Daily Links 3/2/2011: Boston vs. Silicon Valley debate gets heated

NBCU Rock-ing mega-lease (New York Post)


ERT Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2010 Operating Results (PR Newswire)
Also changing trading symbol from "ERES" to "ERT".

SAP Sales OnDemand: Got It, Got It, Need It? (ZDNet Blogs)

SAP CRM Sales On-demand Heads to Market (Enterprise Matters)

SAP Offers Resellers Big-Account Opportunities, Cuts Pre-Pay Requirement (CRN)

'Over the hill' Boston tech community lashes out at academic (Telegraph)

Attorney for Philadelphia entrepreneurs Goodman to be honored (Philadelphia Business Journal)


Broadband Growth Slows For Fourth Straight Year: Analyst
Top U.S. Cable Operators Added 2.3 Million Broadband Subs In 2010, Says Leichtman
(Multichannel News)

Cox, Motorola Tests See 400 Mbps Upstream
Cable's Upstream Limits Soon To Be Less Of A Problem?
(Broadband Reports)

NEC to Integrate Niteo Partners, a Leader in Business Intelligence, Analytics and Performance Management Systems (Business Wire)
Niteo Partners is headquartered in Princeton.

ADP To Acquire AdvancedMD (Information Week)



permalink


Daily Links 3/1/2011: SAP Readies Salesforce.com Rival

SAP Readies Salesforce.com Rival (PC World)

SAP Plays Games With The Analysts
The 'gamification' of the enterprise could make work more compelling, engaging and -- gasp -- fun.
(Information Week)

QlikTech Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2010 Financial Results (Business Wire)
Fourth Quarter revenue up 32%; Full year revenue of $226.5 million up 44% from 2009.
Qlik Technologies misses Wall Street's fourth-quarter earnings estimates by a penny (AP via Canadian Business Online)

NetSuite and Informatica partner for global enterprise (ZDNet Blogs)

Google Ventures, Khosla Make Rain For WeatherBill (Wall Street Journal: Digits)
WeatherBill raises $42 million lead by Google Ventures and Khosla, with previous investor First Round Capital also participating.


Hulu Set for Meteoric Growth in 2011
Ad revenue haul could be as high as $500 million
(Ad Week)

Comcast releases Xfinity TV remote control app for Android devices (Engadget)


Internet-on-your-TV startup Boxee raises $16.5M (VentureBeat)

Sprint Boosts CEO Hesse's Target Bonus, Drops Link to Clearwire Success (Bloomberg)

Boathouse Capital Invests $9.1M in Two Companies (PE Hub)
Boathouse Capital is a private equity firm base in Wayne. These are its first software investments.

Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs’ 2011 Business Plan Competition Chooses 26 Semi-Finalists (Penn News)



permalink


Daily Links 2/28/2011: Bel Fuse makes $246 million bid for Philly's Pulse Electronics

Comcast, NBC deal opens door for online video (AP via USA Today)

Comcast CEO Brian Roberts Calls Netflix Streaming Service a Positive (Hollywood Reporter)
Roberts: "What Used To Be Called 'Reruns' On Television Is Now Called Netflix".


Hogging Bandwidth Could Crack Netflix’s Piggy Bank (paidContent)

Boehner Says Vote To Invalidate Net Rules Could Come In March
House Speaker Says Chamber Will Act Because FCC Has Yet To 'Explain The Need For This Intrusion'
(Multichannel News)

Comcast: The Next Big Capital Allocation Story, Says Goldman (Barron's: Tech Trader Daily)

Liberty Media Reports Fourth Quarter and Year End 2010 Financial Results (Business Wire)
QVC Q4 revenue up 4%.

QVC, Starz Drive Liberty Q4 (Multichannel News)


Deborah M. Gage Named President and CEO of MEDecision
Experienced Senior Executive Brings Wide-Ranging Health IT Background to Leadership Role
(Business Wire)

Bel Fuse makes $246M offer for (Philly-based) Pulse Electronics
(AP via Forbes)
A few years ago it was the other way around, but Pulse (then named Technitrol) was the larger player at that time in terms of market value.

Motorola’s Xoom Tablet Sales Have Started ‘Relatively Well’ (Bloomberg)

Larry's Long Reach (Forbes)
On Larry Ellison-backed NetSuite.

Salesforce.com Falls; WSJ Reveals “The Truth Behind…The Hype”
(Forbes: The Tech Trade)

PPUG Spring 2011 reviews wrap-up (ZDNet Blogs)



permalink


Who's on deck for Mobile Monday Mid-Atlantic Demo Night

Seven companies are scheduled to present at Mobile Monday Mid-Atlantic Demo Night tomorrow night (Monday, February 28, 5:30-8:30pm at The Hub Cira Centre). Three of them are fairly well known to the Philly area tech community; NearVerse (LoKast proximity social network), which started in Philly though I believe it may actually be based in New York now, Philly-based online ticketing service TicketLeap, and Blue Bell-based Fiberlink Communications (MaaS360 software for enterprise network "endpoint" security).

The other four are relative newcomers:

Emergensee of Wayne, has a personal security app which enables you to to instantly start streaming video from your cell phone to up to three different recipients if you feel you may be in a threatening or unsafe situation.

EverComm Technologies, which offers a service for remotely monitoring your toddlers called Keep In Touch.

MobileReactor, which has an application that allows television viewers to interact with their favorite shows, though I can't find much more information on it right now (nothing beyond a homepage is live on their website when I looked at it). Founders have backgrounds with Nokia (Traffic.com), TruePosition and Comcast; given that experience I wonder whether their app may be location-based in some way.

MyChinoki of Philadelphia allows consumers to select which local businesses they would be willing to recieve occasional SMS text messages from concerning promotions and special deals.

TicketLeap will demo its new Android ticket scanning application.

There are also followup interviews with some of last year's participating companies on Mobile Monday Mid-Atlantic's website.

Some seats are still available for the event at the time of this posting.


permalink


Carrots, Sticks and Digital Health Records (New York Times)

Motorola Sues TiVo (On Behalf Of Verizon) (Zatz Not Funny!)


Daily Links 2/25/2011: Drexel to get five times the bandwith

Comcast Preps a Docsis 3.0 Boost (Light Reading Cable)
For upload speeds.

Peers or not? Comcast and Level 3 slug it out at FCC's doorstep (Ars Technica)

NBCU Local Strategy: Balancing Individualism And Uniform Qualities (paidContent)

Is Verizon's FiOS Deployment Freeze Thawing?
Verizon Tells Wilmington, Delaware New Deployments Loom
(Broadband Reports)
Update: One more reason why blogs are no substitute for newspapers (Delaware Online: Delaware Inc.)
While the Broadband Reports article above is wrong (sometimes old articles pop up in search engines or RSS Feeds), there is still a certain irony in going back and reading what the Verizon
exec said two years ago and what hasn't happened since then.

Salesforce wins bet on the cloud, doubles down on social (Fortune)

SAP Announces Blockbuster BusinessObjects Upgrade (Information Week)

Alcatel Lucent to help bring metering technology to Pennsylvania (PennEnergy)

Philadelphia Business Journal’s Social Media Stars announced (Philadelphia Business Journal)

ICG Announces 2010 Fourth Quarter and Year-End Financial Results
Core Consolidated Revenue Increases 27% in 2010
Metastorm Sale Completed
(Globe Newswire)

Demand for Accelerated Cost Savings Fuels Continued Growth for ICG Commerce
Comprehensive Procurement Solution Provider Sees 20 Percent-Plus Revenue Growth for Sixth Consecutive Year
(Globe Newswire)

Network to be upgraded
Five times more bandwidth for campus
(The Triangle)



permalink


Philly Tech Tidbits 2/24/2011

Malvern social CRM startup Visibiz has raised $1 million from West Conshohocken-based SeventySix Capital, according to Dow Jones VentureWire. Visibiz was founded by Ami Assayag, who briefly had served as SeventySix Capital's entrepreneur in residence. Its software helps companies manage information across multiple CRM platforms and social media sites. Visibiz now has eight employees and will shortly launch into private beta, and Assayag says he hopes to close on another $1 million round by summer.


A new Delaware-based startup, cWyze, has raised $200,000 , according to a recent SEC filing. cWyze appears to be developing an interactive video ad interface for targeted marketing. Don't know too much about the founders, but the advisors listed on its website are impressive, including Philadelphia businessman and politician Sam Katz and Morgan Lewis Bockius partner Stephen Goodman.


The Business Insider reports that Google may have some interest in acquiring First Round Capital portfolio company SinglePlatform. The New York startup provides one location on the web where small businesses can enter and maintain information about themselves which SinglePlatform then automatically distributes to various local shopping and social media sites. However, Business Insider's source tells them that nothing is likely to happen until the user base gets considerably larger. First Round led a $1.2 million seed round in December.


In several reports last month about major VC firm Accel Partners opening a New York office, Philly-based mobile payments startup Venmo was named as being one of their portfolio companies. Which is surprising since there has never been a formal announcement of such an investment, nor does it appear in Accel's portfolio listed on its website. Venmo has previously raised $1.2 million in a round led by RRE Ventures in May of last year.


Quu, Inc., a startup which provides an interactive platform for radio stations, has named veteran Philadelphia radio exec Lynn Bruder CEO, to be based in Philadelphia, though the company will continue to be headquartered in the Seattle area.


Temple University's Fox School of Business has received a $500,000 donation from Goldman Sachs Gives, a donor-advised fund, which will enable it to expand its business plan competition program. The gift was made at the recommendation of two Temple alumni, Alan and Deborah Cohen. Alan is an exec at Goldman Sachs.


Comcast Interactive Capital participated in a $17 million Series C financing round in Atlanta-based Vitrue, which provides a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform which enables brands and marketing agencies to communicate with customers and fans. Comcast had been a previous investor.


Safeguard Scientifics' recently announced $5 million backing of Downingtown startup ThingWorx may reflect a change in its investment philosophy, or perhaps more accurately a return to its roots. “On the heels of two well-timed exits last year, Safeguard is now in a position of financial strength and flexibility to deploy capital into new, high-growth, high-value companies,” said Peter J. Boni, President and CEO, in the press release. Which sounds like an indication that Safeguard will be looking at more early stage (and higher risk) ventures such as ThingWorx in the future.



permalink


Daily Links 2/24/2011: Osage University Partners Closes $100 Million Debut Venture Capital Fund

InterDigital Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2010 Financial Results
Full Year Revenue of $394.5 million Increased 33 Percent Over 2009
(Business Wire)
InterDigital Shares Plunged: What You Need to Know (Motley Fool)

SAP Asks Court to Reduce Oracle Award or Set New Trial (Bloomberg)

Oracle to SAP: How’s This for Grossly Excessive–We Want Another Half-Billion in Damages (All Things Digital: Digital Daily)
Ellison's typical return shot.


SAP wants racketeering claims thrown out (Computerworld)
In Marin County case.

Salesforce.com: Strong fourth quarter, light earnings outlook, $2 billion revenue mark in sight
(ZDNet Blogs)


Osage University Partners Closes $100 Million Debut Venture Capital Fund, Affiliates With Leading Universities (Marketwire)

Comcast Unit Shares Cisco's Video Spotlight (Light Reading Cable)

Sprint, Falcone’s LightSquared Said to Discuss Network Deal (Bloomberg)

Sage Payment Solutions Acquires Small Merchant Portfolio From Heartland Payment Systems (Marketwire)

New Console Digital Developer Play Eternal Founded In Philly (Gamasutra)



permalink


Daily Links 2/23/2011: SAP introduces updated Business Intelligence product line

DreamIT Ventures Taps Startup Founders as It Expands Into New York (Gigaom)

No secret that QVC might buy Home Shopping (Denver Post)

SAP Enters Complex-event Processing Market (PC World)

SAP BusinessObjects 4.0 hits the streets (SearchBusinessAnalytics.com)

Unisys builds cash as it trims debt (Philly.com: Philly Inc)

DirecTV Profit Beats Analysts' Estimates on Video, High-Definition Demand (Bloomberg)

Golf Channel, NBC Tee Off As Playing Partners At WGC Tourney
Promotion, Production, Programming, Graphics Reflect 'Golf Channel On NBC' Branding
(Multichannel News)

Obama names Facebook, Intel and Comcast execs to new jobs council (Washington Post: Post Tech)

Comcast Shaking Up Speed Tiers (Again)
Seven Delicious Flavors In DOCSIS 3 Upgraded Markets
(Broadband Reports)

Bluewolf Opens New Office Headquarters in New York (PR Newswire)
Also opens new Philadelphia office.

Google’s Decision to Get Into “Real Time” Ads Was Really Smart, Says Google (All Things Digital: MediaMemo)

Checkpoint Systems Shares Plunged: What You Need to Know (Motley Fool)

Kairos Society Helps Student Entrepreneurs Test Best Ideas for Startups (Bloomberg)



permalink


Daily Links 2/22/2011: Checkpoint, CDI down after financial results

WGAW Reps: Comcast Wants to Destroy Unions (Hollywood Reporter)

CBS Picks Netflix Over Hulu to Stream Classic Shows (Gigaom: NewTeeVee)

Amazon Prime Instant Streaming Launches, But Not (Yet) A Netflix-Killer (Silicon Alley Insider)

Xoom Android tablet set for sale Thursday at Verizon (Computerworld)

Checkpoint Systems, Inc. Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2010 Results (Business Wire)
Checkpoint Systems Q4 misses Street (Reuters)

CDI Corp. Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2010 Results (PR Newswire)
CDI shares are really getting hammered today, off almost 15%, after missing forecast.

Veeva Systems Announces Increased Investment in China
Life sciences business solutions leader expands operations in industry’s largest emerging market to support customer growth
(Business Wire)
Veeva Systems has a significant presence in the Philadelphia area.

SAP Eyes Wider Market With Real-Time Business Analytics Software (Bloomberg)

Recyclebank Raises Additional $14 Million in Series C Financing (PR Web)
Recyclebank started out in Philly and still has some of its operations based here.

SAS acquires Assetlink to help marketers deliver smarter, more efficient campaigns (SAS Press Release)



permalink