Today in Philly Tech History 5/2/1976: The first Trenton Computer Festival held

Tom Paine


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The first Trenton Computer Festival was held on May 2, 1976 at Trenton State College (now the College of New Jersey) in Ewing NJ, outside of Trenton. It was started by Sol Libes of the Amateur Computer Group of New Jersey and Allen Katz of The College of New Jersey. It later moved to Mercer County Community College as it grew larger, and in 1999 moved to the NJ Convention Center in Edison, NJ, but returned to the College of New Jersey in 2005.

In the days before the Internet and the presence of most computer retail outlets, user groups and other channels of information, TCF played a particularly critical role as a source of learning and knowledge dissemination for the East Coast in the fledgeling microcomputer industry.

TCF has had a notable and varied list of keynote speakers throughout its history, including Bill Gates, Dr. Adam Osborne, Mr. and Mrs. John W. Mauchly (of ENIAC fame), Eric Raymond, Dr. Ken Iverson, and Gordon E. Eubanks.

In the past a weekend-long event, in recent years it has been a one-day event held on a Saturday in March. The next TCF is scheduled for March 15, 2014.

David Gewirtz wrote an ode to the early days of TCF in ZDNet last year.

This a slide show from the first Trenton Computer Festival in 1976, produced by TCF co-founder Sol Libes:





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Daily Links 5/2/2013: SAS takes aim at SAP with in-memory analytics

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SunGard Announces First Quarter 2013 Results (Business Wire)

Verizon's Melone: Future rests on VoLTE, FiOS and IP backbone (FierceTelecom)

T-Mobile shares rise in NYSE debut (Reuters)

SAS takes aim at SAP with in-memory analytics (IT World Canada)

I still get on the phone for a $5k deal' - NetSuite CEO's anti-SAP mission (The Register)

Unplugged: SAP tech tools gave 49ers' scouting edge (USA Today)

Ariba, Dell Boomi to unveil collaboration enhancements for networked economy at Ariba LIVE conference (ZDNet)

Dynamic Digital Ticketing System Implemented at The Franklin Institute (Scala Digital Signage)
Scala is based in West Chester.

After BodyMedia, Comcast Ventures gives Pittsburgh longer look (Pittsburgh Business Times)




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Today in Philly Tech History 5/1/2000: Siemens agrees to acquire Malvern-based Shared Medical Systems for $2.1 billion

Tom Paine

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On May 1, 2000, Siemens announced it had agreed to acquire Malvern-based Shared Medical Systems for $2.1 billion. The price per share of $73 was a 76 percent premium to SMS's closing share price of $41.44 on the previous trading day. SMS had turned down an unsolicated offer of $67 per share from Eclipsys Corp in March.

One of the leading providers of information systems to hospitals, Shared Medical at the time had annual revenues of $1.2 billion. But it was facing difficulties, resulting partially from the ending of the Y2K conversion cycle and the rise of Web-based technologies. Founded in 1969, SMS had 7,600 employees worldwide and 3,850 in Chester County, the Inquirer reported when the acquisition was announced. Later that year Shared Medical would cut 8% of its staff, including 300 in Malvern.

What was Shared Medical is now essentially the Health Services Business Unit of Siemens Healthcare and has over 4500 employees, according to Siemens' website. Although still a major player, like several "legacy vendors" it has had difficulty keeping pace with some newer competitors, especially industry giant Epic and other smaller upstarts.

Malvern is still the headquarters for the Health Services Business Unit, as well as for all of Siemens Medical Solutions USA.




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Google Ventures Leads $17 Million Round in On Deck Capital (All Things D)
First Round Capital, SAP Ventures among other investors.

SAP Loses Bid to Overturn $345 Million Patent Verdict Loss (Bloomberg)
The message to SAP from this case is "Don't mess with the Eastern District of Texas".

Obama Names Former Lobbyist Wheeler U.S. FCC Chairman
(Bloomberg)

Reuters: Veeva Systems, with significant Radnor presence, taking more steps towards IPO

Tom Paine

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Reuters reports that Life Sciences CRM & CMS vendor Veeva Systems is taking more steps towards an IPO that could occur as soon as the third quarter of this year, and has hired Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank AG to lead the deal, according to its sources.

Based in Pleasanton, CA and founded in 2007, Veeva Systems has much of its US sales and customer service personnel based out of Radnor. Veeva built its SaaS CRM system on Salesforce's Force.com platform; it developed its content management system (Vault) from scratch.

I first reported on speculation about a possible Veeva IPO in March, speaking with Veeva Chief Strategy Officer Matt Wallach, who is based in Radnor.

Wallach said Veeva had 50 to 60 employees in the Philadelphia area. The company had around $120 million in annual revenue last year and is quite profitable, according to reports. It accomplished this with only $7 million in venture capital - $4 million of it institutional
(from Emergence Capital) and $3 million in angel funding.




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Comcast net rises 17% (Wrap)

Comcast Net Income Rises 17%
(New York Times)

Comcast Press Release

Comcast: We’ll Stick With Triple Play
Despite Increased Video Declines, MSO Says Bundle Drives Growth, Satisfaction (Multichannel News)

Comcast profit jumps 17%; NBC network loses $35 million (LA Times: Company Town)
"We really need to get one or two more good shows" -NBCU's Steve Burke

X1 PLATFORM EXPANDS: NOW AVAILABLE IN 10 MARKETS (Comcast Voices /Official Comcast Blog)

Today in Philly Tech History 4/30/1996: Infonautics completes IPO

Tom Paine

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On April 30, 1996, Infonautics (based in Wayne at the time) completed its IPO and was listed on the NASDAQ.


Infonautics was co-founded in 1992 by Josh Kopelman, then a sophmore at Wharton, along with Marvin Weinberger, an entrepreneur who had previously co-founded Telebase Systems Inc., an online media company in Wayne. Weinberger was CEO and Kopelman was Executive VP with responsibility for sales & marketing. One of Infonautics' early investors and advisors was Howard Morgan, the former computer science professor at Penn turned VC who later co-founded First Round Capital with Kopelman and is a managing partner of the firm today.

Infonautics set out to become an online resource for children, providing curated content that helped young students learn and study. Its products included Homework Helper, delivered primarily via early online service Prodigy, and Electric Library, delivered via the Web. Infonautics raised close to $30 million from its IPO.

The company had difficulty selling a subscription-based service to a mass market, particularly as so much information was beginning to appear for free on the Web. In terms of technology, Infonautics also had to scramble to convert from the closed garden world of legacy online services such as Prodigy to the open Web, which really took off in the 1994-95 period. Although Infonautics developed a number of innovative Web technologies, financially it never got over the hump. Kopelman left Infonautics to start Half.com in 1999, and the company was eventually sold off in pieces.

Incidentally, the Infonautics IPO came three years to the day after the launch of the open World Wide Web with the release of royalty-free (browser) software.

Moore College of Art & Design starting BFA in Interactive & Motion Arts program in fall 2013

Tom Paine

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Philadelphia's Moore College of Art & Design is introducing its tenth major, a new BFA in Interactive & Motion Arts program starting in fall 2013, the school announced earlier this month.


The program is designed for students who want to pursue careers as visual artists in the fields of animation, game art, and mobile media design. It teaches a variety of industry-relevant knowledge including:

• Hand and digital drawing
• Animation and storyboarding
• Development of 2D character design and 3D environments
• History, theory, and critical analysis of interactive culture
• Gaming strategies
• Proficiency in use of art-making software.

The Interactive & Motion Arts major will welcome its first class of first-year students in fall 2013. Moore says as the only visual arts college for women in the nation, it is in a unique position to increase the number of women in game design.




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Daily Links 4/30/2013: Gartner says Salesforce passes SAP in CRM

Salesforce boots SAP from customer-wrangling software top slot
SaaS outsold on-premises in 2012, says Gartner (The Register)

The Oracle assessment
(Brian Sommer/ZDNet)

Veeva Systems planning initial public offering: sources (Reuters)
Based in California, much of Veeva's US marketing, sales and customer service functions are based in Radnor. I first reported on Veeva's possible IPO plans, speaking to a top company executive, in March.

Comcast’s X1 Takes a Crack at OpenStack
MSO Taps the Open-Source Cloud Operating System to Help it Break the Old, Closed Set-Top Paradigm (Multichannel News)

Comcast Q1 Revenue Gain Seen Slim Amid Weaker NBC (Investor's Business Daily)

Former Wireless Lobbyist Reportedly Obama's FCC Pick/WSJ (Mashable)

Comcast's NBC Sports moving to Connecticut (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Adminovate Integrates Multiple iPipeline Products to Solve Industry Challenges
Partnership Offers Seamless Integrations to Support Policy Delivery, Administration and Related Services (Business Wire)

Exclusive: Ride service Uber raising cash at $1 billion valuation (Reuters via Fox News)
First Round Capital was an early investor in Uber. (But Uber is denying this report.)

On Track For $250M In 2013 Sales, Fab Pivots Again, Buys Custom Furniture Shop Massivkonzept And Opens Retail Storefront (TechCrunch)
First Round Capital was also an early investor in Fab.


Heartland Payment Systems Reports 31% Increase in First Quarter Adjusted Earnings Per Share (Business Wire)

Vishay Reports Results for First Quarter 2013 (Business Wire)

Today in Philly Tech History 4/29/1994: Commodore International declares bankruptcy

Tom Paine

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West Chester might have become the capital of the PC industry. But it didn't.

On April 29,1994, West Chester-based Commodore International, which helped pioneer the development of the PC industry, declared bankruptcy and was subsequently liquidated. Commodore's former headquarters site in West Chester now houses QVC's corporate headquarters.

Founded as Commodore Business Machines in Toronto by Auschwitz survivor Jack Tramiel in 1954, the company started off first making typewriters, then adding machines, and then electronic calculators, but ran into competitive pressures with each product line. In 1976, after TI's entry into the electronic calculator market (using its own chips) threatened Commodore's survival, it responded by acquiring Norristown-based MOS Technology, which revolutionized the microchip industry in the mid-1970's with its 6502 microprocessor. In the late 1970's, Commodore moved to West Chester from California, in part to be closer to its new acquisition and key supplier.



The talent acquired through the MOS Technology acquisition, in particular engineer Chuck Peddle, convinced Tramiel that home computers were the future. Commodore's history as a computer manufacturer began in 1977 with the introduction of the Commodore PET, followed by the VIC-20, for which William Shatner did early ads.

In 1982, Commodore introduced the phenomonally successful Commodore 64, although the vicious cycle of price cutting it led damaged its own future as well as others. Tramiel resigned after a company power struggle in 1984 and founded his own company, buying the consumer side of Atari Inc. from Warner Communications. Meanwhile, Commodore bought a startup named Amiga Corporation and launched a new model bearing the Amiga name, which was considered by many to be the first multimedia computer. A long, bitter competitive and legal war (over IP issues) ensued between Commodore and Atari, although ultimately neither would survive. As Apple and IBM increasingly dominated the home computing market, Commodore languished, although some of its later ideas were ahead of their time (and the market).

At one point, Commodore had 1,000 employees in West Chester.

The Amiga and Commodore 64 have reappeared periodically in various incarnations.




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Daily Links 4/29/2013: Will Fox compete with Comcast for Phillies rights?

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10 Degrees: Phillies next in line for Dodgers-esque TV deal that'll keep them among MLB's big boys (Yahoo Sports)

Powell in PA—Programming Costs, Net Neutrality & Cable's Need to Get Flashy (Cable360)


Their used-car start-up site is a winner (Philly.com: Philly Inc)
Results of Wharton Business Plan Competition.

More fun facts about AWS usage, this time from Cloudyn (Gigaom)

Amazon doesn’t reveal what it makes on cloud computing, but here’s the number, anyway (Quartz)

PRINCETON: 2 university students are venture capitalists (Princeton Packet)
Princeton students in First Round Capital's Dorm Room Fund.

Nokia and SAP team up on TwoGo ride-sharing platform (Gigaom)

evoke interaction Rebrands as Evoke Health (Marketwire)




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