Philly Tech People News 1/19: Local guy Patterson making good at PTC ThingWorx

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Rob Patterson

Rob Patterson was recently named VP, Strategic Marketing at PTC, responsible for a portion of ThingWorx' market. Before that, he was VP, Product Marketing, and he joined PTC through its acquisition of Wayne-based of ColdLight Solutions (where he was in marketing and corporate strategy roles) in 2015. ColdLight was acquired as an integral part of ThingWorx' strategy.

He continues to work from Philly's western burbs (Exton) where ThingWorx also remains based. PTC ((NASDAQ: PTC), which acquired ThingWorx in late 2013 and made it and IoT one of the centerpieces of its corporate strategy (and made 4 other acquisitions around it), is headquartered in Needham, MA.

Since graduating from St.Joe's with a food marketing degree, Patterson has climbed through the ranks at a veritable who's who of Philly area employers, including Wawa, Microsoft Malvern, and Qlik Technologies. When he started with Qlik there were only 10 employees at its Radnor headquarters, Patterson told me in a phone conservation (Qlik originated in Sweeden), and from a marketing point of view they must have been starting from scratch. He was there when Qlik did its 2010 IPO.


Through this experience, Patterson gained expertise in BtoB marketing, not so much the mass market variety, but very targeted at a smaller universe of potential buyers. He applies this knowledge with ThingWorx, where he leads marketing for oil & gas, utilities, and "smart cities", the latter segment getting considerable publicity of late. ThingWorx' industrial marketing, and the management of its important GE relationship, are separate from that.

ThingWorx largely set the standard for industrial IoT by building an operating platform for it. It is not in consumer-related IoT, which is usually quite different in terms of standards, networks and applications. Although PTC's alliance with GE and its Predix software has gotten the most ink for ThingWorx over the past couple of years, the work of Patterson and others shows that it continues to develop the rest of the market as well.

From PTC's earnings report released yesterday:

"Bookings results were driven by strong performance in IoT, including one IoT mega deal (>$5m in bookings) and one IoT large deal (>$1m in bookings)."

Also this from the Boston Business Journal yesterday: Needham tech firm PTC hits highest stock price in 17 years.











Jet.com founder shakes up Wal-Mart staff
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Wurtzel Stepping Down as NBCU Research Chief (Multichannel News)
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Sandy Wax Named COO of Lieberman Research Worldwide (Multichannel News)

Comcast Promotes Ed Brassel to Executive Vice President of Enterprise Business Intelligence for Comcast Cable and NBCUniversal


Comcast Promotes Lisa Bonnell to Senior Vice President and General Auditor

Kai Bond to Helm Comcast Ventures Catalyst Fund (Multichannel News)

Matt Aden is joining Exton-based SCTE/ISBE as VP of sales and sales operations (CED Magazine)

Monetate Promotes Adam Litle to VP Sales, North America

​​​Unisys Names Ann Sung Ruckstuhl as Chief Marketing Officer​
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FinancialForce selects former Salesforce and Heroku exec to be new CEO (TechCrunch)
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Honeywell President & COO Darius Adamczyk Joins Board of Directors (GovCon Executive)
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Edison Partners Wraps Up Stellar 2016, Begins 2017 with Partnership Promotions


SeventySix Capital taps sports media exec to be 1st entrepreneur-in-residence (Philadelphia Business Journal)

P’unk Ave Founder and Indy Hall Co-Founder Geoff DiMasi is the New Entrepreneur In Quorum


Prophet Hires Christine Cox as a Partner in its Digital Transformation Practice

Former Comcast Technology Leader Appointed Chief Technology Officer at BuildSourced

Instem Appoints MaryBeth Thompson as Chief Operating Officer

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Eastern Standard Caps Off Year of Growth With
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TechXtend Promotes Kevin Askew to Vice President and General Manager

Links 1/19:Who leased the most data center space in 2016?; Comcast SportsNet to begin streaming Phillies games online this year

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Verizon’s Response to the Digital Revolution (Fortune)
"As of yesterday, AT&T was the 12th-most-valuable public company in the world; Verizon was 19th, and Comcast was 25th."

Oracle outlines plans to take on Amazon in cloud (Network World)

Who Leased the Most Data Center Space in 2016? (Data Center Knowledge)
Microsoft and Oracle?

Dell Boomi hires David Tavolaro to strengthen partner channel (ARN)
Tavolaro joins Dell Boomi from Anexinet.









Krebs Calls Out Rutgers University Student As Author Of Mirai DDoS Botnet (HotHardware)


Kenney stands with women, says no to business coalition (Philly.com)
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Bentley Systems joins Cesium Consortium (AEC Magazine)

Exclusive: Derek Jeter’s Star-Studded Startup Just Raised Another $40 Million (Fortune)

China's Oceanwide, IDG Capital to buy tech publisher IDG (Reuters)


Comcast SportsNet to begin streaming Phillies games online this year (Philly.com)
Apparently applies to all Comcast RSNs with MLB rights.

DirecTV Now Peaking at 35K Simultaneous Streams: Analyst (Multichannel News)

Amazon opens joins tech companies with Pittsburgh office (AP via Lancaster Online)
Why not Philly?

Links 1/18: Netflix' explosive international growth; Hulu says its cable TV competitor will be 'sports-centric'

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STP Investment Services moves office to West Chester
(Daily Local News)

UBS extends agreement with EPAM Systems worth $300m (Banking Technology)
EPAM is based in Newtown, Bucks County.

Sales CRM startup Pipedrive raises $17 million from Atomico and others (VentureBeat)

AT&T's deal with Nielsen promises more accurate TV ratings (Engadget)


Trump vs. Comcast? Don't believe the hype, says analyst (Philly.com)


Netflix Surges 8%: Adds 7M Members, Highest Ever (Barron's Tech Trader Daily)

Rumor Patrol: Would Disney Acquiring Netflix Even Make Sense? (Variety)

Hulu says its under-$40-a-month cable TV competitor will be 'sports-centric' (Business Insider)

Do NBC & Charter Have a Deal? Internal Memo Says Yes (TVPredictions)


Cable One to Buy NewWave for $735M
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Oracle Sued by U.S. Over Alleged Discriminatory Pay, Hiring (Bloomberg)


Bain: Is Container Use Optional? Probably Not (Information Week)

Trump and the Future for AT&T, Time Warner Deal (Bloomberg Video)

Links 1/18: Radial challenges Amazon with expanded fulfillment service; After 10 years, Business ByDesign finds niche

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Is IoT the next App Store? (Scott A. Snyder, Safeguard Scientifics, & Rick Bulotta, founder, Next Big Thing, LLC / CIO Review)
Clue as to where Bulotta's next startup may be heading?

Verizon mulling acquisition of big cable company (NY Post)

Radial challenges Amazon with expanded fulfillment service (DCVelocity)

Oracle and Google Refine Their Cloud Pitches to Take On Amazon (Fortune)
Oracle Cloud World opens this morning in New York.

Oracle's Hurd: Cloud migration driven by business reality; there will be two SaaS suites (ZDNet)

Oracle Joins Cloud Data Center Expansion Race (Fortune)

And finally, SAP Business ByDesign is relevant to SME (Brian Sommer / Diginomica)

T-Mobile CEO Sees 'Craziness' & Big Deals (Light Reading)

Elliott teams up with ex-TXU CEO for NRG Energy shake-up (Reuters)
Paul Singer strikes again. NRG is dual-headquartered in West Windsor Township, New Jersey, and Houston.

Wall Street is witnessing a 'third wave of computerization' (Business Insider)

Why these tech start-up founders are moving to Camden (Philly.com)

3675 Market Street, 1st new building at uCity Square, to break ground (Curbed Philly)

Why Arris might bid on Ruckus Wireless assets? For its own customers, of course

Tom Paine

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Arris International, the ambitious strategic technologies vendor to the cable industry, and in particular to its two largest customers - Comcast and Charter, is said to be making a bid for up to $1 billion for the network equipment assets of Brocade Communications (NASDAQ: BRCD), primarily composed of the Ruckus Wireless business acquired by Brocade just this past August for $1.5 billion.

Subsequent to that acquisition, Broadcom, (NASDAQ: AVGO) announced in November that it was acquiring Brocade for $5.9 billion. Broadcom indicated that it didn't want to hold on to parts of Brocade's business for which it had overlapping products, or products that competed with its customers, and that Ruckus Wireless was among the assets it would shed.


But Ruckus itself is no ugly duckling, having built some of the most innovative solutions in the WiFi Network space.

Arris, based outside of Atlanta, has a large presence in Horsham from its acquisition of Motorola Home from Google in 2013. It also maintains a small office in downtown Philly to stay close to Comcast headquarters. Arris (NASDAQ: ARRS) has warrant agreements with both Comcast and Charter through which the two companies will buy a small percentage of Arris shares depending upon factors such as how much they purchase key products from it.

Arris made another big splash at the beginning of 2016 by acquiring UK-based Pace plc for $2.1 billion.

So with Comcast and Charter both moving into the wireless space, Arris started thinking, perhaps encouraged by its major customers, that maybe it ought to as well. On Thursday, Arris CFO David Potts, speaking at a Needham investor event, said: “As we continue to grow, we believe that it’s possible that we could get into adjacent markets. As an example, wireless … what happens in wireless, WiFi should we be more involved in that?" On Friday, Reuters ran the report, citing sources, that Arris would bid on the Ruckus Wireless business.

Why is this important to Arris? Comcast, and presumably Charter, are planning to enter wireless with a hybrid system, utilizing their dense and widespread WiFi networks in conjunction with their MVNO leased access from Verizon (and Sprint in Comcast's case), and other spectrum they may acquire or lease. But hybrid is tricky, and takes complex technology to make it function well. Google's Project Fi is one example of a hybrid system that is operational.

Ruckus is one of the leaders in the hybrid field. Its worked closely with Google on WiFi initiatives, though I can't confirm what role it may play in Project Fi.

Ruckus also sees the 3.5 GHz Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) as an opportunity for cable providers to offer a stronger indoor 5G LTE solution, with boosts from small cells. Robust indoor LTE is difficult to maintain, and this might give cable more leverage over mobile providers.

A decision by Broadcom is expected by the end of the month. PE firms have interest, and other network equipment vendors could bid but none have been publicly identified to my knowledge.

Links 1/16: SAP says Europe's new privacy law will hurt startups; Intel launches new IoT retail platform, plans $100 million retail tech investment

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SAP says Europe's new privacy law will hurt startups (Business Insider)


SAP software company to bring 242 new jobs and facility to Pittsburgh (NextPittsburgh)


Sage signs X3 trio to cloud 'big business' ERP combo (The Register)

Marketo CEO Steve Lucas on theCUBE: Massive consolidation is coming to marketing tech (Silicon Angle)

Rutgers catching up on 12K unpaid bills after tech glitches (NJ.com)


Intel launches new IoT retail platform, plans $100 million retail tech investment (ZDNet)

Sunday Highlights: Trump team's FCC plans; Marijuana dispensaries hit by hack of sales software

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Exclusive: Trump Team Embraces FCC Remake Blueprint (Multichannel News)


SAP SuccessFactors migration to HANA begins in earnest (Diginomica)

Marijuana dispensaries hit by hack of sales system (Boston Globe)



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SaaS Startup One-Slide Financials Dashboard (Dave Kellogg / Enterprise Irregulars)

Saturday Highlights: VC, Boomi CTO give 2017 Enterprise software forecasts

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Salesforce’s Quip acquires Unity&Variety, a startup founded by Facebook veterans (VentureBeat)

This start-up hopes to be the high-tech answer for pet owners' many needs (Philly.com)

Comcast/NBC fired and insulted Trump and now faces a grudge-holding president (Philly.com)

Enterprise IT trends for 2017: ‘Fog’ computing, Internet sensors, the second coming of silicon … (Dharmesh Thakker, Battery Ventures / VentureBeat)

Dell Boomi 2017 Predictions: A glimpse into the future of business and personal technology (Michael Morton, Chief Technology Officer of Dell Boomi / VM Blog)

It’s Time to Transform ERP into a Systems of Engagement (Dion Hinchcliffe/Enterprise Irregulars)

Links 1/13: Arris may buy Brocade’s networking tech for $1 Billion: VC brother of Jared Kushner is thrust Into spotlight

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Brother of Jared Kushner Is Thrust Into the Spotlight (NY Times)

This Set-Top Box Maker Might Buy Brocade’s Networking Tech for $1 Billion
(Reuters via Fortune)
Guess this what Arris' CEO meant when he said on at an investor conference on Thursday, wireless … what happens in wireless, should we be more involved in that?".


Telecom Merger Talks Might Pick Up If FCC Auction Fails (Investor's Business Daily)

Amid HQ relocation, Monetate cuts jobs & adds others (Philadelphia Business Journal)


DirecTV Now appears to be a complete mess
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Netflix's high-risk investment strategy a house of cards: Analyst (CNBC)

Uber driver charged in alleged beating of passenger, lawyer says (NJ.com)

Clemson U, Carnegie Mellon to Develop Robots for Advanced Manufacturing (Campus Technology)
Clemson should stick to what it does best. Maybe robot football players?

Clutch Acquires Persio to Extend Mobile Marketing Capabilities Deal follows $5.25 million in new capital and addition of Larry Stone to Board

Business Wire
Clutch Acquires Persio to Extend Mobile Marketing Capabilities
Deal follows $5.25 million in new capital and addition of Larry Stone to Board

January 12, 2017 09:02 AM Eastern Standard Time
PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Clutch, a customer management and marketing analytics company, has acquired intelligent mobile promotions platform Persio in a deal that will add powerful new mobile marketing capabilities to the Clutch platform.

“With this acquisition, the Clutch platform is the first to support the marketer with a comprehensive view of customers across all buying and marketing channels. The addition of Persio’s intelligent mobile platform will allow us to deliver these experiences instantly and with greater context.”
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“Marketers have been pressed into using sales platforms that were never the right tool for the job, and because of that, they’ve had to bolt on additional solutions to solve new needs as they arise,” said Clutch CEO Ned Moore. “With this acquisition, the Clutch platform is the first to support the marketer with a comprehensive view of customers across all buying and marketing channels. The addition of Persio’s intelligent mobile platform will allow us to deliver these experiences instantly and with greater context.”

The transaction puts Clutch in a position to capture a bigger share of the $32 billion marketing technology industry, just as brands are increasingly looking to automate mobile solutions to deliver shipping notices, rewards, coupons, brand messages, and more. At the same time, their marketing departments need a technology stack that can do the work of several vendors hired to solve discrete problems.

“Clutch built its business on unifying data to give marketers an actionable, complete view of their customers, and blending our capabilities with theirs is just natural,” said Persio co-founder Nick Doulas. “Together we can integrate customer data into virtually every marketing activity, from loyalty and gift to direct mail or e-commerce, and of course, mobile.”

Clutch plans to make the new mobile functionality available to clients in the first quarter of 2017. The transaction closed in December.

A strong complement to other channels, SMS marketing has seen increased demand among brands and retailers looking to reach mobile customers in real time. In fact, SMS messages have a 98 percent open rate and 90 percent of SMS messages are opened within three minutes.

Persio, founded in 2012, has led hundreds of successful campaigns for retailers with inventive mobile marketing techniques like mobile scratch-and-win offers, image and video text messages, and promotions for mobile apps. More than 10 million subscribers receive this type of content from Persio clients, who typically send 40 million messages per month from the platform. A company might send an SMS message to remind its customers that their loyalty points are about to expire, wish them a happy birthday, review customer service, or invite a lapsed customer to return. Clients also take advantage of higher response rates on mobile, using it to reinforce messaging from other channels like email.

Ned Moore will remain Clutch’s CEO. Nick Doulas, co-founder of Persio, will be staying on as Head of Product. The combined company, which will retain the Clutch name, will employ a total of 75 in the Philadelphia suburbs and in Persio’s existing offices in Chicago.

In addition to acquiring Persio, Clutch secured a $5.25 million round of funding and added a new seat on its board of directors. Larry Stone will take that seat, bringing more than 27 years of executive experience to Clutch. He is a veteran of the payment processing industry where he developed deep expertise in managing companies and accelerating their growth. He currently serves on the board of directors at JetPay and acted as principal of Mercury Payment Systems, where he successfully shepherded the firm to its 2014 sale to Vantiv.

“Clutch has driven tremendous growth with its combination of comprehensive marketing technology, customer data management, and hands-on partnerships with clients,” Stone said. “As a board member, I’m dedicated to helping the company build on that momentum and grow its platform.”

About Clutch

Clutch’s Integrated Customer Management platform delivers customer intelligence and personalized engagements empowering B2C brands to identify, understand and motivate each segment of their customer base. Its advanced marketing platform integrates customer data across point-of-sale, ecommerce, mobile and social channels, delivering personalized engagements and increasing the value of each customer. Headquartered outside of Philadelphia, Clutch’s solutions impact over 65 million consumers of over 800 brands. Clutch is a proud partner of Safeguard Scientifics (NYSE:SFE), NewSpring Capital and Ben Franklin Technology Partners.

About Persio

Persio is an intelligent mobile marketing platform that uses behavioral and demographic data to drive revenue, acquisition and retention for SMS, app and web. Designed simply and with an intuitive UI, the cloud-based solution efficiently manages the mobile campaign process from start to finish. Marketers can create content, identify and target customer segments, deploy promotions, run tests and analyze results for multiple offer types including rich content, gamification, offers and discounts.

For more information visit clutch.com, follow Clutch Holdings on LinkedIn or @ClutchSuccess on Twitter.

Contacts
Gregory FCA for Clutch
Matt McLoughlin, 610-228-2123
matt@gregoryfca.com