Links 9/29/2013: Hasso Plattner responds to Oracle's barbs at HANA; QVC launches Pinterest-like offering

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Cable shopping channel QVC launches toGather, a Pinterest-like social network (Gigaom)

Oracle Debuts New Cloud Services (CRM Magazine)
One early adopter is CardConnect, which is based in King of Prussia.

SAP BW on HANA trial at Amazon – will they come? (Diginomica)


Haaso Plattner on HANA and Oracle (Hasso Plattner Blog)

Sceptical markets snub Violin Memory: Can the flashy biz bounce back? (The Register)

Shake Up: Salesforce Taps New CMO as Two Presidents Head for Exits (All Things D)


Monetate Adds "Open time" Personalized Email and Display Advertising Products to its Cloud Offering
(PR Newswire)

Glen Mills' Versify Solutions get a jolt with new contract, venture capital (Keystone Edge)

His business is to enhance your social business (Philly.com)
On PeopleLinx's Nathan Egan.

Penn Engineering's GRASP Lab and Wharton's Mack Institute Take the Y-Prize Global (PR Web)

Philly Tech People News 9/28/2013

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Behind NBCU's latest shuffle at the top (Fortune)

SAP names former Apple exec, retired admiral to National Security Services team (Washington Technology)

SAP Names Mark White General Manager of Global Public Services and Healthcare Industries (SAP Newsroom)

Pavlou appointed Associate Dean for Research, Doctoral Programs and Strategic Initiatives (Fox School at Temple)

iPipeline UK Announces Ian Teague, COO/CFO, Appointed UK Managing Director (Business Wire)

Elemica Names Ed Rusch Vice President, Corporate Marketing (Marketwire)

Cadient Group Expands Strategy Team (Philly Ad Club News)

EXTOL International Names Jeffrey Inns Vice President, Product Infrastructure (PR Newswire)

Comcast wants bankruptcy court to oversee restructuring of Comcast SportsNet Houston

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Comcast SportsNet Houston Files for Chapter 11 Protection (Multichannel News)

CSN Houston faces ‘total gridlock;’ Comcast/NBC wants bankruptcy trustee to oversee troubled network (Houston Chronicle Blog)

Jim Crane: Astros will fight bankruptcy case against ComcastSportsNet Houston (Houston Chronicle Blog)


Forbes offers another view on Astros profits (Houston Chronicle Blog)

Saturday highlights 9/28/2013: Firefly's Dan Shipper on what he's learned from bootstrapping

What I learned bootstrapping a 6-figure business from school (Dan Shipper/Distilled Thinking)
Penn student and founder of mostly bootstrapped and Dorm Room Fund-backed Firefly looks back on what he's learned. Definitely worth the read.

Box moves toward IPO destiny (San Jose Mercury News)
The very successful side of the cloud storage business.


It’s Official, The Nirvanix Cloud Storage Service Is Shutting Down
(TechCrunch)
A less successful side of the cloud storage business.

Mobile app dev for enterprises just got easier with new Node.js service (CITEworld)
Also discusses Philly-based CloudMine.

Did Venmo founders get payout they deserve?

Tom Paine

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The announcement yesterday that EBay's PayPal was acquiring payment processing platform Braintree for $800 million in cash, combined with the fact that so much attention was being lavished on Braintree's Venmo mobile payment unit (as I discussed yesterday and PayPal President David Marcus also emphasized to TechCrunch) left me pondering why Venmo only sold for $26.2 million when Braintree acquired it just 15 months ago (the deal was done by June 2012 though it didn't become public knowledge until August) if it was such a valuable part of an $800 million deal now. And did the co-founders, Andrew Kortina and Iqram Magdon-Ismail, who started Venmo as undergrads at Penn, get a good deal from Braintree?

Of course, valuations are always a bit tricky when the same party is on both sides. Accel Partners had led Venmo's largest round, and was also a lead investor in Braintree. I'm just mentioning that fact, not inferring in any way that Accel did not take proper steps too see that the interests of both companies were fully represented in the transaction.

But I do hope Kortina and Magdon-Ismail had some kind of earnout provision or equity kicker from Braintree that will give them the type of return they deserve for their efforts.

Links 9/27/2013: FCC tells Comcast to put Bloomberg TV in its news hood; Speculation that Intel may pull plug on Web TV project

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Intel Looking for Help from Amazon or Samsung to Keep Its Web TV Project Alive (All Things D)

FCC Tells Comcast to Put Bloomberg TV Among News Channels
(Bloomberg)

Top NBCU Digital Exec Lauren Zalaznick to Depart Company (All Things D)

Bill Seeks To End 'Unnecessary and Costly' Set-Top Security Ban
But Proposed Bill From Reps. Robert Latta and Gene Green Would Preserve FCC’s Ability To Regulate Set-Top Boxes In The Future (Multichannel News)


RingCentral, Violin Memory IPOs Price, Debut Friday (Investor's Business Daily)

Violin Memory's price craters after $162 million IPO (San Jose Mercury News)
SAP Ventures was a major investor in Violin Memory, as advancements in flash memory technology is deemed critical to the future of SAP's in-memory HANA platform.


Oracle CFO Says Cloud Computing Will Lift Profit Margins
(Bloomberg)


Can we refocus on SAP customer needs? (Vinnie Mirchandani/Enterprise Irregulars)

USA Technologies Announces Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2013 Results (Business Wire)
Long struggling Malvern company post 24% year over year revenue growth, small GAAP profit.


Localytics: SF and LA love the iPhone 5S. Philly OK with the 5C. (Fortune Tech)

How Massachusetts Tried To Fleece Its Technology Sector With "Tech Tax" (ReadWrite)


Schilling's 38 Studios video game headed to auction block (AP via
Philadelphia Inquirer)

Philadelphia-born Venmo considered prize in Ebay's Braintree acquisition

Tom Paine

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Ebay announced today it was acquiring Chicago-based Braintree, a web and mobile payments processor, for $800 million in cash. It will become part of Ebay's PayPal unit.

Speculation about Braintree being a target has been heavy for a least a month. Much of the talk has focused on Venmo, the Philadelphia-born mobile payments startup that later moved to New York. Braintree's growth in mobile payments has been said to have been phenomenal paricularly since it acquired Venmo last year for $26.2 million; mobile payments now account for about one-third of Braintree's total payments processing of about $12 billion annually, PandoDaily reported recently. Venmo provides an easy to use tool to send payments via mobile; many are excited about the potential of its new Venmo Touch app.


Venmo's co-founders, Andrew Kortina and Iqram Magdon-Ismail, both attended Penn, where the two were originally randomly paired as freshman roommates. Venmo was founded in 2009; it received a round of funding led by Accel Partners in 2011 and relocated to New York.

See also PayPal’s David Marcus: Braintree Keeps Its Brand And Ops Intact; Venmo Will Be Used For Big P2P Push from TechCrunch.


Also this week, King of Prussia-based Ebay Enterprise (formerly GSI Commerce) made several
significant announcements at its Client Summit in New York.

Links 9/26/2013: Nucci to succeed Moul as PSL head; Air Products looks for new CEO

Ackman strikes again? Air Products looks for new CEO (CNBC)

Exclusive: SunGard in talks to sell data unit to Apax - sources
(Reuters)

Rick Nucci Selected as Next President of Philly Startup Leaders (Philly Startup Leaders)

Corbett launches fund for high-tech startups (Pittsburgh Business Times)

Will Verizon Go Wireless-Only And Spinoff FiOS? (Investor's Business Daily)



U.S. cable company turns to a three-year-old startup to solve its Netflix problems (Gigaom)

FCC Votes Comcast/Bloomberg Complaint Appeal
Decision in Restricted Proceeding Won't Become Public Until Order is Released (Multichannel News)

FCC Orders Comcast to Place Bloomberg Channel in News ‘Neighborhood’ (Variety)



Cable-TV Bundles Work Great, Say Bundlers of Cable TV (Business Week)

Comcast pulls plug on MyTV Choice offer for new subscribers
(FierceCable)



Igniting a new network: Meet our Tech Hub partners (Google Official Blog)
Why not in Philly?

LevelUp reports raising $7.5M (Boston Business Journal)
Some concerns about early DreamIt Ventures alum; relationship with Princeton-based Heartland Payments Systems one area of emphasis.

hybris Tapped by Airgas to Drive its Expanding B2B Commerce Channel (Globe Newswire)
Airgas, based in Radnor, is already an SAP Businsss Suite customer.

Quintiq's new EMEA headquarters

Tom Paine

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Quintiq, the rapidly growing supply chain planning and optimization software firm with co-headquarters in Radnor and The Netherlands, recently opened its new European headquarters in 's-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands.

Quintiq website

Quintiq has some 700 employees in offices around the globe, but obviously has more in the country in which it was born than in Radnor, where it had about 70 as of earlier this year.

Quintiq had to choose a site that would allow for future growth, said Francois Eijgelshoven, vice president of EMEA at Quintiq in the video introducing its new facility below. With all twelves floors in the tower available to Quintiq, "we will be ok for a few years" , he says.

Links 9/25/2013: Ellison skips out on own keynote for America's Cup race, but in the end Team Oracle USA wins out

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City office that lobbies for jobs defends record (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Pennsylvania state Treasurer Rob McCord tweaks Gov. Tom Corbett in announcing run for governor (Allentown Morning Call)

Ascensus Enters into Agreement to Acquire 529 Plan Administration Business from Sallie Mae (Business Wire)
Ascensus is based in Dresher.



EBay Partners With Mercent to Improve Google Results (Wall Street Journal: Digits)

eBay Enterprise Unveils New Suite of Commerce Technologies to Enable Retailers and Brands to Win With Today's Omnichannel Consumer (Business Wire)
Formerly GSI Commerce, Ebay Enterprise laid out new strategy and tools at its annual Client Summit yesterday in New York.

QlikTech Unveils Roadmap to Next Generation Business Discovery Platform to Replace Traditional Business Intelligence (Business Wire)

Oracle OpenWorld attendees fume over Ellison keynote (PC World)
Perhaps justified by Team Oracle USA's remarkable comeback to win the America's Cup.


Oracle's cloud strategy: Does it trump Fusion? (ZDNet)


X1 Expands To 85% of Comcast's Footprint (Multichannel News)

John Malone Says Time Warner Cable Deal Still Makes Sense
(Bloomberg)

Can Intel Handle HBO, TBS? Time Warner’s Bewkes Has Doubts
(Variety)


Insurers Blame Tech for Clogging Health Exchange Implementation: PwC (Insurance & Technology)

T-Mobile CFO makes case for U.S. consolidation, Sprint deal (Reuters)

Links 9/24/2013: Staples teams with Zonoff for connected home; URBN's new app strategy

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SAP HANA isn't 'even comparable' to Oracle's in-memory technology, Hurd says (Computerworld)

Oracle takes the fight to Amazon, Salesforce.com with new cloud services (PC World)


Engine Yard loads Oracle tech into cloud platform (The Register)

Can Salesforce and Workday’s hook-up genuinely hurt the SAP and Oracle empire? (Enterprise Irregulars)


Bill Gates On Returning To Be Microsoft CEO: 'No ... I Won't Be Full-Time Doing That' (Business Insider)

Violin Memory, RingCentral Lead IPOs On Tap This Week (Investor's Business Daily)


Urban Outfitters' New App Strategy: Be Cool (Bloomberg)
Curalate helping to implement Urban Outfitters' new social media program.

Move over Best Buy: Staples wants to be your shop for the connected home (Gigaom)
Teams with Malvern's Zonoff.



The Deal That Could Dim Netflix’s Emmy Afterglow (Variety)
21st Century Fox and Comcast are said to be close to deal.

Comcast CFO Talks NBCUniversal's 'Monetization Gap,' Universal's Changes (Hollywood Reporter)


Time Warner Cable Is Willing to Take on More Debt for Right Deal (Bloomberg)


AT&T will build an LTE-Broadcast network tailor-made for video (Gigaom)

McAdam: FiOS Media Server will 'eliminate the need for coax' and speed installs (FierceCable)


Sarnoff Collection to debut at TCNJ next month
(Times of Trenton via Cherry Hill Courier-Post)

Yuengling ice cream back after 30 years (Republic Herald.com)