Daily Links 11/19/09: John Malone on Comcast/NBC-U, and on the future of Direct TV

Vivendi Wants to Exit NBC, Deal Is ‘Complex,’ CFO Capron Says (Bloomberg)
Complex as in "We want more money".

John Malone: Comcast-NBC would have too much power (Associated Press via Yahoo Finance)

Malone: DirecTV would be "compatible" with a telco (Reuters)
"If (Comcast) can't rape and pillage, it's probably not a great investment," Malone said.


Again: Metered Billing Is Neither Necessary Nor Inevitable
Growth is manageable, companies are profitable, what's the problem? (Broadband Reports)


3 charged with hacking Comcast site (Philadelphia Inquirer)


Benioff: Denial of the cloud has destroyed SAP (IT Pro)

The Future of ERP, Part II (CIO.com)

Temple prof's legacy will be networking group (Philly.com: Philly Inc)

Business Outlook Survey: November 2009 (pdf) (Federal Reserve Bank of Phildelphia)
Philly Fed hits highest level in two years
Fourth increase in a row puts index at 16.7 (MarketWatch)

Kulicke & Soffa Reports Results for its Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2009 (Business Wire)

AOL Also Likely to Eye Sale of MapQuest–Is Microsoft a Possible Buyer? (All Things Digial: BoomTowm)

Q&A: Doug Alexander, Internet Capital Group (Keystone Edge)

GSI Launches Four Specialty Web Stores—Barbie, Hot Wheels, Disney and Games—For Mattel
Mattel Signs Multiyear Agreement with GSI for Technology, Fulfillment, Customer Care and Marketing Services (Business Wire)

Interphase Systems Launches Managed IT Solution for BioPharma Companies
Ready-IT is a cost-effective Platform-as-a-Service solution for managing IT (Business Wire)




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News from Dreamforce

Salesforce.com Launches Social Enterprise Application at Dreamforce (Read Write Web)

Salesforce CRM Users Add QlikView Analytics for Speed and Simplicity of Information Access (Company Press Release)

Aria Systems Delivers World’s Most Secure and Flexible On-Demand Billing Solution for Salesforce
(Company Press Release)

CRM manager Doubles Customer Base in 2009 (PR Newswire)

Proscape Announces Integration with Salesforce.com (PharmaLive)

A Tale of Two Software Worlds: Old ERP vs. SaaS (ZDNet Blogs)




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SAP and Microsoft Team Up to Help Customers of All Sizes Improve Business Planning and Consolidations
Software Leaders Underline Commitment to Customers Around the Globe Using the Microsoft Platform to Tap the Business Value of SAP(R) BusinessObjects(TM) Planning and Consolidation Applications (PR Newswire)

SAP, Microsoft align against Oracle in business software market (SearchOracle.com)


Cloud Won't Do for Critical Applications, SAP Says
Mission-critical applications will not move to the cloud said SAP's CTO Vishal Sikka. (PC World)

SAP Customers and Partners Create New Business Solutions at SAP Co-Innovation Lab in Bangalore (PR Newswire)




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US software maker Bentley opening Dublin office (Associated Press
via CNBC)

Verizon introduces FiOS service in Philadelphia (Philadelphia Inquirer)

thePlatform Plugs In 'TV Everywhere' (Light Reading: Cable Digital News)

GE, Vivendi Still Mulling Over NBC Universal (Fox Business)

Comcast Spotlight Brings Leading Retailers’ Weekly Circulars to TV
Viewers Can Browse Stores’ Featured Sale Items with a Click of Their Remotes (Business Wire)

Charter Reorganization Plan Approved
Operator Says New Stock Could Come Early Next Year (Multichannel News)

Ben Franklin to Invest $519,537 In Regional Economic Development (Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern
Pennsylvania)

RAM Technologies Teams With IBM to Serve SMB Marketplace (PR Newswire)

Stimulus funding Phila. grants to creative businesses (Philadelphia Business Journal)

Bucks County, Pa., Now Live on Lawson Enterprise Solutions (Business Wire)





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Intel invests again in Safend

Intel has made a follow-on investment in Philadelphia and Israel-based Safend, VentureBeat reports. Safend provides endpoint security protection systems. Intel first invested in Safend in 2005; the amount of its investments have not been disclosed. Safend is also backed by Israeli companies Walden Israel and Elron. It recently ranked 7th on the Deloitte Israel Fast 50.




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Daily Links 11/17/09: SAP and Microsoft to announce new partnership tomorrow

Microsoft and SAP Again Team Up Against Oracle (Wall Street Journal: Digits)

Comcast's NBC talks cap its decades-long rise (Associated Press via Google News)

Key dates in the history of Comcast Corp. (Associated Press via Google News)

Comcast Said to Work With Ticketmaster, Live Nation on Merger (Bloomberg)

SAP makes business model more flexible to meet customer needs (Reuters)

Down ERP market could mean licensing deals for SAP buyers (SearchSAP.com)

Startups Trying to Change the SAP Consulting Game
A pair of new startups see potential in remote help desk support for SAP (PC World)
One of them is CumulusIQ of Bethlehem.

Companies urge FCC to scrap broadband study that favors net neutrality (Washington Post: Post Tech)

Salesforce.com Announces Fiscal Third Quarter Results (PR Newswire)
Salesforce.com FY Q3 Revs Beat, EPS In Line; Stock Sags (Barron's: Tech Trader Daily)

Salesforce.com Community Chooses WebEx Integration as Next Boomi Widget (Marketwire)

Aria Systems and NetSuite Partner to Deliver Usage-Based Billing on SuiteCloud Platform
Leading Usage-Based Billing Complements NetSuite’s Native Billing Engine (Business Wire)

D&E cuts: headquarters, 239 jobs
Windstream details plan after purchase last week (LancasterOnline.com)

GIS technology to be focus of Burlco forum (Cherry Hill Courier-Post)


CableLabs Advanced-Ad Interop Draws 24 Companies
Vendors Demo Interoperability Using Specs Developed by CableLabs, Canoe (Multichannel News)

InterDigital Announces Financial Guidance for Fourth Quarter 2009 (Business Wire)




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First Round Capital's Recent Deals

FRC has led a $1 million round (875k raised so far) for Swipely, a Providence RI startup that won't disclose what it is doing yet, acording to Xconomy.

TechCrunch reports that FRC is a return investor in a $5 million round for Outright led by Sequoia Capital. Outright provides online bookeeping services for small businesses. Could it be another Mint? Outright is based in Campbell CA.

FRC also came back for a third round in AppNexus, for $5 million lead by Kodiak Venture Partners , paidContent reports. AppNexus provides online advertising services via a cloud computing platform. It is
based in New York City.




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Daily Links 11/16/09: Cohen says Comcast Ownership of Content ‘Totally Appropriate’

Another chapter starts to unfold in the SAP maintenance story (ZDNet Blogs)


Comcast Expands Online Local Sports Teams To Compete With ESPN (paidContent)

Comcast Ownership of Content ‘Totally Appropriate,’ Cohen Says (Bloomberg)

MGM exploring potential sale of company (Reuters)
Comcast owns a minority stake in MGM.

Listening in on calls to Comcast shows it's not so easy (Chicago Tribune)

Motorola to Enhance On Demand Portfolio with Strategic Acquisition
BitBand contributes IP video delivery expertise and leading share in IPTV Video On Demand (PR Newswire)
Motorola to buy BitBand, restates IPTV intentions amid sale rumors (FierceIPTV)


Investment group approves nearly $1M in funding (Phildelphia Inquirer)
Ben Franklin Technology Partners SE invests in five area companies.

Hay Group CIO Survey
IT Poised for a Recovery in 2010 (Business Wire)

Blumenthal: Stimulus provides strong foundation for HIE (FierceHealthIT)

Harris Corporation Acquires Patriot Technologies; Expands Presence in Integrated Healthcare Information Solutions for the Federal Market
(PR Newswire)
Patriot Technologies is based in King of Prussia.

Little Benefit Seen, So Far, in Electronic Patient Records (New York Times)

TL Ventures Dispute Heads To Arbitration (And Then Back to Court) (PE Hub)
TL Ventures is headquartered in Radnor.

BarCamp indicates that Philly is ready for next step. But will it happen? (Technically Philly)

Voxware Reports First Quarter Results for Fiscal 2010
Worldwide Economic Conditions Contributed to Challenging Quarter (Business Wire)




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Philly Tech Events Calendar

People News 11/15/09

MEDecision Appoints Scott A. Storrer CEO (Business
Wire)

Comcast Names Steven A. White West Division President (PR Newswire)

Kenexa Appoints Eric Lochner as Chief Marketing Officer
Former EMEA Director to Head Global Marketing Initiatives (Marketwire)

TimeSight Systems(TM) Appoints Mike Gluck as Vice President of Sales (PR Newswire)

Lance Richard Named Entercom VP/Digital Sales (Radio Online)

Austin Paris, Former Equifax and Dun & Bradstreet Sales Executive, Joins RDC as Senior Vice President, Sales (Business Wire)

Emtec, Inc. Expands Executive Management Team with Appointment of Sunil Misra to Chief Strategy & Delivery Officer (Business Wire)

Tech Awards Circle Winners Represent Best of Tech 2009 (PR Newswire)
Chief Technologists of SevOne of Newark (DE) and Dataram of Princeton both honored.

DMW Worldwide brings on Daniela Gelety as senior AE (Philly Ad Club News)

Vijay Prasad Named to PMI Board of Directors
PMI Volunteer is First from India to Serve Worldwide Membership (Business Wire)




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Vivendi May Decide to Sell NBC Stake as Sale Window Opens Today (Bloomberg)

Comcast aspires to be a major global communications player (LA Times: Company Town)

From Books to Business: Student Entrepreneurs (ABC News)

Why must software be so hard on the user? (Philadelphia Inquirer)
Review of Electronic Ink CEO Harold Hambrose's new book, Wrench in the System.



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