over 15 years and the spectrum of quality, performance and content brands associated with IP video has been broad. What we have referred to as ‘IPTV’ was the service of television that the telecoms industry introduced (with an emulation of cable TV being their starting point). We have also called this managed IP video.

Our vibrant, wonderful media industry is getting increasingly complex to maintain the labels/categorisation and segmentation of focus that we have been using for many years. content owners, broadcasters, pay TV service providers (MVPDs) and internet disruptors are all emulating one another, merging to drive scale and connect powerful content rights with span of video distribution and subscription. None of this is very surprising, because what we see is a fundamental shift of how the most premium, professional video is distributed (non premium video exploded specifically because of the low-cost, simple ability to distribute via the internet).

I would like to make a call for action in 2017 - The OTT term is now outdated

All video in the future will be IP delivered; most of this video will be delivered via the internet rather than by private managed IP networks (we could have a deep discussion on what these terms could really mean, technology and business model and even if the internet is unmanaged or not for video). We will see the erosion of dedicated broadcast technology delivery networks for premium video, as linear TV services migrate into vast pools of on-demand choice and new linear ‘channels’ spring-up delivered solely online. This will take many years of course, but the direction is clear.

INTERNET VIDEO

So, I suggest that for 2017 and beyond we refer to ‘internet video’ as our new term to describe all forms of video over IP. We will in our discussions need to focus on the business models of internet video to understand the types, formats, and how premium it is (in the industry some have talked about YouTube as if it were always fix-it guides and cats on treadmills, spoken of Netflix as always premium entertainment, and Facebook video as social chat. These assumptions are already outdated with a huge merging of types of content across a global race to create the new mass-scale video distribution platforms adopted by consumers. Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram all have launched live video options).

Internet video will still need some sub-segmentation to understand it, but there isn’t a player across the current television business or the new internet giants that isn’t focussing their resources on winning in internet video. RIP OTT – you served us well.

Comment below if you agree, disagree or want to discuss the nuances of video delivery or the evolving business of television.


Thank you for reading. Simon Frost



Simon Frost is an executive industry leader operating in the converging landscapes of Broadcast Television, Internet and Telecoms. He left Ericsson, where he last served as Global Head, Media Marketing & Communications, at the end of 2016 to"find or create something disruptive, new and truly agile as the converging TMT industry really begins its transformation adopting new cloud-centric technologies and consumers migrate to pure IP delivered, cloud hosted experiences." In addition, he is engaged in Media industry consultancy and commentary


This article was originally published on LinkedIn, and is republished here with the author's permission.









2/22: Verizon, AT&T will both be running 5G tests in Jersey




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Verizon Testing Super Fast 5G Internet With Customers in 11 Cities (Fortune)

Nokia, AT&T Test 5G Streaming of DirecTV Now (Multichannel News)

Google Fiber-owned Webpass is bringing its wireless gigabit internet to Denver
(The Verge)


Arris nears deal to acquire Brocade's networking business -sources (Reuters)
In a deal that likely has much to do with the wireless plans of Arris' major cable customers. See my post from last month:
Why Arris might bid on Ruckus Wireless assets? For its own customers, of course

Entercom CEO Field says CBS deal could lead advertisers to 'rediscover' radio (Philly.com)

Gannett to consolidate printing and production facilities in Rockaway Twp. (Asbury Park Press)

Amazon exec joins MLB's video-streaming service as new CEO (CNET)

Why Spark's CEO says 2017 may be a 'historic year' for his gene therapy company (Philadelphia Business Journal)


Urban Outfitters Is Charging $45 for an AOL T-Shirt (Fortune)
Pay for the Yahoo(!) deal?

The 90s called: They want you to reengineer again with Deloitte and SAP (Vinnie Mirchandani / Enterprise Irregulars)




2/21: Comcast’s ‘Tech ETA’ feature goes wide; Probe of China trader shows how Comcast learned DreamWorks was for sale




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Comcast’s ‘Tech ETA’ Feature Goes Wide (Multichannel News)

Probe of China traders shows how Comcast learned DreamWorks was For Sale (Philly Deals)

Tosh in deeper financial doo-doo as banks turn up the pressure (The Register)
Its Westinghouse problem.






Lumos ends fiber spin-out plans, sells to private equity firm EQT Infrastructure for $950M (FierceTelecom)

Following Lumos’ sale, analyst fingers T-Mobile’s possible interest in Zayo (Fierce Telecom)

Google Fiber’s Webpass internet service coming to Seattle, job posting reveals (Geekwire)

Verizon Stock the Cheapest It’s Been in Fifteen Years, Says Moffett Nathanson (Barron's Tech Trader Daily)


Outcome Health snags Salesforce exec (Crain's Chicago Business)
Outcome Health is the former Context Media.


GE’s secret weapon is its training center on Hudson River (Boston Globe)



News from HIMSS 2017 with a local spin

Tom Paine



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Epic to add Geisinger spin-off xG Health Solutions care management content in EHR, population health platform (Healthcare IT News)

Epic's new app program tries to connect EHR networks (Modern Healthcare)

As Rometty prepares to open HIMSS, M.D. Anderson walks away from Watson (Med City News)

Salesforce builds out ecosystem for Health Cloud, adds better patient targeting, risk scoring (ZDNet)

Healthcare model: Choose Netflix over Blockbuster (Med City News)
"Zajac credits Stephen Klasko, the president and CEO of Philadelphia-based Thomas Jefferson University and Jefferson Health, as the person who is talking about the Netflix effect in healthcare."



Expert breaks down the difference between customer service and patient experience (Healthcare IT News)
Christine Holt of Holy Redeemer Health System said that the entire patient experience paradigm must include an emotional connection that produces loyalty.


Cerner IT support: 'We've flipped the model upside-down' (Kansas City Business Journal)









HIMSS17 Sessions to Get Excited About This Year (InstaMed)


From HIMSS 2/20/17 (HISTalk)

CloudMine and Redox Partner to Optimize Seamless and Secure Sharing of Healthcare Data in the Cloud

Dell Boomi Speeds Healthcare Innovation and Digital Transformation with Cloud Integration




With DHA's electronic health records system operational, Bono eyes next steps (Federal Times)

Siemens Healthineers Establishes Global Digital Ecosystem to Drive Digitalization of Healthcare














InstaMed sent a small army:





Things I learned at HIMSS17
(Med City News)



Big data? Not yet. At HIMSS, time moves slowly
(AthenaHealth)







Uncertainty surrounds nation's largest health IT gathering (Modern Healthcare)




Amazon & SAP: The geographical search for domain expertise

Tom Paine



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Amazon North America fulfillment center network 2015 /
MWPVL International (Click to enlarge)



Amazon announced at the beginning of the year plans to add 100,000 employees during 2017.

And these are not only fulfillment jobs. Amazon is geographically diversifying its workforce, not just in its fulfillment centers, but for higher-level development work as well.

It opened an office in Minneapolis in Mid-2016 , initially aiming for 100 employees, focused mostly on ecommerce and logistics, areas where the Twin Cities have a deep pool of talent. A source tells me Amazon plans to get much larger there. The talent pool in Seattle can not grow enough to keep up with its demand for talent.

Last month, Amazon announced a new office in Pittsburgh. It already has has 50 employees working in technical roles on Amazon Web Services and Alexa, and expects to add dozens more over time, NEXTpittsburgh reported.

Also last month, the Boston Globe reported that Amazon was looking for 100,000 to 200,000 square feet in downtown Boston. It already has substantial employment at Kendall Square in Cambridge.

Amazon also has ecommerce staff in New York. And of course it has Amazon Web Services' enormous US East data center operation in Northern Virginia.

Here is a listing of Amazon's fulfillment and distribution centers worldwide.

You can see the concentration around Philly and the Lehigh Valley. And Amazon's Prime Air is running numerous cargo flights out of Lehigh Valley International.

But while it has a scattering of non-fulfillment professionals in the Philly area, there doesn't appear to be any significant functional groups here. But its an intriguing idea.

---------

Meanwhile, on a smaller scale, SAP has been expanding its Pittsburgh operations. SAP will be adding 242 jobs there, along with some jobs in Newtown Square, the company announced along with Governor Wolf in January. It already has 579 employees inside the K&L Gates Center downtown.

While some of its Pittsburgh operations represent general regional functions, its also a major center for SAP's supply chain business.

It acquired Pittsburgh-based SmartOps in 2013, and SAP tells me that the Pittsburgh office will be the largest centralized presence for SAP's major supply chain entity, Ariba, outside of its headquarters in Palo Alto.

In case you haven't noticed, supply chain tech is hot. New technologies (in-memory, Cloud, IoT, AI, maybe even blockchain), are opening up new possibilities, and Amazon and the on demand economy are driving the use cases forward. Old mainframe systems were limiting. Pittsburgh, with its industrial legacy and universities, particularly Carnegie Mellon, has long been a leader in supply chain systems and implementations. Philly has some assets in that area as well.









2/20: Boomi competitor MuleSoft files to raise $100 million in IPO; SAP license fees are due even for indirect users, court says




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EPAM Systems (EPAM) Misses Q4 EPS by 2c (StreetInsider)


IT solutions firm SHI posts $7.56B in revenue for 2016 (NJBiz)

Lehigh Valley technology provider integraONE acquires Montgomery Co. company
(Allentown Morning Call)

App integration company MuleSoft files to raise $100 million in IPO (VentureBeat)
MuleSoft is a close competitor to Dell Boomi.


SAP license fees are due even for indirect users, court says (PCWorld)

Deloitte goes all gooey for SAP HANA on AWS
2,500 suits to be flung off bench to preach ERP on cloud
(The Register)


Azure’s rise instills doubts in AWS shops ( David Linthicum / Infoworld)



Philly Tech History September 2011: Curalate's predecessor is born

Tom Paine



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From Philly Tech News: September 20, 2011

Storably is a new Philly startup that will help people make use of idle space they might have, such as empty basements and parking spaces, by creating an online marketplace where others can rent that space for their storage needs. Its website goes live tomorrow, the company says, and Storably will be doing a demo at tomorrow night's Philly Tech Meetup. Josh Kowitt and Apu Gupta are co-founders and Wharton graduates. Community Manager Brendan Lowry wrote in an email: "We are a team of Philadelphians who love tech and all things Philly". Its office is located at 2038 Locust Street, between 20th and 21st.


Storably didn't fly and soon pivoted to Curalate.


http://www.phillytechnews.net/2011/09/sneak-peek-early-look-at-some-new.html


Sunday Highlights: Vanguard plans to add 1700 crew members in 2017 to catch up with growth; Comcast’s surprisingly viral future




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At Vanguard, customer complaints rise along with assets (Investment News)

Vanguard plans to add 1700 crew in 2017.

Comcast’s Surprisingly Viral Future (Don Steinberg / Philadelphia Magazine)

China fraud: How a Wharton grad made $29M buying DreamWorks before Comcast (Philly.com)


Change is constant for Alkemy X, a Philly-based entertainment and advertising firm (Philly.com)
ex-Shooters.

Kraft Heinz Withdraws $143 Billion Offer to Merge With Unilever (NY Times: DealBook)

Uber’s CEO promises an ‘urgent investigation’ into a former employee’s sexual harassment claims ((Recode)


Meet The 'Fastest-Growing' $1 Billion Enterprise Software Firm (IBD)
ServiceNow.





Saturday highlights: Vanguard Group systems crash for a while; PHH has bleak outlook




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Google is testing VoLTE support for some Project Fi subscribers (VentureBeat)

The $99 Billion Idea: How Uber and Airbnb Won (Bloomberg Business Week)

Kraft Heinz Takeover Bid Shakes Up Big Food and Its Slow Growth (Bloomberg)
Could shake up some Philly-area food businesses as well.

'Massive exodus' continues from active funds, and Vanguard is reaping the gains (CNBC)





PHH cuts South Jersey jobs, loses $202M, exits joint venture (Philadelphia Business Journal)

Appeals Court Agrees To Hear CFPB/PHH Case (Pymnts)

With No Frills and No Commissions, Robinhood App Takes On Big Brokerages (NY Times)

Measuring Dark Social Using Google Analytics (TOMASZ TUNGUZ / RedPoint)

Rider University adds computer science major to meet demand
(NJ.com)




2/17: Toshiba's big problem was Westinghouse's acquisition; Kraft Heinz after Unilever




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IT Services Giant Accenture Plans U.S. Hiring Spree (Reuters via Fortune)
A majority of its more than 380,000 employees are in India, Reuters reports.

Chaos at Toshiba: $6.3 billion write-down, chairman resigns, bankruptcy looms (Washington Post)


The $6.3 billion hit is related to Westinghouse’s acquisition in December of Stone & Webster, a nuclear construction business, from Chicago Bridge & Iron in December.

The Post reports: "Toshiba, which bought a majority stake in Pennsylvania-based nuclear power company Westinghouse in 2006, earlier said that it had received internal information late last month about irregularities during the acquisition. It had learned that controls at Westinghouse had been “insufficient” and that the company had used “inappropriate pressure” to make the acquisition."

i
Universal Rising: iPhone 8 One of the Ingredients for New $90 Cowen Price Target (Barron's Tech Trader Daily)

Potential Activist Funds Line Up to Take a Salesforce Stake (Bloomberg)

SAP license fees are due even for indirect users, court says (PCWorld)

T-Mo Jumps 4% as Reuters Says SoftBank Looking to Sell Them Sprint (Barron's Tech Trader Daily)

What’s the repair bill for Google Fiber, AT&T damage? (Charlotte
Observer)



2/16: Charter Launches 5G Field Trials; Hamilton Lane sees IPO of 11.9 mln shares to be priced between $15-$17/share




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While Amazon dominates cloud infrastructure, an oligopoly is emerging. Which will buyers bet on? (Diginomica)

BRIEF-Hamilton Lane sees IPO of 11.9 mln shares to be priced between $15-$17/share (Reuters)

Charter Launches 5G Field Trials (Light Reading)

Charter’s Rutledge: 'T-Mobile doesn’t understand our MVNO deal' (FierceCable)


TiVo-Rovi Integration ‘On Track,' CEO Says (Multichannel News)

Arris’ McClelland says warrant deals made Comcast and Charter ‘comfortable with the level of spend' (FierceCable)


Apple Vowed to Revolutionize Television. An Inside Look at Why It Hasn’t (Bloomberg)

Former Obama aide Plouffe fined $90,000 for illegally lobbying Emanuel on Uber's behalf (Chicago Tribune)

New Jersey undisputed king of online gaming compared to Delaware, its lone rival (NorthJersey.com)


IBM links with Indiegogo, Visa, Bosch and more in $3B IoT push (TechCrunch)


Philly Fed manufacturing demolishes expectations, hits its highest level since 1984 (Business Insider)