Citing Stalemate, Verizon Workers Strike (New York Times)

U.S. Asks Judge to Approve Proposed Comcast-NBC Takeover Settlement (Bloomberg)

SunGard Higher Education to be acquired for $1.775 billion, combined with competitor Datatel

Malvern-based Sungard Higher Education and its competitor Datatel today announced a definitive merger agreement. Affiliates of private equity firm Hellman & Friedman LLC will acquire the SunGard Higher Education businesses from SunGard Data Systems Inc. for an aggregate cash purchase price of $1.775 billion and combine it with Datatel.

I have four immediate questions:

How will the combined entity compete with Workday's recent entry into the Higher Ed market announced last month? Workday has a strong SaaS platform and and its founders have extensive experience in the Higher Ed market through Peoplesoft.

What progress are SunGard and/or Datatel making in terms of having a true SaaS offering?

Will SunGard/Datatel pursue a course management platform (Blackboard?). SunGard and Blackboard have recently shared a common investor in Providence Equity.

Does this move mark the start of a further breakup of SunGard's assets?

SunGard Higher Education grew from Malvern-based Systems & Computer Technology, which SunGard acquired in 2004, supplemented with other acquisitions. Last week SunGard Higher Ed reported revenue of $150 million in the 2nd quarter of 2011, unchanged from last year.

Datatel is based in Fairfax, Va.

Datatel’s current chief executive officer, John Speer, will serve as chief executive officer of the combined business. Ron Lang, the current chief executive officer of SunGard Higher Education, will be vice chairman of the board of directors.

Hellman & Friedman LLC is a private equity investment firm with offices in San Francisco, New York and London and over $25 billion under management.



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Daily Links 8/5/2011: SAP sets sights on NetSuite

DirecTV CEO downplays interest in Hulu (Gigaom)

NBCU Targets End Of August To Pick Online Content Partners
Comcast Also On Track With VOD/Online PEG Project (Multichannel News)

Comcast Touts Low-Cost Broadband In Miami, Delaware (Multichannel News)

SAP sets sights on Netsuite conquest (BusinessCloud9)

Crossing the SAP Channel: ByDesign Updated, Business One Sales Still Up (ASUG News)

SAP's cloud app Sales On Demand leaves some questions unanswered (Cloud Pro/Dennis Howlett)

SAP Will Issue Patch for NetWeaver Vulnerability (PC World)

LCB's wine kiosk experiment may be ending (Philadelphia Inquirer)
Another fiasco brought to you by the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board.

SkillShare Is Closing A Round Of Funding At A "Healthy" Valuation (Silicon Alley Insider)
Getting ready to launch in Philadelphia.

So what happens to Clearwire’s WiMAX network (Gigaom)

Lockheed nets $6M military wireless pact (Philadelphia Business Journal)



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Daily Links 8/4/2011: Monetate raises $15 million

Monetate Raises $15M Led By OpenView Venture Partners to Further Extend Its Market Leadership (Marketwire)

Monetate Raises $15 Million For Realtime Testing And Targeting Platform (TechCrunch)

SAP says hiring actively in China, India (Reuters)

SAP Brings Your Subsidiaries, HQ Closer
Your headquarters wants to run SAP on-premises software, but subsidiaries want Business ByDesign SaaS suite? No problem, says SAP. (Information Week)
SAP releases new version of Business ByDesign.

Comcast Sues DirecTV Over 'Deceptive' Claims of 'Free' Televised NFL Games (Hollywood Reporter)

DirecTV Second-Quarter U.S. Sub Gains Weaken (Hollywood Reporter)

TV Everywhere is the new DRM (Gigaom)

Comcast Pulls SeaChange VOD Servers: Sources
Cisco Now MSO's Primary Video-on-Demand Server, Industry Sources Say (Multichannel News)

What Does Dynamic Ad Insertion Mean for Advertisers and Comcast? (Comcast Voices/Comcast Corporate Blog)

Why You Can’t Share That Wireless Data Plan (Zatz Not Funny)

Clearwire Goes It Alone With Faster 4G (Light Reading Mobile)

Clearwire Needs More Cash; Investors Throw In The Towel (Forbes: The Tech Trade)
Clearwire is off 29% on the day.

Interactive Map: The United States of Venture Capital (Wall Street Journal: Venture Capital Dispatch)

AppMobi's New XDK Lets You Build HTML5 Apps, for Web or Mobile (Read Write Web)

Advent International and Oberthur Group Enter into Exclusive Negotiations for the Acquisition of Oberthur Technologies’ Card Systems and Identity Activities (Business Wire)
Oberthur manufactures smart cards in Exton.

Kenexa Announces Acquisition of The Ashbourne Group
Expands Kenexa's Presence in U.K. Public Sector; Combined Entity Brings Significant Value to Clients (Marketwire)



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Comcast reports second quarter earnings; strong growth at NBCU

Comcast this morning released its 2nd Quarter 2011 Results

Consolidated Revenue increased 50.5%, reflecting the full impact of consolidation of results from the NBCU joint venture. Operating Cash Flow increased 28.5% and Operating Income increased 41.4%, while EPS increased 19.4% to $0.37. Excluding transaction-related costs and a non-cash tax charge, EPS increased 27.3% to $0.42, the company said.

On a pro forma basis (more of an apples-to-apples comparison), overall revenue grew 9.4% from a year ago.

Video subscriber losses, a key metric, came in at 238,000, down from 265,000 from a year ago though a little higher than some analysts' expectations. Video revenues were up 1.3%, high speed internet was up 10.3%, and voice revenues were up 7%. Comcast gained 144,000 high speed internet customers and 193,000 voice customers. Business Services revenue grew 42% to 435 million, as Comcast said it increased its investment in that segment by 48%.
Total Cable Communications revenue was $9.3 billion, up 5.6% from last year.

NBCUniversal revenue for the 2nd quarter was up 17.1% compared to last year at $5.2 billion, with strongest growth coming from broadcast television, filmed entertainment, and theme parks.

During its conference call, management continued to emphasize that while it is pleased with some of the progress being made at the NBC Network, it is still in fourth place and turning it around is going to be a long haul project. They have no plans to accelerate the pace for buying out more of NBCU from GE.

Comcast says about 90% of both its digital conversion and Docsis 3.0 rollout are complete.

Managenent also indicated it has no intention of pursuing an Over the Top (OTT) strategy outside of its existing customer footprint.

The costs of programming acquisition are expected to continue to grow in the mid to high single digits.

Comcast's shares are off slightly so far today.

In other coverage:

Comcast CEO: No business model for over-the-top video (Gigaom)

Basic Momentum Continues at Comcast
Retention Efforts Help Sub Losses Improve in Q2 (Multichannel News)

Comcast’s Burke: NBCU Content ‘More Valuable’ Thanks To Retrans, Online (paidContent)

NBCUniversal CEO Steve Burke: 'We're Off to a Great Start' (Hollywood Reporter)

Analysis: NBC Might Not Be as Bad as Expected (Hollywood Reporter)


Earnings Call Transcript (Seeking Alpha)



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Daily Links 8/3/2011: PA Auditor General knocks $66.6 million Oracle ERP project for Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board

Samsung Is Said to Examine InterDigital Patents (Bloomberg)

Google Slams Patent Foes’ ‘Hostile, Organized Campaign Against Android’ (paidContent)

Oracle ERP project 'a waste of taxpayer money' (PC World)
PA Auditor General knocks $66.6 million Oracle ERP project undertaken by Pennsylvania's Liquor Control Board.

Intel Labs Invests $30M in the Future of Cloud and Embedded Computing with the Opening of Latest Intel Science and Technology Centers (Business Wire)
To be located at Carnegie Mellon; researchers at Penn, Princeton will also be involved.


CLWR Off On Deeper Q2 Loss; Plans To Add LTE
(Barron's: Tech Trader Daily)


Avista, Cinven among bidders for Reuters' Kondor: sources (Reuters)

Comcast to beef up technology in Vail (Vail Daily)
Its very important for cable companies to keep customers happy in places like Vail, Martha's Vineyard.



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Daily Links 8/2/2011: Comcast's diversity progress questioned

Apply to Open Angel Forum Philly II (Gabriel Weinberg's Blog)

Web 1.0 Winners Aim For Lucky Strike #2 With Internet of Things Startup, ThingWorx (Read Write Web)
ThingWorx is based in Exton.

Kenexa Announces Financial Results for Second Quarter 2011 (Business Wire)

SevOne Continues Strong Growth and Expands Product, Partnerships and Leadership Team (Marketwire)

Earnings Preview: Comcast to report 2Q earnings tomorrow (AP via Bloomberg Business Week)

Comcast-NBCU Under Fire for Not Moving Fast Enough on Diversity
(The Wrap)

NBC's Robert Greenblatt: 'It's My Schedule for Better or Worse' (Hollywood Reporter)

Does Cable Have a Wireless Plan B? (Light Reading Cable)

FiOS dominates as FCC measures actual Internet speeds (Ars Technica)

Edison Ventures Completes 16th IPO with Tangoe (Nasdaq: TNGO)
6X Return Reinforces Edison’s SaaS Leadership (PR Web)

VectorLearning Completes $24 Million Investment from LLR Partners to Support Continued Growth & Acquisitions
Leading online education provider VectorLearning has received funding from private equity firm LLR Partners. (PR Web)

Turntable.fm closing $7.5M round led by Union Square Ventures (VentureBeat)
First Round Capital was an early backer.

Vishay Reports Results for Second Quarter 2011 (Business Wire)

Checkpoint Systems, Inc. Announces Second Quarter 2011 Results (Business Wire)

Donald Farmer’s Take on Business Discovery (The QlikView Blog)

RES Software Achieves 185 Percent Growth in Target Markets and Accelerates Expansion within Key Geographies
50 Percent Overall Year-Over-Year Growth and Record First-Half Bookings Realized, RES Poised for Aggressive Second-Half Growth (Business Wire)

Christie: Technology investments a priority in NJ
(AP via NJ.com)



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Guggenheim Venture Partners is now Alara Capital, and other Philly area VC news

Guggenheim Venture Partners, based in King of Prussia and Austin, is now Alara Capital, the firm has announced, and is no longer affiliated with Guggenheim Partners, LLC. Guggenheim Venture Partners managing directors Mike Burns and Eric Rothfus will lead Alara's operations.

Alara said it will continue its strategy of investing in undercapitalized technology companies with practices in distressed venture capital, early stage ventures and technology spin-outs, and will expand that focus into growth equity and active value investing with future private equity funds. Alara will manage Guggenheim Technology Ventures I, a fund begun in 2008 with a total today of $65 million in capital and stakes in nine technology companies. It is also raising money for a new fund; Pensions & Investments reported in March that PennSERS (Pennsylvania State Employees' Retirement System) had committted up to $10 million to Guggenheim Technology Ventures II.

GVP's portfolio has included Bethlehem-based Ciclon, which was spun off out of Agere Systems and acquired by Texas Instruments in 2009; it also includes social commerce platforms provider GreenLink of Wayne.

Mike Burns was a co-founder of Traffic.com and and was with Agere Systems and TL Ventures; Eric Rothfus was CEO of Agere and was also with TL Ventures.

The State of Pennsylvania's Ben Franklin Technology Development Authority (BFTDA) has approved a $30.6 million investment to support the four regionally based Ben Franklin Technology Partners, it was
announced on Friday. Of that amount, $16.6 million will focus the on development of alternate energy start-ups and new product innovations. It appears that the apples to apples comparison for the regional funding (excluding the alternative energy part) is $3.5 million next year vs. $4 million the past two years and $6.9 million per year before that.

DreamIt Ventures is currently working to finalize its selections (15 including 5 in the Comcast Minority Entrepreneur Accelerator Program) for its Fall 2011 Philadelphia class. Kickoff Weekend will held on September 9-10.

CloudBees, a Boston-based startup providing a Cloud Platform as a Service for Java Web Apps, raised $10.5 million in Series B funding, bringing its total investment to $14.5 million. Philly area entrepreneur (Bluestone, JBoss) and angel Bob Bickel was an early investor in CloudBees and is a board member.

John Martinson, founder and Managing Partner of Lawrencevile-based Edison Ventures, and his wife Eileen Martinson, are bringing minor league hockey back to Trenton after the recent demise of the Trenton Devils. The new team will have the name of Trenton's old hockey team, the Titans, and will be affiliated with the Flyers. Eileen Martinson is the CEO of Sparta Systems, a Holmdel-based software company. The investment is a personal one, not related to the venture firm.

Edison Ventures announced today that it is investing $5 million in Salsa Labs, a DC-based fundraising software firm.

Cross Atlantic Capital Partners of Radnor has participated in a in $12 million Series E Funding in Interactions Corporation, a Massachusetts-based provider of interactive voice response (IVR) systems for customer care. Cross Atlantic led Interactions' Series C Round last year.



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Daily Links 8/1/2011: Versus to become the NBC Sports Network

Versus set to become the NBC Sports Network (USA Today)

Versus Will Fly NBC Sports Colors (Multichannel News)

With Universal, Comcast hopes to make a big splash in movies (Philadelphia Inquirer)

NBCUniversal starts to overhaul its TV studio (LA Times: Company Town)

Apple Announces A Full Assault On The Cable Box With The Streaming Of Purchased TV Shows (TechCrunch)

Rue La La launches local deals in Chicago, challenging Groupon (Chicago Tribune)
Rue La La, formerly part of GSI Commerce, is now majority-owned by former GSI Commerce founder Michael Rubin's holding company.

Windstream to Buy Paetec for $891 Million (New York Times: DealBook)

Skillshare Expands to San Francisco; Next Stop Philly (BetaBeat)

Appirio CEO talks Workday, SaaS momentum, IPO (ZDNet Blogs)

Amazon Start-Up Challenge goes global (Gigaom)



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Philly Tech People News 7/31/2011

EX-COMCAST SVP OF USER EXPERIENCE AND PRODUCT DESIGN, GERARD KUNKEL, JOINS MICROSOFT
--Will Serve as Media Strategy Advisor to Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business (InteractiveTV Today)

Licata Rejoins Greenblatt at NBC Entertainment as EVP, Communications
Former Showtime Exec Joins In Newly Created Position (Multichannel News)

SAP Appoints Industry Veteran Kevin Nix to Lead Line of Business OnDemand Solutions (PR Newswire)

Digitas/Razorfish Health Promotes Pair to Global Co-Presidents (Mediabistro: AgencySpy)

AT&T Names New Wireless Network Lead in Philadelphia (PR Newswire)

Seasoned Healthcare Communications Professional Joins Precyse Executive Leadership Team (PR Newswire)

MTI Names Kyu Om Vice President, Business Development (Business Wire)

Healthcare Data Solutions Announces New Director of Compliance Solutions (PR Web)

InterComponentWare CFO Rob Longo Hired as CFO/COO of Totem (PR Web)

Alteryx Names George Mathew as President and COO (PR Newswire)



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