Links 11/6/2014: iPipeline ponders IPO, sale; More X1 problems yesterday

iPipeline Said to Mull IPO, Sale With $500 Million Value (Bloomberg)

Bentley Makes Some Major Announcements at their Year in Infrastructure Event #YII2014 (Informed Infrastructure)

Bentley Launches New Generation of Software Lines (Engineering News-Record)


Comcast's X1 TV Platform Sees Two Massive Outages in Three Days (Broadband Reports)

Aereo shutting down operations, closing Boston office (BetaBoston)

Aereo Firing Boston, N.Y. Employees to Preserve Company
(Bloomberg)


Time Warner strikes back at Dish (Bloomberg via Philly.com)

BSkyB to Acquire 87.45% of Sky Deutschland (NY Times: DealBook)

Weak Q3 for Cablevision (Multichannel News)

Cable Under Fire: Plunge in Ratings Could Spell Trouble for Top Nets (Variety)


Alibaba Launches ShopRunner U.S. Retail Partnership (Investor's Business Daily)

SAP Hires Former Microsoft VP To Be Its New CTO (Redmond Channel Partner)

BizTech@Wharton conference on Friday at Pennsylvania Convention Center

Tom Paine

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The 2014 BizTech@Wharton Conference will be held this Friday, November 7th, at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. Now in its 19th year, BizTech@Wharton is a premier industry conference representing the latest thinking on the business of technology.

Subjects to be featured include Bitcoin, Cloud computing, Internet of Things, and Customer Analytics, among others.

Keynotes will be presented by Ben Galbraith, Vice President, Global Products, Walmart; Dennis Hoffman, Senior Vice President, Strategic Planning and Programs, EMC Corporation; Ben Relles, Head of Comedy, YouTube Originals; and Jonathan Zabusky, President, GrubHub, Inc. The last two are Wharton grads.

In addition to the six panel discussions, there will be a Startup Pavilion featuring apps developed at Penn and a Shark Tank-like competition (QuakerTank), and you'll have a chance to meet some companies that hold informal 30 minute coffee chats.

Here are the Top 10 reasons to attend the BizTech@Wharton Conference (via BizTech@Wharton).

Tickets, which are very reasonable, are still available.

The conference is organized by Wharton students.

Links 11/5/2014: Tableau posts 71% growth, closing on QLIK; Neat names new CEO

Dell Becomes Latest Software Company to Chase Marketer Dollars (AD Age)

Dell Bolsters Analytics Software, Taps Microsoft Azure ML (Information Week)

Dell launches into cloud brokerage market with Cloud Marketplace (ZDNet)

Tableau Jumps 6%: Q3 Revenue, EPS Beat (Barron's Tech Trader Daily)
Tableau qtr rev $104.5mm on 71% growth, vs QLIK $131.3mm, 26% growth. Not the only means of comparison, but..


Man and Uber Man (Kara Swisher/Vanity Fair)

Cogent Now Admits They Slowed Down Netflix’s Traffic, Creating A Fast Lane & Slow Lane
(Dan Rayburn/Streaming Media Blog)


8 Innovative Health IT Startups (Information Week)


Cerner Corp., Siemens negotiations center on medical imaging (SearchHealthIt)


The Neat Company Names Jeff Dickerson Chief Executive Officer
(PR Newswire)

GOP Win Means Big Change for Senate Commerce (Multichannel News)

Links 11/4: TruePosition included in Liberty Broadband tracking stock; Comcast suffers X1 outages

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EPAM Systems Reports Results for Third Quarter 2014 (MarketWatch)

Liberty Broadband Begins When Issued Trading Nov. 4 (Multichannel News)
Will include Berwyn-based TruePosition, as well as Liberty's stake in Charter Communications.

Greatland Connections Inc. would arise from Comcast-TWC merger (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Comcast’s X1 Hit By Connectivity Issues (Multichannel News)

Discovery CEO Questions Ad Prospects, And Comcast-Time Warner Cable Deal (Deadline)



Alibaba Posts Strong Earnings in First Report Since I.P.O. (New York Times)

Alibaba's next purchase could be big (SNL: Rumor Mill)
PayPal or eBay (after split)? Content company?

Google Partners with SAP to Get More Devs & Apps in Glass At Work Program (Glass Almanac)

Workday Streamlines Mobile Apps, Unveils Big Data Plans (Information
Week)


Microsoft Teams Up With Dropbox (TechCrunch)

5 THINGS I LEARNED FROM STARTING A BUSINESS AND A MARRIAGE AT THE SAME TIME (Fast Company)
By SevOne's Vess Bakalov.

Fisker gears up for hybrid relaunch (The News Journal)
Some stories never die.

Links 11/3/2014: Publicis to acquire Sapient for $3.7 billion; Princeton CRO Covance sold for $6.1 billion

Publicis to buy US digital ad firm Sapient for $3.7 billion (Reuters)
Sapient has no Philly office, though Publicis has several offices in the area. Will be interesting to see how Sapient works with Publicis' Rosetta, which is based in Hamilton NJ.

Why Buy Sapient? Publicis Wants to Compete with Digital Media and Consultancies (AD Age)


LabCorp to Buy Covance for $6.1 Billion (New York Times: DealBook)
Covance will remain headquartered in Princeton.

Samsung in talks with SAP, MS about healthcare (Korea Times)

Rovi Buys Fanhattan to Pitch Startup’s Fan TV Box to Cable Operators
(Variety)
Rovi has a group based in Radnor, though I don't think Fanhattan will be part of that group.

NYC Mayor Slams Proposed Comcast/TWC Merger (Multichannel News)

OTT is Dead * * Long Live OTT
(Mike Farrell/Multichannel News)

Unisys to create up to 700 jobs in Richmond County (WRDW Augusta)
Always good for a governor to have an announcement like this to make the day before he's up for reelection.

Announcements at the Bentley Year in Infrastructure 2014 and Trimble Dimensions 2014 Conferences Underscore Joint Undertakings and Benefits (Marketwatch)

DirecTV, Comcast installer UniTek is bankrupt (Philly.com: Philly Deals)

TIBCO TAKES ON ORACLE, QLIK AND TABLEAU IN BIG DATA WAR (Computer Business Review)

Oracle Stokes 'Hostile' Customer Relations, Study Says
(Information Week)

Philly Tech People News 11/2/2014: DailyWorth's new editor-in-chief tells why she left Google; veteran area exec & VC Murdoch is new Bryn Mawr Bank chairman

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Safeguard Scientifics Appoints Mara G. Aspinall to its Board of Directors (Safeguard Scientifics)

Why I Quit My Job at Google (DailyWorth.com)

QVC Names EVP, Commerce Platforms (Consumer Goods Technology)

Venture capitalist becomes new Bryn Mawr Bank chairman (Philadelphia Business Journal)

Elemica Adds CFO With Global Business Finance Experience to Support World Wide Growth

PointRoll Announces Kathy Callaghan as Vice President, East Coast Sales (Marketwatch)



PeopleFluent Appoints Former SAP and SuccessFactors Executive Juan Albelo to Senior Vice President of Sales (Business Wire)

Israeli company picks Philadelphia for U.S. headquarters (Philadelphia Business Journal)

Lockheed Martin: Tax break needed to save 250 jobs (Courier-Post)

Lancaster named Google eCity; Pennsylvania's digital capital (WGAL)

Qlik, EPAM and Heartland Payment Systems announced acquisitions on Friday

Tom Paine

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Three area tech firms announced acquisitions yesterday:

Qlik Technologies, Radnor, acquired DataMarket for a maximum price of $13.5 million, Qlik reported in an SEC filing yesterday, and DataMarket subsequently shared the news on its blog. DataMarket is based in Cambridge, MA with a development office in Iceland (its country of origin). Its strength lies in sophisticated data visualization.

DataMarket Founder Hjalmar Gislason wrote in the blog post, "We are not disclosing a lot about our joint plans at this time, but I’ll still say that we see some very interesting opportunities in bringing together Qlik’s superb analytics products, with DataMarket’s unique abilities to pull in, maintain and normalize data from a vast range of 3rd party sources – all in an effort to fulfill the Qlik vision of simplifying decisions for everyone, everywhere."

EPAM Systems, Newtown, acquired UK-based Great Fridays, which also has offices in the US. Great Fridays "focuses on bridging the gap between business and design," EPAM said in its release. Terms were not available.

Great Fridays posted about the deal, describing it as an extension of EPAM's transformation that began with the 2012 acquisition of Conshohocken-based Empathy Labs.

And Heartland Payment Systems, Princeton, acquired xPient Solutions of Charlotte, a leading provider of retail POS (Point-Of-Sale) systems, to further strengthen its position in that market. Again, terms haven't been disclosed yet.

Links 10/31/2014: FCC said close to reclassifying ISPs as common carriers; EPAM makes acquisition

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Veeva Systems Flies High On Cloud For Life Sciences (Investors' Business Daily)
Good read on Veeva and Delaware County native, co-founder and president Matt Wallach, who is still based in Radnor, on his role in building business.

Marc Benioff tethers Salesforce cloud to Blighty
First European data centre spotted off west London (The Register)
I'm sure that Veeva, with its large number of European customers using its CRM built on Salesforce1, welcomes this, with European concerns over US data security practices.

FCC reportedly close to reclassifying ISPs as common carriers (Ars Technica)

Comcast Looms In TWC Dodger Sports Carriage Fracas (Investors' Business Daily)

CSN Houston ruling clears way for new network, but Comcast appeals decision (Houston Chronicle)


Monetate announced a round of layoffs yesterday (Technical.ly Philly)

EPAM Acquires Great Fridays, Expands Product and Service Capabilities
(EPAM Release)

Technology Outsourcer Epam Systems Knows The Big Deal (Investors' Business Daily)

We have some big news to share! DataMarket has been acquired by Qlik. (Qlik Blog)

SORRELL: WPP's $25 Million Stake In AppNexus Leaves Publicis And Omnicom With 'Nowhere To Go' (Business Insider)

InterDigital Third Quarter 2014 Financial Results Driven by 57% Increase in Recurring Revenue (Globe Newswire)

The Power of Community Comes to Life at SAP’s TechEd (Enterprise Irregulars)

Stewart Butterfield explains why Slack is now worth more than $1 billion (Fortune Tech)

Links 10/30/2014: LiquidHub acquires digital marketing agency Foundry9; Uber urges Philly to follow DC model

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SAP's Bill McDermott provides a CEO's plan to defy disruption (Fortune)

Forrester Shows Little Love for SAP, Marketo in Marketing Wave (CMS Wire)

Concur CEO says SAP acquisition is a ‘big bet’ that will accelerate company growth (GeekWire)
How many times have you heard this before an acquisition?
"Singh said that the tie-up between SAP and Concur won’t be a typical acquisition deal. He emphatically stressed that his company won’t disappear as a result of the acquisition closing. Instead, Concur’s partnership with SAP will provide tools and funding to expand the business."

Security Is Focus in SAP's Government Cloud Portfolio (CIO Today)


LiquidHub Acquires Digital Marketing Agency Foundry9
(Business Wire)


Uber exec Plouffe urges Philadelphia to model D.C.'s laws (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Time Warner Cable Misses Estimates on Drop in TV Users (Bloomberg)

Arris Beats The Street In Q3 (Multichannel News)
Arris acquired the Horsham-based business formerly known as Motorola Home from Google last year.

Study: Comcast and Verizon connections to Cogent dropped below 0.5Mbps (Ars Technica)


Verizon Ventures Seeks To Double Portfolio And Investment Capital (TechCrunch)

Execs From Apple Pay Competitor Finally Speak, but Big Questions Remain (Re/code)


Merger reflects growth in retail-store data analytics (Crain's New York)
First Round Capital-backed NOMi (New York) merges with Brickstream.

Blackstone’s Tac-Ops Adds Philadelphia Insurer in Blitzer’s Bet (Bloomberg)

ChargeItSpot: The Next Indispensable Retail Service? (Wharton Entrepreneurship Blog)

Social media management tool Buffer goes truly "open book"

Tom Paine

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I have sometimes complimented Safeguard Scientifics on the level of transparency it provides in its quarterly reporting. Though as a public company it is required to report more than a private VC or PE firm, Safeguard goes well beyond what's minimally required.

But one startup is taking transparency a step further. San Francisco-based Buffer, a social media management tool, just says it closed on a $3.5 million round at a $56.5 million pre-money valuation, and it laid out in plain sight on the web its term sheet, financials, and just about every little metric about the company you would ever want to know. Even every employee's salary.

Now its trying to raise more: "Update: We closed a first syndicate on AngelList today, October 27th. We have opened a new one with VegasTechFund now here."