Exclusive: HP held talks to buy Tibco (Reuters)

Microsoft launches new assault on business apps (Reuters)
Ballmer aiming at Oracle, SAP, Salesforce.

SAP Co-CEO Says He’s Looking for Acquisition Opportunities (Bloomberg)

VMware Builds Cloud For App Developers
Developers using Microsoft's Azure cloud and Goggle's App Engine cloud are the main target of VMware's Cloud Foundry platform as a service. (Information Week)

Schneider Said to Weigh Takeover of Tyco to Add Security Systems (Bloomberg)

Don Browne, president of NBCUniversal's Telemundo network, retires (LA Times: Company Town)

Comcast-Spectacor chairman Snider enjoys double dip of success with Flyers, 76ers in playoffs (AP via Washington Post)
In DC to attend premier of "Atlas Shrugged", for which he is listed as "Executive Producer".

Team with wireless charger for electronics wins PennVention (Philadelphia Business Journal)

Agilence Purchases Assets of Video Analytics Company Vidient Systems (Business Wire)

Mistras Group, Inc. Strong 3rd Quarter Results Demonstrate Continued Growth in Revenues and Profits
Revenues Up 23%, Adjusted EBITDA* Up 61%, Net Income Triples (Globe Newswire)

Marchex to acquire First Round Capital portfolio company Jingle Networks for $62.5 million

Marchex today announced it was acquiring Jingle Networks, a Massachusetts-based company which operates the 800-Free-411 consumer service and a mobile ad network, for up to $62.5 million in cash and stock. The only problem is that close to $90 million had been invested in Jingle since 2004, according to VentureBeat. First Round Capital was one of its investors and early backers, though given its usual strategy it had probably supplied only a small fraction of Jingle's total capital.


With the rise of smart phones, people generally have less need to make 411 calls for directory information. Seattle-based Marchex is buying Jingle Networks for its voice-search technology and mobile ad network. This moves Marchex into the mobile advertising space, and complements a growing part of their business, one in fact it was helped in getting started in by acquiring then Philly-based and First Round Capital-backed VoiceStar in 2007. VoiceStar was a pioneer in the pay-per call business, which focused on generating calls directly to merchants in response to online advertising rather than clicks.


With the acquisition of Jingle, Marchex expects call-driven business to account for 75% of its revenue in 2011. Marchex anticipates Jingle Networks will generate more than $26 million in revenue in 2011, up at least 40 percent from 2010.

VoiceStar was co-founded by Ari Jacoby, who has since gone on to co-found and be CEO of Solve Media, the New York and Philly-based company that uses advertising to monetize "CAPTCHAS" on websites. First Round is also a backer of Solve Media. Marchex acquired VoiceStar for up to $28 million in cash and stock.



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Daily Links 4/11/2011: Flowers to acquire Tasty Baking

Neat Co. moving to Center City (Philly.com: Philly Inc)

AT&T, Comcast Go Live With 100G (Light Reading Cable)
But where?

Regulators say new customers should steer clear of Frontier cable TV (The Oregonian)

ADB Makes More US Cable Cuts (Light Reading Cable)
Shutting down Philly office.

QlikTech Revamps Partner Program, Offers New Margin Bonuses (CRN)

Microsoft to move its CRM and ERP wares to the Windows Azure cloud
(ZDNet Blogs)
CRM? Eventually.

Accel hires Paul Wahl for corporate IT investments (Reuters)

Bel Fuse Inc. Files Definitive Proxy Statement and Issues Letter to Pulse Electronics Shareholders
Urges Shareholders to Vote the GOLD Proxy Card FOR the Election of its Two Highly-Qualified, Independent Director Nominees (Business Wire)
Nothing I love more than a good Proxy fight.

Flowers Buys Tastykake; All The Good Things Wrapped Up In One
(Forbes: The Tech Trade)
Tastybake is one struggling company that didn't blame its problems on its SAP implementation.

The Pay-TV Rebellion (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Devon IT's RICO suit against IBM execs lives on

Devon IT's David v. Goliath RICO suit against four IBM executives lives on. The King of Prussia-based vendor of thin client computing devices and systems filed suit last year against IBM and the current and former IBM executives, accusing them of a $12 million Ponzi scheme designed to bilk Devon IT.

U.S. District Judge Joel Slomsky ruled on Thursday in Philadelphia that the suit against the individuals would continue to have RICO status. The judge did disconnect IBM from the RICO allegations, although the corporation will still face fraud, breach of contract and negligent supervision claims.

Devon IT, founded by Devon Health Preferred Provider Organization founder Dr. John Bennett of Villanova, alleges that the IBM execs defrauded it of $12 million by diverting funds Devon IT had invested in two products with IBM for other purposes within the corporation without telling Devon IT that one of the projects had been cancelled.

The defendants argued that 8 of the 9 claims against them were invalid because of releases signed by Devon IT, but the judge found that Devon IT may have been fraudulently induced into signing them. Although Slomsky did dismiss three of Devon's claims, he upheld the others and the RICO status applying to them, saying that "plaintiffs have sufficiently alleged predicate acts of wire fraud or 'racketeering activity.'".

Devon also claims that the defendants had been under the supervision of Robert Moffatt, a former top IBM exec who was convicted last year on insider trading charges, although he is not named in this suit.

The defendants have until April 21 to file a response.

Devon IT seeks damages in excess of $100 million. Mitts Milavec, LLC of Philadelphia is representing Devon IT.

Here is a Devon IT 2009 presentation to IBM (pdf), still hosted on IBM's website.



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Daily Links 4/8/2011: Comcast Picks Microsoft To Stream 'TV Everywhere'

Comcast Picks Microsoft To Stream 'TV Everywhere'
MSO's ThePlatform Integrates Microsoft PlayReady, IIS Smooth Streaming Into Video Management System (Multichannel News)

Viacom: Cablevision Has 'Seized' Rights It Does Not Have With iPad App
Notice to MSO Comes After Time Warner Cable and Viacom Trade Lawsuits Over Similar Tablet Service (Multichannel News)

Moto Medios Goes Social (Light Reading Cable)

Competition creator? FCC forces "data roaming" on reluctant carriers (Ars Technica)

House passes measure to repeal net neutrality (The Hill)

Farzad Mostashari named new head of ONC (Modern Healthcare)

Dell to spend $1B on cloud services this year
And IBM will support SAP in the cloud (Computerworld)

Oracle to Acquire Datanomic
Data quality provider adds risk and compliance features to Oracle's data management system
(Information Management)

Innovator: Jennifer Pahlka
The founder of Code for America is bringing programmers and cash-strapped cities together to give government services a boost (Business Week)



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Daily Links 4/7/2011: Dell, IBM announce Cloud Computing plans

Dell Plans to Spend A Billion Dollars to Build 10 New Data Centers (All Things Digital: NewEnterprise)
Implications for Boomi?

Dell Cloud Computing Spending Spree Nears $2 Billion (CRN)

IBM Seeks to Make Cloud Computing More Palatable to Businesses (Bloomberg)

Safeguard Scientifics Leads $45 Million Financing for PixelOptics
Disruptive Technology Revolutionizes Standard of Care for Eyeglass Wearers (Business Wire)

Federal Judge OKs Rico Suit Against IBM Execs (The Legal Intelligencer)
Suit filed last year by King of Prusia-based thin client vendor Devon IT.


Bentley Launches New Lineup of Bentley Map 3D Desktop GIS Software for Infrastructure (Business Wire)

SunGard Acquires Toronto based Stratix Consulting (TechFinance.ca)

Cisco: What Should They Sell? (Forbes: The Tech Trade)
Many analysts recommending that Cisco sell its set top box business. Who would the potential buyers be?

ESPN Pipes Live TV to Apple Devices (Light Reading Cable)

Time Warner Cable Seeks Court Ruling To Approve iPad App For Viacom Nets
Viacom Responds With Countersuit Charging MSO Is Violating Terms of Distribution Agreement
(Multichannel News)
We Filed A Request For Declaratory Judgment With Viacom This Afternoon (Time Warner Cable Untangled)

Motorola Mobility Blends Community and Entertainment With Launch of SocialTV Companion Service for Tablets and Mobile Devices (PR Newswire)

In Surprise Appeal, TJX and Heartland Hacker Claims U.S. Authorized His Crimes (Wired)



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Daily Links 4/6/2011: ShopRunner Wants to Give Amazon’s Free Shipping Program a Run for Its Money

ShopRunner Wants to Give Amazon’s Free Shipping Program a Run for Its Money (All Things Digital: eMoney)

ShopRunner Launches Enhanced Marketplace Where Millions of Products Are Eligible for Free, Two-Day Shipping (Business Wire)

Dish Network Wins Auction for Blockbuster With $320 Million Bid (Hollywood Reporter)

Dish's Latest Buy Is a Blockbuster (Light Reading Cable)

Comcast to FCC: Keep Hulu info secret (Politico)

Cisco: De-Emphasis, Not Divestiture, Of Consumer, Says Barclays (Barron's: Tech Trader Daily)
Competes with Motorola Mobility in providing technology to the Cable industry.


Analyst: Motorola Xoom and Atrix are duds (VentureBeat)

Dell Boomi Exec Says Architects, SIs Exploring New Cloud Integration Options (Integration Developer News)

Do SAP customers really need in-memory Strategic Workforce Planning? (SearchSAP.com)

Others Drawn Into Oracle, Rimini Street Legal Fray (PC World)

Alteva Receives Unified Communications® Magazine's 2010 Product of the Year Award (Marketwire)

Commodore Announces New Commodore64, VIC Computers (PC Magazine)
A rebirth of sorts for Commodore, the PC pioneer that was based in West Chester, although the current entity has no relationship to the old one or local connection.

Pennridge district readying government-education channel for Comcast (Philadelphia Inquirer)



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Daily Links 4/5/2011: Software AG seeks acquisitions, improved ties with SAP

PhillyDeals: Michael G. Rubin is dealing again, this time with eBay (Philly.com: Philly Deals)

Alteryx Secures $6M Series A Funding From SAP Ventures (PR Newswire)

Software seeks acquisitions, improved ties with SAP (Reuters)

Lawson Talks Product As ERP Consolidation Looms (Information Week)

Epicor, Activant ... last one out, please turn off the lights (The ERP Graveyard Blog)
As I posted yesterday, Activant has a major Delaware Valley presence.

Can a humble Chart object get some love? (… and points beyond)
Questions QlikTech's position in graphical display. Maybe there is a little acquisition they can make that would help with that.

Scvngr pilot LevelUp targets entrepreneurs with special local deal (VentureBeat)
Starting in Boston and Philly.

As Hulu Revenue Doubles, It Sparks a Set Top Box Boom (Gigaom: NewTeeVee)

NBCU Targets Hispanics With Marketing Initiative
Custom Ad Packages Include Broadcast, Cable, Online (Multichannel News)

Comcast Keeps Eye on the iPad Prize (Light Reading Cable)

Cephalon Rejects Valeant’s $5.7 Billion Takeover Bid (New York Times: DealBook)

Practice Fusion raises $23M in 2nd round (San Jose Business Journal)

Transplace Acquires SCO Logistics, Leading Provider of Logistics Services to Chemical, Process Manufacturing Industry (Business Wire)
SCO Logistics is based in Kennett Square.



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Apax Partners to acquire Epicor and Activant Solutions; includes Activant's Yardley-based Prophet 21 business

Private equity firm Apax Partners has agreed to acquire Epicor and Activant Solutions for a total value of about $2 billion, and plans to merge the two companies. The move will create a larger player in the ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) market.


Although no specific price was given for the Activant purchase, the price for Epicor is $12.50 per share, or about $1 billion, so presumably the Activant price was also in the $1 billion range. California-based Activant acquired Yardley-based Prophet 21 in 2005 for $215 million, and Prophet 21 is still a major component of its business. Prophet 21 provides ERP software for distributors, and was founded by John and Dorothy Meggitt in 1967.

Epicor’s revenue for FY 2010 were $440 million, while Activant reported revenue of $378 million in 2009

Google's Invite Media Founders: Why We Decided Not to Start the Next Facebook
Nat Turner and Zach Weinberg on Exchanges, Display Ads and Mobile, and Video-Buying Trends (Ad Age)

Angel investors growing in Phila. (Philly.com: Philly Inc)

Comcast Begins Search For Minority Networks
Hispanic-, African-American Owned-Or-Operated Channels To Launch First (Multichannel News)

Media Giants: The Difference Between Digital Survival And Smarts (Silicon Alley Insider)


Court dismisses Verizon lawsuit against FCC net neutrality rules (Washington Post: Post Tech)

SAP’s OnDemand Design Strategy (JD-OD.com)
Video: Interview with John Wookey, who heads SAP’s on-demand strategy.

CIGNA Announces New Chief Information Officer (Hartford Courant)

The Wharton School of Entrepreneurship (Wharton Journal)