Auditors: Army's Huge SAP Project 'at High Risk' (PC World)

Comcast Likely to Deploy New ZigBee Living-Room Networking (PC Magazine)

Cable association to FCC: AllVid is DOA
(Gigiom: NewTeeVee)

SEC filing cracks the egg on Chegg’s Notehall purchase (VentureBeat)
Notehall was a DreamIt Ventures portfolio company.

Daily Links 7/8/2011: SAP Human Resources chief Angelika Dammann resigns

Why Verizon should buy Hulu (Gigaom)

Netflix: Is it broadband’s cash cow or data hog?
(Gigaom)

Comcast XFINITY TV Gets Honeycomb Support, Your Tablet is Your New Remote (Phandroid)

FCC commissioner blasts his agency for over-regulation (The Hill)


FCC Submits Net Neutrality Regulations (National Journal)

ANGELIKA DAMMANN RESIGNS FROM SAP EXECUTIVE BOARD (SAP Press Release)
She wasn't there for very long, but says leaving for personal reasons (though there is perhaps a little more to the story )

Why Workday is a Major Threat to SAP (Jarret Pazahanick)

SAP core applications certified on Oracle Exadata (ZDNet Blogs)

Beyond SaaS; Cloud Computing Update and Investment Opportunities
(Enterprise Irregulars)

Although Many Investors Are Spinning, Turntable.fm Has Not Yet Picked A DJ (TechCrunch)
Contrary to yesterday's Business Insider report (though it may be just a matter of timing).


Curt Schlling Is Back Pitching His Start-Up (Wall Street Journal: Venture Capital Dispatch)



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Medical Marketing & Media looks at the top agencies

The July "Agency Issue" of Medical Marketing & Media Magazine is out, profiling what it has identified as the 75 largest agencies in the healthcare advertising business. As always, many of them are based in or around the Philadelphia area, including:

Cadient Group (Conshohocken)

CDM Princeton (Princeton)

Digitas Health (Philadelphia)

Dudnyk (Horsham)

Razorfish Health (Philadelphia)

RosettaWishbone (Hamilton, NJ)

Roska Healthcare Advertising (Montgomeryville)

Saatchi & Saatchi Healthcare Innovations (Yardley)

Vox Medica (Philadelphia)


Others with an established presence in the Philadelphia area include Blue Diesel, evoke interaction , imc2 Health & Wellness, and Publicis Healthware International. San Francisco-based Eveo says it is hoping to add a Philadelphia office.

Most of the Philly area agencies claimed low double digit revenue growth last year-a few considerably higher. Digitas Health reported revenue growth in the mid-teens, as revenue exceeded $100 million. Recently Publicis announced a reorg that might be a step towards integrating Digitas Health and sister agency Razorfish Health to some degree. Publicis also consolidated its Publicis Healthcare Communications Group shops, including Saatchi & Saatchi Healthcare Innovations (which used to be based in Newtown), into new offices in Yardley.

Of course, Publicis's other big move this year was its $575 million acquisiton of Hamilton, NJ-based Rosetta Marketing, which has a substantial healthcare business beefed up by its acquisition of New York-based Wishbone at the end of 2009. Last year, its healthcare unit, now rebranded as RosettaWishbone, generated $68 million in revenue.

Conshohocken-based Cadient Group said it experienced double-digit growth in the second half of 2010 after some of its clients' brands failed to launch in the first half due to non-approval. Cadient reintegrated strategy, digital and tech solutions, which had been separated into different units in 2009.
Cleveland-based Blue Diesel, with offices in Newtown, and Dudnyk also reported strong growth. Roska Healthcare Advertising, which reported 2010 growth of 30%, says the business is changing and it is increasingly emphasizing a multichannel approach to meet client needs.



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Daily Links 7/7/2011: Lengthy contract extensions for SAP co-CEOs

Lubert-backed SmarterAgent lures NY, Seattle techs (Philly.com: Philly Deals)

SAP: No Change at the Top as Board Extends CEO Contracts (PC World)

Rimini Street second quarter bookings, revenue jump (ZDNet Blogs)

Can Comcast Stop Losing Video Subscribers? (Light Reading Cable)

OH My! Omnicom, Horizon Team Up To Pitch Comcast (MediaPost: Media Daily News)

Comcast to hike rates 3.3% for cable TV customers (Lancaster Intelligencer Journal)
Not clear from this article which parts of Pennsylvania this applies to right now, but they'll probably get everyone eventually.


Major ISPs agree to "six strikes" copyright enforcement plan (Ars Technica)

Liberty Media’s Malone Says Buyouts of Live Nation, HSN May Make Sense (Bloomberg)

Third Circuit Remands Newspaper-Broadcast Rule Change Back To FCC
Upholds Decision Not To Loosen Other Regs (Multichannel News)

Back to the future for Safeguard (Philadelphia Business Journal)

APAC Customer Services to be Acquired by One Equity Partners
(Business Wire)
JPMorgan investment arm will merge APAC with Horsham-based NCO Group.

Turntable.fm and the Siren Song of the Start-up Pivot (Betabeat)
First Round Capital portfolio company reportedly raising funds at $40 million valuation.
Update: Turntable.fm  funded  at $37.5 million valuation

Commonwealth Court rules in Department of Public Welfare's favor over its bid award to Deloitte Consulting LLP (Harrisburg Patriot-News)

With new web addresses, Internet continues to grow (Philadelphia Inquirer)



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Competition heats up in online pet food & supplies business; Everyone is raising funds and Amazon gets in

Competition may be heating up for Plymouth Meeting-based Pet360 (which operates under PetFoodDirect.com and other brands), a leader in the online pet food and supplies market which just last week announced an $18 million round of equity financing lead by Updata Partners and joined by previous investor LLR Partners of Philadelphia.

Today, Amazon got into the game through Quidsi, the New Jersey-based online retailer (Diapers.com, Soap.com) founded by some bright Wharton people that it acquired last year for $540 million. Quidsi introduced Wag.com, which will offer free shipping for orders over $49. Quidsi has experience with customer service and the logistics of picking and shipping often bulky items on a low cost basis.

Also today, New York-based PetFlow today announced a Series B funding round of $10 million. PetFlow is basically in the same business, although they say they focus on healthier foods and hard to find items.

All of this led many commentators today to make comparisons to the Pets.com fiasco of the 2000 Internet bubble era. But people in the US spend over $50 billion a year on their pets, its a growing market, and there is a much better understanding today of the markting, economics and logistics of online retailing. Whether there will be room for three or more major players in the market, though, is another question.

Kenexa/Taleo IP litigation settled

Talent management SaaS vendor Kenexa of Wayne has settled litigation resulting out of its 2007 intellectual property lawsuit against competitor Taleo, the company announced in an SEC filing
yesterday.

Kenexa's suit centered on a patent for enabling the entering of resume information into a structured database.

The settlement includes the cross licensing of certain intellectual property between the two firms, and a cash payment of $3 million from Taleo to Kenexa.



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Daily Links 7/6/2011: Safeguard Scientifics to Acquire 36% Interest in Penn Mezzanine

DST Systems, Inc. Acquires Assets of IntelliSource Healthcare Solutions of King of Prussia (PR Newswire)

Safeguard Scientifics to Acquire 36% Interest in Penn Mezzanine
(Business Wire)

Microsoft's Malvern partner (NextDocs) plans global growth (Philly.com: Philly Deals)

Out Of Investment Hibernation, New Jersey Still Bullish On Venture (Wall Street Journal: Venture Capital Dispatch)

Iger Says Hulu Owners ‘Committed to Selling’ (Bloomberg)

Insight Comm buyer likely to be picked within month: report (Reuters)

Business Intelligence Market Led by SAP, IBM and Oracle (Enterprise Apps Today)

Amazon hiring hundreds to Lehigh Valley warehouse (Allentown Morning Call)



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Daily Links 7/5/2011: Philly's CityRide gets funding and methodology validaton

CityRyde Gets Funded, and Methodology Validation to Turn Bike Rides into Cash (PR Web)

Slideshow: Most Active VC Firms to Date in 2011 (PE Hub)
First Round Capital fifth most active in terms of number of deals.

Sun Valley Moguls Shift Focus to Media Models (Bloomberg)

Verizon to kill unlimited data plans on July 7 (VentureBeat)

LightSquared gets $265M as the FCC weighs its fate (Gigaom)


Lockheed Martin Team Completes Design Milestone for GPS III Program (PR Newswire)

SAP Business One Gets New Hosted, Subscription Model (PC World)

Deloitte Wants Software Lawsuit Kept Away From Jury (PC World)

ASG Software Group Completes Acquisition of PERFMAN (Business Wire)



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SportsBusiness Journal: ESPN close to landing rights for Wimbledon (Sporting News)
Beats out Comcast/NBC.

Philly Tech People News 7/3/2011

E-retailing veteran Fiona Dias is leaving GSI (Internet Retailer)

SCTE Elevates Three Staffers
Group Promotes DiGiacomo, Harris and Russell; Retains Hughey and Wright as Subject-Matter Consultants (Multichannel News)

RDC Names Frank R. Sanchez to Board of Directors (Business Wire)

T-Mobile Appoints Marty Pisciotti as Vice President General Manager of Greater Philadelphia Tri-State Region to Oversee Local Sales and Operations (Business Wire)

Comcast extends employment contract for CEO Brian Roberts (LA Times: Company Town)

How Comcast makes its Skype integration look seamless (Gigaom)