Philly Tech People News 9/2/2012

SAP India Managing Director quits (Hindu Business Line)

NBC's Vivi Zigler Lands at Shine America (Hollywood Reporter)

Comcast veteran Todd Brown joins yap.TV (FierceCable)

Joshua and Matthew Baran Appointed to EXTOL International's Executive Team (PR Newswire)

Don Mennig Joins Evolve IP as Senior Vice President of Marketing (Business Wire)

Quintiq adds David Kenneson as VP North American Sales (Quintiq News)

Rajant Appoints Two Executives to Oil & Gas Solutions Team (Business Wire)

Comcast SportsNet promotes veteran ad sales executive Bo Koelle to Vice President (Philly Ad Club News)




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His "greater-good" vision for the Kenexa-IBM deal (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Ax looming at Matt’s ‘Today (NY Post)

Understanding Workday's IPO filing
(Dennis Howlett/ZDNet)

At Box, a Fast-Moving Chief Immersed in the Cloud (New York Times: Disruptions)

phillytechnews twitterfeed 8/30 to 8/31/2012

phillytechnews: Blue Moon You saw me standing alone Without a dream in my heart Without a love of my own Blue Moon Posted: 31 Aug 2012 06:41 PM PDT phillytechnews: Blue Moon You saw me standing alone Without a dream in my heart Without a love of my own Blue Moon

phillytechnews: Daily Links 8/31/2012: Bill McDermott talks to Churchill Club http://t.co/aE4nkJkd Posted: 31 Aug 2012 03:49 PM PDT phillytechnews: Daily Links 8/31/2012: Bill McDermott talks to Churchill Club http://t.co/aE4nkJkd

phillytechnews: New PTN Post: Time Warner Cable invests to build out fiber to some NYC businesses; What are Comcast's plans? http://t.co/hQjUsC2b Posted: 31 Aug 2012 03:18 PM PDT phillytechnews: New PTN Post: Time Warner Cable invests to build out fiber to some NYC businesses; What are Comcast's plans? http://t.co/hQjUsC2b

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Time Warner Cable invests to build out fiber to some NYC businesses; What are Comcast's plans?

Tom Paine



Time Warner Cable's announcement this week that it would invest $25 million to provide fiber to the premise connectivity to selected business locations in parts of New York City generated some hype and inaccurate comparisons from those who compared it to Google's fiber buildout in Kansas City. Time Warner Cable's (TWC) announcment was somewhat vague, besides mentioning a few specific locations, in terms of how broad the coverage would be. And $25 million isn't a great deal of money when you consider a city with the telecommunications infrastructure of New York. Google Fiber's Kansas City project is planned to be residentially focused rather than aimed at businesses, and its investment there would reportedly be several hundred million dollars.

I had heard that Comcast had done a few small fiber buildouts such as this in some downtown areas, so I reached out to Comcast to ask about specifics. A company spokesperson responded by email: "Since 2011, we have been giving businesses more options for connectivity by bringing fiber into sections of cities that are becoming high-tech hubs". Specifically mentioned were a project with the city of Seattle to bring broadband to its Pioneer Square area, a similar partnership with Boston for its "Innovation District", and another arrangement for downtown San Mateo, CA. I'm not certain about the precise network architecture Comcast is using in these areas; it says it offers speeds of up to 100/10 Mbps which I believe can be delivered through its usual fiber optic-coaxial hybrid using Docsis 3.0, but also can provide speeds of up to 10 gigabits per second for heavy users. The latter would preumably require a direct fiber connection to the building.

Comcast says it will "continue looking for more places to expand – giving more businesses more options for affordable high-speed connectivity - but at this time has nothing specific to announce". There was no information available on any plans for Philadelphia.

Of course, in both New York City and Philadelphia the cable operators may face competition from Verizon's FiOS, although the buildouts in both locations are preceding at a snail's pace (but its much further along in New York.) Google Fiber says it will offer symmetrical 1 Gbps connections to individual residences for $70 a month (after an up front fee). Time Warner Cable says its service "enables businesses to be connected to a dedicated Internet network that provides speeds that reach 1 gigabyte per second and faster". although its not clear whether that kind of speed would reach every tenant in a large multi-tenant facility such as the Empire State Building, one of the facilities TWC named as having been recently wired.

Both TWC and Comcast have rapidly growing business telecom services segments. In its most recent earnings report released early this month, Comcast said its Business Services revenue increased 34 percent to $582 million.



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Daily Links 8/31/2012: Bill McDermott talks to Churchill Club

SAP’s McDermott Says Call From Jobs Confirmed Tablet Push (Bloomberg)

SAP's Bill McDermott: We'll Have A Billion Users By 2015 (Eric Savitz/Forbes)


McDermott at Churchill Club (Video)




Workday Discloses Finances, Plans for Founders’ Control (Wall Street Journal: Digits)

IPO-Bound Workday Said to Win Contract for Google’s HR Systems (Bloomberg)

Saba Software Extends Rally; The Next Cloud Target? (Eric Savitz/Forbes)

With Google Fiber Sign-Ups Behind Schedule, Google Lowers Pre-Registration Thresholds (TechCrunch)

Serial Entrepreneur Bob Moul shares about Philly's burgeoning tech-startup scene (Video: Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce)

First Round Capital Opens Portfolio Company Services to the Community with +Startup Series, Starting with Design (PandoDaily)



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More views on IBM-Kenexa deal

Tom Paine

I'm trying to dig in and get a more complete picture of IBM's $1.3 billion acquisition of Wayne-based Kenexa, announced on Monday, and the plans for it going forward.

What it is not: despite some media reports, I do not see it as IBM acquiring a technologically superior Cloud or SaaS platform through which it can expand into other verticals beyond talent management. SAP acquired SuccessFactors partially for that purpose, but I doubt Kenexa's overall technology (or technology leadership) is good enough to play the same role for IBM.

What Kenexa and its CEO Rudy Karsan are recognized for is providing thought leadership and superior services in the talent management space, particular around recruiting and talent assessment. But it is a company that has always, in my view, led with a consultative emphasis with technology following, rather than the other way around. That is not necessarily a negative, since Kenexa has usually achieved a solid understanding of customer needs before seeking out technology solutions for them. But it has resulted in Kenexa having many pieces of technology gained through acquisitions spread about in different places rather than being integrated around one platform.

In announcing the acquisition, IBM emphasized Kenexa's potential as a "social business" tool, but in fact Kenexa is not a highly social solution today. This is where IBM hopes to be transformative. Kenexa will become part of IBM Collaboration Solutions (formerly Lotus), IBM's core social enterprise business run by General Manager Alistair Renee, while also working closely with IBM's Global Process Services unit. Thematically, Kenexa fits into IBM's concept of creating a "smarter workforce". IBM apparently also aims to pitch talent management solutions more directly to the CEO function rather than to HR, as has usually been the case.

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Daily Links 8/30/2012: Workday files for $400 million IPO

InterDigital CEO Says Apple-Samsung Case Providing Boost (Bloomberg)

Comcast Said Near U.S. Approval To Encrypt Basic-Cable Signals (Bloomberg)

Comcast's Set-Top Accelerator Gains Traction (Light Reading Cable)

Why Google is going to sell Motorola’s set-top box biz (Gigaom)

Employee-Software Company Workday Files For $400 Million IPO (Bloomberg)

Funding Your Company via the Wharton Network (Wharton Entrepreneurship Blog)

Amazon.com to begin collecting Pa. sales tax (AP via Reading Eagle)
Beginning Saturday.



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Daily Links 8/29/2012: Razorfish Health merges with Publicis Healthware; Google said to hire banker to sell Motorola Home

Philly-based Razorfish Health in merger with Publicis Healthware (Medical Marketing & Media)

Google Said To Hire Barclays To Sell Motorola’s Home Business (Bloomberg)

Comcast-Spectacor hasn’t spoken with Kings at all, arena project barely off the ground (NBC Sports)

The arena: impressions of a presentation (Virginian-Pilot)

Why The Cable Companies Aren't Screwed (Silicon Alley Insider)

Why Time Warner Cable’s NYC fiber rollout is nothing like Google’s (Gigaom)

Internal Oracle Document Details HCM Software Strategy Plans (PC World)

Ariba Shareholders Approve Acquisition by SAP (PR Newswire)
Companies say regulatory approval, deal closure anticipated in 4th quarter.

New SAP Software Gives Customers '360-degree' Insight Into IT Environments (PC World)


Dash for a Good Cause: How Business Intelligence Transformed My Daughter’s Fundraiser (Derek Loranca/The Decision Factor)
Derek P. Loranca is a Philly area resident who works for a Fortune 100 corporation as a BI Specialist. He is also active in the SAP BI community.

Wendy Warren leaves Philly.com for NBCWashington.com (Poynter)


How Technology has Changed, One National Geographic at a Time (John Gelhard/CarrierBid Communications)
John Gelhard is a principal of Philly-based telecom consultant CarrierBid Communications.

Aetna, eviti Launch a Decision Support Program to Make Cancer Care More Effective and Efficient (Business Wire)
eviti is based in Philadelphia.


Federal Reserve Board Beige Book: Philadelphia, August 29, 2012 (Federal Reserve Board)



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Highlights last week on Philly Tech News (8/20/2012 to 8/26/2012)

SAP co-CEO Jim Hagemann Snabe said in an interview with a German newspaper last week that "further acquisitions are possible", a comment that set off alarms for some because similar comments from him in the past have preceded major SAP buys. However, this time he specified that no particular deal was in the pipeline right now, and it seems unlikely to me that SAP would try to pull something else off until the Ariba deal is settled.

The proxy battle over NextGen Healthcare parent Quality Systems ended with what appears to be a partial victory for dissident shareholder Ahmed Hussein, as he and NextGen Healthcare founder and former Quality President Patrick Cline were elected to the board. Former NextGen President Scott Decker announced he was leaving the company. It was not clear whether the timing of the departure of Decker was related to the proxy battle. Electronic health records vendor NextGen, which is based in Horsham, constitutes most of Quality Systems' business.

Inc. Magazine released its annual Inc. 5000 report, and the top Philly metro companies are shown here. Leading the way are Leadnomics (Philadelphia), Accolade (Plymouth Meeting), and WebiMax (Mount Laurel).

Fallout continued from Comcast's layoffs at NBC's Tonight Show and Jay Leno's pay cut, which created a bit of a chill over the classic car market. Comcast won a stay from the US Court of Appeals' DC Circuit delaying enforcement of the FCC's order that the cable operator place the Tennis Channel on the same tier as the Comcast-owned Golf Channel and NBC Sports Network. And a story broke that Comcast-Spectacor and Live Nation were making a proposal that Virginia Beach build a new arena with the supposed promise of an NBA team (the Kings, it was rumored), though Comcast-Spectacor denied in a statement that any specific pro team was lined up. The proposal to Virginia Beach's City Council was to be made today.

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Harrisburg Patriot-News to go to three days per week print schedule; Are Advance Publications' NJ papers next?

Tom Paine

Advance Publications is expanding its transition to a three days per week print schedule for its newspaper properties. The new format, which Advance first initiated at a Michigan paper and then expanded to Alabama and New Orleans, is now being rolled out to Harrisburg and Syracuse.

The Harrisburg Patriot-News and Advance's online arm in Pennsylvania, PennLive.com, will form one organization, PA Media Group, and the company will change its print schedule to three days a week beginning in January 2013, the Patriot-News announced today. "At the same time, the organization will intensify its online and digital news-gathering efforts 24 hours a day, seven days a week", the Patriot-News says. A print edition will continue to be published on Sundays and the other two editions will be "on the scale of the current Sunday editions". Sunday circulation has fallen from 176,000 in 1992 to 118,000 today, and daily circulation has taken a similar plunge, according to the paper. A similar announcement was made today by the Syracuse Post-Standard.

No word yet from Advance's New Jersey group, which includes the Newark Star-Ledger, The Times of Trenton, and the NJ.com website, but it would not be surprising if they were the next to fall.

Obviously, with few exceptions the newspaper industry business model is still trying to find a bottom.

A personal note: as a child I delivered Advance Publications' flagship paper, the Staten Island Advance, and the Star-Ledger.



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