5/5: Lehigh Valley manufacturer to acquire Radnor-based VWR for $6.4bn, with PE backing; Universal Display Rockets On Monster Q1 Beat

Follow @phillytechnews

 Subscribe in a reader
Subscribe to Philadelphia Tech News by Email




$6.4 billion mega-deal: Lehigh Valley manufacturer to acquire Main Line lab products supplier VWR (Philadelphia Business Journal)
At first glance, an unusual combination.
“Avantor’s acquisition of VWR is both highly compelling and complementary,” said Avantor CEO Michael Stubblefield in a statement. “We will bring together our well-known expertise in ultra-high-purity materials and customized solutions with VWR’s global scale, unparalleled channel access, and deep customer relationships. Collectively, this will create a larger, stronger and more diversified company with significantly enhanced scale and product breadth.”



No one is getting internet TV right — yet (Recode)

IBM Set to Drop $5 Billion in Value After Warren Buffett Sheds a Third of His Stake (Fortune)

Using Salesforce to access SAP? Pour yourself a stiff drink (PC World)


Citi lists Netflix, Tesla as potential takeover targets for Apple (Reuters)

OLED Display Firm Universal Display Rockets On Monster Q1 Sales, Earnings Beat (IBD)
Universal Display is based in Ewing NJ.

Fanatics plunks down $225M for Majestic division (Morning Call)


Industrial IoT Superstars GE, Siemens Are Butting Heads In Manufacturing Market (CRN)

Synchronoss Technologies Spikes After Silver Private Holdings Reports Large Stake (The Street)
Synchronoss Technologies is based in Bridgewater NJ.

Google May Need an Acquisition to Catch Amazon, Microsoft, Says Goldman (Barron's Tech Trader Daily)
Like who?

Links 10/4: Verizon's PA landline problems; Thomas Jefferson University Hospital partners with IBM on IoT

Continue Reading

Saturday Highlights: Where is the EMV card 10 months later?; Meet the low-profile VC firm that invested in tech’s last two billion-dollar sales

Continue Reading

PA's Rite-Aid gives it up to Walgreens, but at nice premium; IBM says SEC looking at its revenue recognition practices, while Weather Channel deal looms

Follow @phillytechnews

 Subscribe in a reader
Subscribe to Philadelphia Tech News by Email



Can Oracle lead in the cloud? Only if customers follow (PC World)

Oracle talks up a slew of Amazon-like cloud services (Fortune)


Oracle’s moment clouded by the likes of competitor Workday (Fortune: Data Sheet)

Oracle cloud ERP adds manufacturing, supply chain planning (TechTarget)


IBM Says the SEC Is Investigating Accounting for Revenue Recognition (Bloomberg)

IBM nears $2B deal for Weather Channel’s digital assets (MarketWatch)
Comcast's NBC owns about 1/3 of TWC, along with two private equity firms who own the rest. The deal would only include TWC's weather data and various analytical tools, not the broadcasting operation.

You might be happy to hear that Al Roker wasn't included in the deal, but his show was dropped late last month anyway, though he'll continue to make mobile-only video clips in the morning. TWC's owners (Bain and The Blackstone Group, both very smart, have been Comcast's PE partners) have been unhappy with broadcast ops, though I think their own missteps have added to the problems. A major programing overhaul began in September.

The three current owners paid a bit less than $3.5 billion in 2008 to acquire TWC from Landmark Communications, according to a report at the time in the New York Times.


Walgreens says will buy smaller drugstore rival Rite-Aid (Reuters)


Rite Aid purchase shocks East Pennsboro Twp. officials (PennLive)



Dreamit day shows off latest health start-ups (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Fast-growing Center City tech company (RJMetrics) keeps expanding (Philadelphia Business Journal)

UPDATE 1-Sports fantasy trade group creates control board, wants to self-regulate (Reuters)

Monday Highlights 10/25: Will mobile net strategy built on Comcast Wifi hotspots work?; Ellison takes on everyone at Oracle Open World

Follow @phillytechnews

 Subscribe in a reader
Subscribe to Philadelphia Tech News by Email



Comcast's Weapon to Take on Wireless Giants: Wi-Fi Hotspots (Bloomberg)

Comcast Board OKs Plan to Streamline Stock Structure (Variety)


Oracle Open World 2015 – Larry Ellison’s first keynote, a mass of unintended contradiction (Diginomica)

Oracle's Ellison Says Cloud Industry Still in Early Days (Bloomberg)

Oracle CEO Mark Hurd's OpenWorld Keynote: Highlights and Analysis (Constellation Research)

Salesforce — not a VC firm — is now the top investor in one of the hottest tech industries (Business Insider)


IBM Announces Six New Watson Ecosystem Partners Building Cognitive Applications (IBM)

IBM: Modernize your business or risk being Uber-ized (Fortune)
Urban Outfitters app one of those featured.


Hoopla launches digital signage solution for employee engagement (Digital Signage Today)

Links 12/10/2014: Charter's Rutledge: OTT is ‘Playing With Fire’; First IBM-Apple niche apps released

Follow @phillytechnews

 Subscribe in a reader
Subscribe to Philadelphia Tech News by Email



Virginia-based Canvas raises $9M for enterprise mobile app platform (VentureBeat)
Return investor Osage Venture Partners participated in the round.

Marketing tech: $6.2 billion in funding and acquisitions in last 3 months (VentureBeat)


News Analysis: Inside the First Industry-Specific Mobile Apps by the IBM MobileFirst for Apple iOS Partnership ( R "Ray" Wang / Enterprise Irregulars)

IBM Apps For Apple iOS: Not Siri Meets Watson (Information Week)

2014 Year in Review: Evaluating SAP
(ASUG News)


SAP Jam is Now iOS App Ready
(Mobile Enterprise)


Engineers on the rise (Philly.com)
Check out the way Philly.com's new website design is used in this story.

Comcast on home Wi-Fi lawsuit: Customers get “real benefits” (San Francisco Chronicle)

Rutledge: OTT is ‘Playing With Fire’ (Multichannel News)

Exclusive: WeWork finalizing massive new funding round (Fortune)
Can't find any plans for Philadelphia now.

Lending Club Prices I.P.O. at $15 a Share, Surpassing Expectations (New York Times: DealBook)

Meet Xtium’s new Chief Executive Office
(Xtium Blog)

The Effect Of HubSpot’s CRM Launch On Salesforce (TechCrunch)

Where in the world is Kenexa founder Rudy Karsan? In Philadelphia, investing in startups

Tom Paine

Follow @phillytechnews

 Subscribe in a reader
Subscribe to Philadelphia Tech News by Email

Rudy Karsan / Twitter profile

Human Resources Executive Online reports that Kenexa founder Rudy Karsan, who sold Wayne-based Kenexa, the Human Resources SaaS business he built, to IBM for $1.3 billion in 2012, left IBM at the end of August after serving as GM of IBM's Smarter Workforce group. Apparently IBM wasn't interested in pursuing some of his more far-reaching ideas.

Karsan has started a new venture, Karlani Capital, woking out of downtown Philadelphia. It is described as more of an operating company than a VC firm, although it is investing mostly in early-stage ventures. There are already 13 portfolio companies. Only one, Relay Network, is in the Philly area. Another, FanDuel, based in New York, is a fantasy sports site that has already reached a valuation near $200 million.


Interestingly, the article reports that Karsan has also moved from his suburban mansion to a condo near his downtown office.

Links 7/15/2014: Apple teams up with IBM to go after enterprise; Comcast's customer service misstep on tape?

Follow @phillytechnews

 Subscribe in a reader
Subscribe to Philadelphia Tech News by Email



Why is tech M&A booming?(Fortune)
Panel discussion including Josh Kopelman.

Microsoft’s Nadella Pokes Google: They Sure Are Great Marketers (Re/code)


Google Smart Lenses Get Boost From Alcon Owner Novartis (Bloomberg)

Apple Teams Up With IBM For Huge, Expansive Enterprise Push
(TechCrunch)

Apple and IBM team up on big enterprise push (Computerworld)


Cohen: Competitive Market Is 'Tipping' In Consumers' Favor
(Multichannel News)
Comcast EVP to pitch Senate panel tomorrow.

The FCC is so swamped with net neutrality comments, it’s extending the deadline (The Washington Post)


Comcast 'Embarrassed' By The Service Call Making Internet Rounds (NPR: All Tech Considered)

SAP, Esri Build Stronger Mapping Ties (Information Week)

Links 6/2/2014: Apple adds DuckDuckGo to Safari as private search option; SAP apps to run on IBM's SoftLayer

Follow @phillytechnews

 Subscribe in a reader
Subscribe to Philadelphia Tech News by Email



Big Win For DuckDuckGo: Apple Adding To Safari As Private Search Option (Search Engine Land)

If Comcast Doesn’t Want to Be Hated, It Might Want to Avoid Ads Like This One (Video) (Re/code)

Tierney returns, Lexie Norcross out at Inquirer parent (Philadelphia Business Journal)

SAP to create cloud services for industries (PC World)


IBM launches SAP apps on SoftLayer (ZDNet)

HP Releases New Hardware for Running SAP HANA (Re/code)

ExactTarget Co-Founder Scott Dorsey Leaves Salesforce, McCorkle New CEO (TechCrunch)

Battle-scarred Unisys still fighting fit as better days loom (The Australian)

Links 5/29/2014: PSERS removes unexpectedly exposed investment contracts from web; Microsoft, Salesforce in Cloud partnership

Follow @phillytechnews

 Subscribe in a reader
Subscribe to Philadelphia Tech News by Email



Report: Verizon FiOS claimed public utility status to get government perks (Ars Technica)

Pay TV Consolidation: Who Are the Potential Winners and Losers?
(Knowledge@Wharton)

Hastings: Comcast wants to become the 'post office' (USA Today)



Pennsylvania pension explains its unexpected disclosure
(Fortune Term Sheet)

PSERS removes hundreds of state investment contracts from public scrutiny (Philly.com: Philly Deals)



SAP and IBM Collaborate to Serve Transportation and Logistics Industry (PR Newswire)

Microsoft, Salesforce Said to Discuss Cloud Partnership
(Bloomberg)

Microsoft and salesforce.com announce global, strategic partnership (Press Release)


Veeva Announces Fiscal 2015 First Quarter Results
(Business Wire)


Mobile security SaaS provider Mobile Iron sets terms for $100 million IPO (Renaissance Capital)



City of Philadelphia Selected as One of Seven US2020 City Competition for STEM Mentorship Winners (Business Wire)

Md. lures software firm Salsa Labs with $1 million investment (Baltimore Sun)
Edison Ventures leads $5 million follow-on round.

Links 1/17/2014: Roberts seen as kingmaker in Time Warner Cable battle

Follow @phillytechnews

 Subscribe in a reader
Subscribe to Philadelphia Tech News by Email



Comcast’s Roberts Seen as ‘Kingmaker’ in Time Warner Cable Chase (Bloomberg)


Comcast considers a deal for Time Warner Cable (Philadelphia Inquirer)



Comcast Dropping ‘AnyPlay’
MSO To Discontinue In-Home Streaming Device On March 31 as Other Video Options Rise Up (Multichannel News)

IBM Commits $1.2 Billion To Cloud, Adding 15 Global Data Centers (Data Center Knowledge)


Health IT moving to critical step (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Dropbox Closes Roughly $250M Round At $10B Valuation, WSJ Says (TechCrunch)


Filing: IGM should be sold in Pa. (AP via Philly.com)

eMoney and Firefly Give Financial Advisors Remote Meeting Capabilities (PR Newswire)

Oracle builds a bridge to Salesforce.com with new adapter (PC World)

Links 12/9/2013: AllThingsD editors said to complete NBCUniversal deal; IMS Health may go public again

Follow @phillytechnews

 Subscribe in a reader
Subscribe to Philadelphia Tech News by Email


Verizon Is Acquiring Content Delivery Network EdgeCast For More Than $350 Million (TechCrunch)

IMS Health Said to Be Considering IPO in 2014 After 2010 Buyout (Bloomberg)
Headquartered in Connecticut, IMS Health maintains major facilities in Collegeville and
Plymouth Meeting.

AllThingsD Editors Are Said to Complete NBCUniversal Deal (Bloomberg)

Time Warner Cable Exec Addresses Sale Rumors (Hollywood Reporter)



Norcross-led firm boosts holdings in Inquirer parent
(Philadelphia Business Journal)


SAP InfiniteInsight® Solution Brings Predictive Analytics to Broad Spectrum of Users (PR Newswire)

SAP: Advanced Analytics Not Just For PhDs Anymore (Information Week)


IBM Announces Industry-Specific Cloud Services (CRM Daily)


CIOs question Meaningful Use Stage 2 extension (FierceHealthIT)

Life sciences IT execs plan business intelligence spending blitz (Fierce Biotech IT)

Unisys Scores Department of Energy Cloud Contract (Talkin' Cloud)



PhillyDeals: N.J. tech company feeling the lure of Philly (Philly.com: Philly Deals)

Links 12/6/2013: Commissioner predicts FCC would block Comcast-Time Warner deal; Top PA pension investment chief steps down facing inquiry

Follow @phillytechnews

 Subscribe in a reader
Subscribe to Philadelphia Tech News by Email



Time Warner Cable’s Next CEO Ready to Sell If the Price Is Right (Bloomberg)

Commissioner predicts FCC would block Comcast-Time Warner deal (The Hill)

Facing investigation, top Pa. pension investment officer steps down (Philly.com: Philly Deals)


Accenture Closes Procurian Deal: May the 2014 Procurement BPO “Hunger Games” Begin (Spend Matters)

Supreme Court to review patents on software (Gigaom)

Opening the $112 million Box for global expansion (and IPO?) (Diginomica)

Veeva Systems Beats Third-Quarter Estimates (Investor's Business Daily)

SAP Plans to Bolster Korean Alliances to Hasten Cloud Switch (Bloomberg)

Heavy ERP customization no longer in vogue, experts and customers agree (SeachSAP)



IBM lays plans to be a cloud storage broker (PC World)


Wynn seeks Philly-based director of online gaming (PLANPHILLY via Philly.com)

Links 12/4/2013: Monetate raises another $8 million; BioTelemetry falls on Medicare cuts

Follow @phillytechnews

 Subscribe in a reader
Subscribe to Philadelphia Tech News by Email


Accel Leads $4.5M Series A In Trufa, An SAP HANA Startup Using Predictive Analytics For Opex Efficiency (TechCrunch)

Veeva Systems Seen Growing Vs. Rival Oracle (Investor's Business Daily)
Earnings due out tomorrow.

IBM’s Big Plans for Cloud Computing (New York Times: Bits)

Monetate takes an extra $8M to power holiday shopping online
(VentureBeat)



BioTelemetry, Inc. Announces Reduction to Medicare Reimbursement for Remote Cardiac Monitoring Services (Globe Newswire)
BioTelemetry (BEAT) down 22% for the day so far.

Tennis Appeals Comcast Decision to Supremes (Multichannel News)



Harris gears for over-the-top expansion with deal to acquire Imagine Communications (FierceCable)

Cyber Monday 2013 mobile shopping: PayPal sees 93.6% increase, eBay Enterprise sees orders rise 88% (The Next Web)

Philadelphia not prepared for IT disruption, says Butkovitz (Philadelphia Business Journal)



Beige Book - December 4, 2013: Third District - Philadelphia (Federal Reserve Board)

QlikTech Announces Winners of its “Take Action Open Data Challenge” (Business Wire)

Links 11/26/2013: Cox also reported interested in Time Warner Cable; Workday beats expectations

Follow @phillytechnews

 Subscribe in a reader
Subscribe to Philadelphia Tech News by Email


Workday posts record revs, ups forecast and appoints Jerry Yang to board (Diginomica)

Workday Surges 13%: Bulls Charmed by Growth, Financials Progress (Barron's: Tech Trader Daily)


SAP to announce simplification drive in January, says Hagemann Snabe (ComputerWeekly.com)
Don't they say that every year?

Comparing SAP HANA and Sybase IQ - real world performance tests (John Appleby/SAP Community Network)



Dell Boomi’s AtomSphere Right Prescription for Novartis Cloud, On-Premise Integration (Integration Developer News)

Pivitec Wins Ben Franklin Venture Idol (BFTP
NEP)

Druckenmiller Shorting IBM in Bet Cloud Computing to Win (Bloomberg)

Ray Wang on Big Blue’s Battle with AWS | #IBMIoD (Silicon Angle)

Privately held Cox looking at bid for Time Warner Cable: WSJ
(Reuters)


Intel Said to Be Asking $500 Million for Pay-TV Unit
(Bloomberg)

WYSIWYG Web Editor Barley now lets WordPress users edit their sites on the fly (The Next Web)
Barley is the product of Viddler alum Colin Devroe's startup Plain.

Evolve IP Positioned in "Visionaries" Quadrant of the Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) (PR Newswire)

Universal Display and Philips Technologie GmbH Announce Collaboration and Evaluation Agreement for OLED Lighting (Business Wire)

PPG Expands OLED Production to Support Demand for Universal Display Products (Business Wire via Optics.com)

Links 11/13/2013: IBM to acquire Blue Bell-based Fiberlink Communications; NBC buys out Sprout partners

Follow @phillytechnews

 Subscribe in a reader
Subscribe to Philadelphia Tech News by Email



IBM to Acquire Fiberlink Communications, Transforming the Mobile Management and Security Market (PR Newswire)

IBM buys Fiberlink (Philly Deals)

With Fiberlink acquisition, IBM gets serious about mobile device management (VentureBeat)


RightCare Solutions Raises $5.0M in Series B Round Led By Domain Associates and Compass Partners (Business Wire)

NBCU Buys Full Ownership Of Sprout (Multichannel News)
Sprout is based in Fort Washington. NBC bought out partners PBS and HIT Television Ventures to get 100% control.



Clearleap Raises Additional $20 Million to Accelerate TV Everywhere Deployments (Videonuze)
Bala Cynwyd-based Susquehanna Growth Equity leads round in Atlanta company.


Hulu in talks with Time Warner, Comcast, and others about possible cable bundling deals: WSJ (The Verge)

Netflix Gives Most, but Not All, of Its TV Viewers a New Look (All Things D)


Verizon Cloud Video Unit Snaps Up Multiscreen Startup
(Multichannel News)

Brand.com launches a program for deleting false Web pages on Google, Yahoo and Bing (The Next Web)
Brand.com is based in Philadelphia.

Veeva Systems Introduces Mobile CRM and CLM Solution for Windows 8 (Business Wire)



Alteva Reports Third Quarter 2013 Financial Results (Marketwire)

Companion Property & Casualty Plugs in Acrometis’ CLAIMExpert to Drive Down Claim Costs (Business Wire)
Acrometis is based in Chesterbrook.



Amazon Launches WorkSpaces, A Virtual Desktop Service On AWS
(TechCrunch)

HP Chromebook 11 disappears from retailers everywhere without explanation (GeekWire)
The withdrawal was apparently due to overheating chargers.

Links 9/23/2013: Oracle shows off in-memory database; SAP responds

Follow @phillytechnews

 Subscribe in a reader
Subscribe to Philadelphia Tech News by Email

PhillyDeals: Apps a Phila. growth industry (Philly.com)

Comcast taps 'Internet guy' to think outside the cable box
(Philadelphia Inquirer)

Oracle's Ellison talks up 'ungodly speeds' of in-memory database. SAP: *Cough* Hana (The Register)

SAP responds to Oracle's in-memory debut: 'Welcome to the party'
(ZDNet)


Oracle's Mark Hurd on the cloud, competition, and costs (Fortune Tech)


Siemens moves to Oracle for cloud HCM, not SAP SuccessFactors? (Diginomica)

BlackBerry Reaches $4.7 Billion Deal to Go Private (New York Times: DealBook)


IBM Calls Amazon Unprepared to Secure Intelligence Data (Mashable)


Almac Launches SupplyTraQ™ Technology Solution to Streamline Clinical Trial Supply Administration (Business
Wire)

Links 8/16/2013: More questions about IBM cloud numbers; SAP billboard near Oracle HQ touts HANA

Follow @phillytechnews

 Subscribe in a reader
Subscribe to Philadelphia Tech News by Email



Comcast, TWC Shoot for Video Unity (Multichannel News)

Judge Approves Verizon Deal Averting Monopoly (Courthouse News Service)

What is Verizon Wireless cooking up with its cable partners?
(FierceWireless)
Verizon Wireless exec suggested first product offering from JV might hit market in Q4.


Charter, Comcast SportsNet Northwest reach agreement to broadcast Trail Blazers games (Oregon Live)

NBCU's Steve Burke Gets Pay Raise in New Deal (Hollywood Reporter)

Sony Said to Win Rights to Viacom for TV Streaming Service (Bloomberg)

IBM's Cloud Business: Ex-Employee Divulges Shortfalls (Information Week)

Database Billboards: Times and Cars and Oracle Competitors Gone By (Dennis Moore/Enterprise Irregulars)

SAP’s UI makeover: Taking a measured approach to 300,000 screens
(Brian Sommer/ZDNet)


Peco to fast-track installing 'smart' meters (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Professors Jeffrey Popyack and William Mongan Receive IBM Award for Big Data and Analytics Project (Drexel University Computer Science)

Philly Newsrooms Innovating with Project Liberty Digital Incubators (MediaBistro)

Daily Links 7/31/2013: Comcast profit beats estimates; Dow to open Collegeville innovation lab

Follow @phillytechnews

 Subscribe in a reader
Subscribe to Philadelphia Tech News by Email


Comcast Profit Tops Estimates on Subscriber Additions
(Bloomberg)

More customers, more revenues: For Comcast, broadband is gift that keeps giving (Gigaom)

Comcast CFO says M&A possible, but not at debt levels John Malone is comfortable with (FierceCable)


Sprint extends LTE coverage to 41 new markets (CNET News)
Including Philadelphia.

Doylestown's Brick Simple building apps for wearable Google Glass computers (phillyBurbs.com)

Uh oh: SEC questions if IBM’s cloud math is water vapor (Gigaom)

Pennsylvania won't renew IBM computer system contract after study finds problems (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Dell's buyout teeters as it rejects voting change (Reuters)

SAP’s partner paradox – race to the cloud (Diginomica)


Air Products Faces Modern Form of Hostile Takeover (New York Times: DealBook)

Dow Inaugurates Northeast Technology Center Innovation Hub (Business Wire)
Huge Collegeville facility will support innovation efforts for Dow's Advanced Materials
businesses.

CardioNet, Inc. Reports Second Quarter 2013 Financial Results (Globe Newswire)
BEAT shares up 38% today after results reported late yesterday. Tomorrow corporate name becomes BioTelemetry, although ticker symbol remains the same.

Daily Links 7/24/2013: Federal appeals court won't block Dish's Hopper

Follow @phillytechnews

 Subscribe in a reader
Subscribe to Philadelphia Tech News by Email

IBM throws its weight behind Pivotal’s open source Cloud Foundry (VentureBeat)

Michael Dell raises bid for Dell (Fortune: Term Sheet)
Slightly. Shareholder meeting pushed back to August 2.

Unisys Announces Second-Quarter 2013 Financial Results (PR Newswire)
Revenue down 7%, earnings down more than 50%. However, results beat analyst expectations,
and the share price rose almost 6% today.

TE Connectivity net up 68% on lower expenses (MarketWatch)
TE Connectivity, formerly Tyco Electronics, has its North American headquarters in Berwyn.

Strange bedfellows: Aereo gets help from Time Warner Cable and Comcast (The Verge)

Federal Court Won't Block Dish's Hopper
Says lower court did not abuse discretion in denying preliminary injunction (Broadcasting & Cable)

CBS Interactive Boss, NBCUniversal Top Executive Talk Hulu, Netflix, Apple (Hollywood Reporter)

Nascar Shifts TV Rights to NBC Starting In 2015 (Ad Age)

Chromecast Is Google’s Miracle Device (Wired)

Exclusive: Cox digs in on first FTTH project in O.C. (CED Magazine)

IBC, Penn Medicine, and DreamIt Ventures host first 'Demo Day' for DreamIt Health entrepreneurs (Globe Newswire)