Daily Links 8/10/2011: Bensalem-based mortgage tech company ISGN raises $30 million

Bensalem-based ISGN Raises $30 Million from Investors (PR Newswire)

Checkpoint Systems under pressure to seek sale
* MMI Investments sends letter seeking strategic review
* Earlier recommendations rebuffed by board (Reuters)
Checkpoint's response: Its all just a misunderstanding.

DirecTV Defeats Comcast Bid for Court Order Blocking Ads for NFL Programs (Bloomberg)

NBC Sports Group Agrees to Multi-Year Partnership With Major League Soccer
NBC, NBC Sports Net to air 49 games per season (Broadcasting & Cable)

U.S. subscribers hang up on cable, satellite; economy, streaming to blame (Globe and Mail via CTV News)

Cablevision and Viacom make peace in iPad dispute (LA Times: Company Town)

Clearwire names CEO and asks him to raise $900M (Gigaom)

Here Are The 13 Startups Presenting At NYC Dreamit Demo Day Today (Silicon Alley Insider)


Verizon goes to court over workers' strike in East
(AP via CNBC)


SAP Will Launch New Smart Grid Software
SAP Smart Meter Analytics is going to handle a whole lot more than meter data and do it faster. (Greentech Media)

Mistras Group, Inc. Delivers Strong Revenue and Earnings Growth as FY 2011 Revenue Increases 24%, Adjusted EBITDA Up 33%
(GlobeNewswire)
Mistras Group is based in Princeton.

FCC announces plan to update 911 to receive texts, video
(The Hill)
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski made announcement at the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials International Conference in Philadelphia on Wednesday.

Orbitz and StarCite Launch Orbitz for Business Meetings (PR Newswire)



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Daily Links 8/9/2011: QVC revenue up 8%; Strong international growth

Liberty Media Reports Second Quarter 2011 Financial Results (Business Wire)
QVC revenue up 8% (stronger internationally) and operating income up 4%; Liberty hopes to complete split-off of Liberty Capital and Liberty Starz in 3rd quarter after Bank of New York's appeal is heard in the Delaware Supreme Court in mid-September.

WVT Communications Finalizes $17 Million Acquisition of Alteva
New Organizational Structure Established (Marketwire)

Tax issue spurs PhillyCarShare to sell to Enterprise (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Clearwire: Merrill Now Sees Going Concern Risk; Target 50 Cents (Forbes: The Tech Trade)

Dish Network Lost 135,000 Subscribers in Second Quarter

 (Hollywood Reporter)

HSBC in Talks to Sell Credit Card Portfolio (New York Times: DealBook)
Prospective buyer said to be Capital One, which agreed to acquire Wilmington-based ING Direct USA in June. HSBC has already phased out its credit card operations in Delaware.

A Career Venture Capitalist Responds To Criticism From BI Commenters (Business Insider)
By First Round's Charlie O'Donnell.

Great Hill Partners Acquires Plimus for $115M USD (Business Wire)
Exit for Bala Cynwyd-based Susquehanna Growth Equity.

This App Could Save Your Life (Wired: Epicenter)

Deacom to Begin Testing Its Newly Developed SaaS Based CRM System (SBWIRE)

NetSuite stops selling to smaller businesses. Congratulations (ZDNet Blogs)

Dell, NextGen Team On Cloud-Based Services
Dell will sell NextGen's suite of healthcare applications and provide hosting as it targets the EMR marketplace. (Information Week)

HITECH Act Blocking Smaller IT Firms
The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act prevents some small and midsize IT services firms from pursuing new healthcare business opportunities, says a CompTIA report. (Information Week)



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Many Philly Tech Stocks taking bath today

Biggest losers include CardioNet, USA Technologies, Unisys, Vishay Intertechnology.

SAP AG, Kenexa, Universal Display and Safeguard Scientifics all off 7% or more.

You can view real time details on this spreadsheet.

(Things actually got worse for several of these stocks towards the end of the day.)

Sneak Peek: An early look at some new ventures popping up around Philly

Tom Paine

I had reported that Ecount (sold to Citi in 2007, now Citi Prepaid Services) co-founders Matt Gillin and Paul Raden have started Radnor-based Relay Network with backing from First Round Capital, ICG and NewSpring Capital. Now two other Ecount vets, Drew Kese and Kevin O'Nell, are getting back into the startup game with a venture called Orocast. Still very much in a stealth mode, Orocast won't say much about what its doing, though it did have a public coming out of sorts by cosponsoring Philly Scalathon in July. O'Nell said in a phone conversation to expect more news in the 4th quarter; just my guess that some clues about the venture's general direction might be found in its name and the founders' backgrounds.

Terry Williams' new venture, Cross X Platform, announced recently that it had launched and on Friday said that it had launched its website. Cross X (CXP) provides a shared platform of technology and support services for IT consulting and services firms. It may take equity stakes in some of these firms, and conversely the IT firms may participate in CXP's equity. CXP is located in Audubon. Terry founded and later sold the TWC Group, and is co-founder and managing partner of Next Stage Capital.

Zooyan is a Philly-based local shopping/deals site which annnounced its launch in March. Zooyan is operating in Philly only now, though it has plans to expand elsewhere. Its offers goods and services from local merchants broken down by neighborhood.

DoughMain (yes, thats its name) announced it has raised $5 million in Angel funding and launched its site August 1. The Princeton-based venture says that it will "offer a suite of features designed to help families coordinate their lives while empowering them to become better educated about money".

Phiiladelphia-based VITA Products has launched its new product, the VITAband, originally designed with runners in mind. It offers customers a small bracelet on which they can store personal health information, and it can also be used for contactless payment transactions.

CloudMine, a venture with local roots that provides tools for mobile app developers, was one of the first to be accepted into this year's Philly DreamIt Ventures class, according to Technically Philly.

MDconnectMe, a Philadelphia-based company, provides
a mobile app that connects patients with physicians and other healthcare providers in what it says is a HIPAA-compliant way. (The issue of direct electronics communications between physicians and patients has always been contentious.) It reported raising $50,000 in an SEC filing in May.



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Daily Links 8/8/2011: Verizon strike is on; NextGen Healthcare to work with Dell

Customer service seems unaffected by Verizon strike (Philadelphia Inquirer)

NextGen Healthcare and Dell to Deliver Advanced Health IT Solutions (Business Wire)

NextGen Healthcare Launches Enterprise Patient Portal Powered by MEDSEEK
Partnership Agreement Expands NextGen Patient Portal Offering to Include MEDSEEK’s eHealth Solutions (Business Wire)


SAP Analytics Push to Pay Off as Software Trumps Hardware in Oracle Clash (Bloomberg)
Will Hana live up to its hype?

SunGardHE and Datatel: 'An Arranged Marriage' (Campus Technology)

Universal Display Corporation Announces Second Quarter 2011 Financial Results (Business Wire)

CardioNet, Inc. Reports Second Quarter 2011 Financial Results (Business Wire)

NBCU's Telemundo Station Group to Expand Local News Programming by 25% (Hollywood Reporter)

Insight Auction Fizzles: Sources
Mediacom, WOW Drop Out Of Bidding (Multichannel News)

UniTek says Multiband rejected its bid (Philadelphia Business Journal)



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Philly Tech People News 8/7/2011

KNBC GM Robinson Named NBCUniversal Chief Diversity Officer
NBC-owned station looking for replacement GM (Broadcasting & Cable)
Some were questioning the pace at which Comcast was moving on filling this vacancy.

ShopRunner ups the ante with its hiring of former GSI executive Fiona Dias (Internet Retailer)

MyNines Runs Out Of Cash; CEO Becomes VP At Rue La La (TechCrunch)
Rue La La and ShopRunner are both majority-owned by (ex-GSI founder) Michael Rubin's new holding company.

Smarter Agent Names Philip Charles-Pierre Senior Vice President, Marketing & Distribution (PR Web)

Former SAP Channel Chief Hume Takes Convio Sales Post (CRN)

Internet Society Announces New Board of Trustees
Leaders from industry, academia, and the Internet community to provide strategic direction on Internet related standards, education, and policy (ISOC Monthly Newsletter)
Jason Livingood, Executive Director of Internet Systems Engineering at Comcast, appointed to Board seat.

HP Appoints Gregg Melinson Vice President of Global Government Affairs and Deputy General Counsel (Business Wire)
Drinker Biddle partner and former Ridge assistant.

Dudnyk adds Digital Leadership, names Director of Digital Strategy (Philly Ad Club News)

Cadient Group Expands Staffing as Growth Continues (Philly Ad Club News)

Julia Hernandez Named SVP of Professional Services for Aklero (National Mortgage Professional)



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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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