King of Prussia's new Kynetic L.L.C. among the top private Internet firms (Philly.com: Philly Deals)

Computer problems mount for N.J. gov't. (Vineland Daily Journal)

A piece of Philly Tech history: Digital Access, Inc.

Private Equity Hub (published by Thomson Reuters) ran a piece this week, on the heels of solar panel maker Solyndra's bankruptcy filing, on what it calls the 10 of the largest VC busts over the last 20 years. (Its slideshow doesn't seem to be working). Third on its list was Bala Cynwyd-based Digital Access Inc., which raised $490 million between 1999 and 2001 before shutting down in 2001.


Digital Accees was building broadband fiber networks to compete with companies such as Comcast in several midwestern cities. As the telecom bubble burst, there was an oversupply of fiber capacity and the company simply could not raise more money. Digital Access also blamed regulatory delays that slowed buildouts in some cities. Investors included Goldman Sachs and Bala Cynwyd-based Bachow & Associates, which still has a website up but with very little information on it other than past investments. Joseph W. Cece, who previously ran Suburban Cable (acquired by Comcast in 1999), was its CEO.



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Daily Links 9/9/2011: SAP reportedly pleads to criminal charges in TomorrowNow case

SAP’s Ex-TomorrowNow Accused of Crimes for Oracle Downloads (Bloomberg)

Intel Said to Weigh InterDigital Bid (Bloomberg)
But Google may be losing interest.

SAP BusinessByDesign creates tensions with ecosystem partners (computing.co.uk)

Capgemini, CSC line up for AppLabs (Business Standard of India)
Says price for Philly/Hyderabad-based software testing leader could be in excess of $200 million.

QVC Thriving In A Tough Economy (CNBC Video)
Interview with QVC CEO Michael George.

Exclusive: NBC iPad App Now Broadcasts Full Episodes (Mashable)

Comcast Volleys 'Drop' Shots at Tennis Channel
Cable op says that FiOS, Cablevision drops undercut Tennis Channel's discrimination claim (Broadcasting & Cable)

Comcast test marketing new online TV guide (CED Magazine)

Charter Cancels L.A. Auction
Low Bids Prompt Action (Multichannel News)

Motorola Mobility: "We are still feeling our way with Google TV" (IPTV News)

Partners Behind Intelligent Trench Join Forces with PelicanCorp to Launch Most Complete and Accurate National Record-Sharing Service for Underground Assets in the U.K. (Business Wire)
Bentley Systems is one of the partners behind Intelligent Trench.



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Daily Links 9/8/2011: DreamIt Ventures launches Fall 2011 Philadelphia Class

DreamIt Ventures Launches Its Fall 2011 Philadelphia Class (TechCrunch)

CSC ‘in last leg' of AppLabs buy-out talks (Hindu Business Line)

Rick Sherlund Is Back! Analyst Likes MSFT, ORCL, CRM, SAP (Forbes: The Tech Trade)

IT pros heading to SAP TechEd 2011 packing questions for vendor (SearchSAP.com)

Dell’s golden opportunity isn’t in servers (Gigaom)

Infonetics Research: Pace overtakes Motorola in pay-TV set-top box (STB) market in 2Q11; STB market to peak in 2011 (Marketwire)

Comcast's thePlatform notches TV Everywhere deal with Liberty Global (CED Magazine)

TruePosition Acquires Intellectual Property from Rosum (Business Wire)
Buying for product development, or just adding to patent portfolio?

Philly tech, U-City to Old City (Philly.com: Philly Deals)
On Vuzit's Christopher Cera.

"It was a dumb idea": newspaper chain fires copyright troll Righthaven
(Ars Technica)
John Paton, on taking over as MediaNews CEO, makes decision.




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Philly Tech TidBits 9/8/2011: InstaMed raises another $5.5 million

InstaMed, the Philadelpia-based provider of healthcare payment systems, has raised an additional $5.5 million, according to an SEC Filing. Headed by Founder, President and CEO Bill Marvin, InstaMed raised $6 million in debt and equity one year ago and had prior funding rounds in 2009 ($6 million) and 2007 ($5 milion), so it has now raised at least $22.5 million. Investors have included Osage Partners, NJTC Venture Fund, US Bancorp, and Ashby Point Capital. Josh Kopelman was an early investor through his personal Midas Capital fund.
InstaMed has several Penn/Wharton connections among its management team, board and advisors; Marvin played on the varsity squash team at Penn (as did Comcast's Brian Roberts). Bill was an executive with Accenture’s Health and Life Sciences practice and founded a software company that was acquired by a Microsoft/ Pfizer joint venture.
I don't have any information about InstaMed's financial performance. It describes itself as a healthcare payments network connecting providers, payers and patients, and says it serves over 200,000 providers nationally with tens of billions of dollars in healthcare payments processed.


Speaking of Osage, they have raised $47 million for what appears to be a new private equity fund, Osage Venture Partners III, LP.


UPenn-related MentorTech Ventures has raised $10.75 million towards a $40 million offering for a new fund, MentorTech Ventures III L.P., according to an SEC filing. Though not large, MentorTech, managed by Michael B. Aronson and Boris Kalandar, takes small, usually early stage stakes in Penn-associated ventures; major successes have included Diaper.com (sold to Amazon), PayQuik (sold to Citi), Yodle, and Neat Company. With all of the entrepreneurial activity going on within Penn/Wharton, it should have plenty of opportunities ahead.


Penn Mezzanine LP of Wayne has raised $34.2 million in an offering, according to an SEC filing. Its not clear whether this is related to or completely separate from Safefuard Scientifics' announced acquisition of a 36% interest in Penn Mezzanine in July.
Penn Mezzanine, which was founded in 2010, is headed by Managing Partners Donald K. Rice and Darl A. Petty. It provides mezzanine financing to middle market companies using combinations of structured equity and debt.


Square One Bank has provided a a $2.5 million credit facility to ProfitPoint, Inc., a Clifton Heights-based provider of stored value and loyalty program solutions. NewSpring Ventures was an early investor in ProfitPoint.


Oaks, PA-based asset manager and investment processor SEI Investments teamed up with Greenwich Associates on a survey of institutional investors, consultants and fund managers globally. The first report (out of three installments) from the survey indicated that Private Equity exits were way up in the 2nd quarter, and that fund allocations to that area may increase. But SEI says that many of those exits represent “low hanging fruit” and the average holding period for a portfolio company has lengthened to five years.


Silicon Valley Research Group says it has opened a practice in Philadelphia, its fourth location. Marc Pitcher, the company’s Director of Client Services, is based in Philly. He also manages the firm's New York City practice. "Philadelphia has a burgeoning technology and venture capital scene, and the presence of the University of Pennsylvania, Drexel, Temple and other highly respected centers of innovation make the city a natural fit for our company”, Pitcher said in a statement.



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Daily Links 9/7/2011: John Paton to run combined Journal Register/MediaNews operation

Paton to serve as CEO of MediaNews and Journal Register Co. (Poynter)

Post fron John Paton's Digital First Blog.

The Coming Local-Newspaper Rollup (paidContent)
Alden Global Capital, in addition to owning Journal Register and having a major stake in MediaNews (I've seen it reported as 40%; don't know if it is larger now), also has a significant stake in Philadelphia Media Network (Inquirer, Daily News, Philly.com), so this move could have other implications for the future of news media in the Philly area.

SAP Buying Right Hemisphere for 3-D Visualization (PC World)
A little more in-depth information here from Computerworld New Zealand.

SAP Entering the Mobile EMR Arena (Medgadget)

SAP sees no signs crisis is hitting real economy (Reuters)

Dick Ebersol Returns to NBC Sports as Advisor (Hollywood Reporter)
Missed this item from a week ago.

NBC Super Bowl Ad Spots Selling for up to $3.5 Mil Each (Hollywood Reporter)

NBC Universal Hires Top Morgan Stanley Media Banker (New York Times: DealBook)

Liberty Has Money to Burn
Malone Says Time Many Be Ripe for Acquisitions After Liberty Interactive Split (Multichannel News)
Liberty Interactive is QVC's parent company.

Comcast Slots SeaChange Into Video Gateways (Light Reading Cable)

Philadelphia Named a ‘Code for America’ City for 2nd Time (Government Technology)

U.S. Federal Reserve Beige Book: Philadelphia District (Text) (Bloomberg)



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Update on Philly Tech Events Calendar

I mistakenly deleted the unique URL on which the Philly Tech Events calendar is published each week, and I apparently can't get it back (the URL, that is, not the content)

If you follow the calendar, or wish to follow it, you can find it here. The new URL is http://phillytechnews.blogspot.com/2011/09/philly-tech-events-calendar-updated.html. (I use the same URL each week).

Sorry for any inconvenience this causes anyone.

Daily Links 9/6/2011: Big changes coming in Manufacturing ERP

Sunoco to Sell Refineries (New York Times: DealBook)

SAP TO ACQUIRE 3-D VISUALIZATION SOFTWARE MAKER RIGHT HEMISPHERE (SAP Press Release)

Reflections on Workday, Dreamforce and SAP (Dennis Howlett/ZDNet Blogs)

Salesforce gunning for manufacturing ERP (Dennis Howlett/ZDNet Blogs)

Workday co-CEO Bhusri on IPOs, Windows tablets and strategy (ZDNet Blogs)
Workday is targeting SAP in particular, looking towards IPO next year.

Rootstock Software Introduces ‘The Manufacturing Suite’ On Salesforce.Com’s Force.Com Platform (Rootstock Press Release)
I wrote about Rootstock, in which Radnor's Cross Atlantic Capital Partners is an investor, and its interest in adding Salesforce.Com's Force.Com platform in June.

AmerisourceBergen Acquires IntrinsiQ, LLC (Business Wire)
Saw this rumored two months ago on another blog; person said it was going to be announced back then and it wasn't. Price is $35 million.

Google Goes Big With Its Hulu Bid (All Things Digital)

Analysis: CBS, NBC Extend PGA Rights, But Golf Channel Also Gains
New Nine-Year Deals Now Co-terminus With Cable Network's Pact Through 2021 (Multichannel News)

Bachus Takes on Fed Over Capital One-ING Deal (Wall Street Journal: Washington Wire)

Melbourne company seeks 1,200 temporary workers (Florida Today)
GSI Commerce.

With Rama, iPhone becomes tour guide to the past (Gigaom)
Sounds like a cool app; Philadelphia is one of the cities it covers.



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Bill McDermott: At the centre of an enterprise-software whirlwind (The Globe and Mail)

Hulu bidding heats up as DirecTV drops out (VentureBeat)

Tennis, Verizon Continue Carriage Negotiations After Disconnect
Parties Remain In Discussions After Telco Opts Out Of New NCTC Contract (Multichannel News)

The great debate: Windows Azure vs. Amazon Web Services (Gigaom)

Philly Tech People News 9/4/2011

SAP Names Jonathan Becher Chief Marketing Officer (PR Newswire)

Hockstra Named Vice President of Manufacturing, Engineering and EH&S for Dow Advanced Materials Division (Business Wire)

QVC, Inc. Appoints John Thomas Chairman and CEO, QVC Japan (PR Newswire)

ImpactRx Appoints Gregory Ellis President and CEO (PR Newswire)

Entrepreneurs Forum of Greater Philadelphia Announces Newest Board Officers (Press Release)

New at the top: James W. Morozzi (Washington Post)

Web Host Secure-24 Names Sales Director for SAP Cloud (Web Host Industry Review)

USA Technologies Expands Industry Leading Sales Team (Business Wire)

Brolik Productions adds Matt Segal in Business Development (Philly Ad Club News)



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Daily Links 9/2/2011: As Netflix loses Starz, Dish/Blockbuster reportedly ready to enter market

Judge Enters Comcast–NBCU Final Judgment, With His Own New OVD Condition
Requires keeping track of any arbitration that can be invoked by competing OVDs for two years (Broadcasting & Cable)

Comcast Ads Misled Customers, Regulator Says (The Wrap)

Netflix to lose Starz, its most valuable source of new movies (LA Times: Company Town)

What Wall Street is saying about Netflix-Starz (Gigaom)

Dish Said to Plan Blockbuster Rival to Netflix (Bloomberg)
More troubling news for Netflix; its "mini-monopoly" may be coming to an end.

Oracle Verdict Against SAP Is Overturned (AP via NY Times)

8 “Ideas” on Why Judge Overturned Oracle v. SAP Verdict (ASUG News)

AOL: Mike Arrington Is No Longer Employed By This Company (Silicon Alley Insider)
Update: AOL clarifies Arrington's role, though I'm not sure this matter has been cleared up yet. Coincidentally, I did mention one Arrington/Huffington incident at the end of my blog post about MapQuest yesterday before this all broke. It all may have been in good humor, as Huffington is certainly a toughened veteran of the talk show wars, but one wonders if there was tension there. Also, the talk of selling or breaking up AOL may have contributed to the timing of this move.

Philadelphia exchange faring well under Nasdaq (Philadelphia Inquirer)
Though with a lot less people.

Business Objects (& SAP) Vets Raise $6 Million For Business Analytics Software Startup Visier (TechCrunch)

Workday during Hurricane Dreamforce (Enterprise Irregulars)

University tests SAP ERP on new Dell cloud
University of Kentucky sees cost advantages (Computerworld)

Genuine Parts buys Cobra Wire and Cable (AP via Business Week)
Cobra is based in Hatboro.

Kevin Riordan: Rutgers law librarian a Web pioneer (Philadelphia Inquirer)



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