Reality bites
American cities' plans for ubiquitous internet access are running into trouble (The Economist)


Real story of citywide wi-fi (Philadelphia Daily News)
To be fair, another point of view from the CEO of Wireless Philadelphia.



Comcast's Triple-Play Slide (Motley Fool)
Discusses the brewing competition between Comcast and FIOS.



3 data-mining firms sue state (Burlington Free Press)


IMS Health, Wolters Kluwer Health and Verispan Challenge State Laws Restricting Access to Critical Healthcare Information (Press Release via PharmaLive)
All three companies' US operations are based in the Philadelphia area.



IDS Scheer Targets Execs with Latest BPM Modules (Managing Automation)

BI Software Expanding Into Even Broader Role (Investor's Business Daily via Yahoo News)
The two articles above both focus on the increasing integration or overlap of BI(Business Intelligence) and BPM (Business Process Modeling) applications. This trend could have a significant impact on several major Philadelphia area firms.


Kenexa sues for patent infringement (Philadelphia Business Journal)
Lawsuits all over the place! At least the IP lawyers are doing well.


Virgin Galactic (phillyinc/Philadelphia Inquirer)


EMCORE Announces Consolidation of Fiber Optics Engineering Design Centers (PR Newswire)
Consolidation of its fiber optics engineering and design centers will result in a larger concentration in Warminster. Doesn't say how many additional jobs might be located there, though judging from the size of the operations I doubt it will be many.


Kulicke & Soffa Announces Repurchase of Convertible Notes And Stock Buy-back (BusinessWire)


Tyco Electronics Extends Bridge Loan (Associated Press via Forbes)

Street upbeat on city's Wi-Fi effort (Philadelphia Inquirer)
I'm not so sure. I'm still trying to sort through this Earthlink situation and what it all means for Wireless Philadelphia. While the company is not in any danger(at present) and has plenty of cash, I do question some of the assumptions they are making about their post-restructuring future. Of course, once most of the sunk costs(for Wireless Philadelphia) are in place, it is in their interest to try and generate as much incrementally profitable revenue as they can from it. But if customer acquisition costs are too high and service quality is too low, that may not be viable. Also, WiMax is coming in the not-so-distant future, and that could considerably alter the landscape.

More to come.


Google a victim of EarthLink woes with cancellation of S.F. Wi-Fi (San Francisco Chronicle)

SAP opens new facility in Bangalore (indiatimes Infotech)


Comcast Funds TiVo App Expansion (cable digital news)


Encorium Group Forms Joint Venture in Biostatistics, Data Management, and Consulting Services (BusinessWire)


Philadelphia Stock Exchange Transforms IT Process and Workflow With Serena Software (BusinessWire)

Quanta Services, Inc. Acquires InfraSource Services, Inc. in All-Stock Transaction (PR Newswire)

Pennsylvania hospitals lead in IT adoption (Healthcare IT News)


When a Company Makes Telecommuting Easy (Web Worker Daily)
About SunGard Higher Education

NCR ready to set Teradata free (ZDNet Blogs)
There are a significant number of Teradata accounts in the Philadelphia area. Teradata is generally not for the little guys, but for companies shifting through huge volumes of data to find trends and patterns quickly.

New Software Suite Combines Practice Management with Pharmaceutical Marketing(PharmaLive)


One way to document a confusing user interface(At Random)
Treating confusing building maintenance software as a challenging computer game at Penn

Analysis of Earthlink/Wireless Philadelphia Contract: (MuniWireless)


I should have more on this later.

SAP A1S faces reluctant SMBs, for now (SearchSAP.com)


SAP, Oracle Ready to Square Off
SAP seeks speedy discovery and mediation; Oracle seeks an 18-month discovery process and 2009 trial. (eWeek.com)


EarthLink's Wi-Fi dreams may be fading (CNET News)


End Nigh For Muni Wi-Fi? (Information Week)

I assume that the Philadelphia network buildout will be completed, but to what level of quality in coverage? And how will it be supported economically in the longer term? These networks don't just run themselves. What level of support is spelled out in the contract?

COLLEGE FOOTBALL PACKAGE: Big Ten shut out by cable giants on first football Saturday (Associated Press via Centre Daily Times)
Here is Comcast's Press Release.


If Cable Is So Great, Why Is Comcast Down? (24/7 Wall St)


Facebook's Where I've Been Application Acquisition (TechnologyEvangelist)
Philadelphia developer Craig Ulliot, responding to article, reiterates that his Facebook app "Where I've Been" has not been acquired, as (apparently) mistakenly reported, and says that he is actively looking to hire people in the Philadelphia area. Here is the job app form:


Medicine 2.0 SciFoo Lives On Session (Scientific Blogging)
BioWizard makes presentation to virtual medical conference in Second Life.


Thin Client(phillyinc/Philadelphia Inquirer)
On Neoware and its upcoming integration into H-P.


Cabbies Prepare To Strike (The Bulletin)
Preparing to strike(again) over new technology.


New ARIS Controlling Products from IDS Scheer Offer Process Performance at a Glance and Automated Identification of Optimization Potential (BusinessWire)

Boomi Promotes SMB Integration for Petroleum Chain (ebizQ)



Something I just noticed in Liberty Media's early August earnings release for its Liberty Capital Group tracking stock:

"A 38% decline in operating cash flow to $24 million was blamed on a decline at TruePosition and losses at Starz Media." (my bold)

I don't know what is going on at TruePosition, the Berwyn-based provider of wireless GPS location solutions. When I have a chance I'll see if I can find some breakout of their financial data.

Following up on my recent post about Smarter Agent, I did some research and found out that their funding event apparently took place in early June. There wasn't much about it out on the Web, and it did not appear in the quarterly Price Waterhouse/Moneytree report. I did find this post, apparently made by Smarter Agent management, on the blog Ubikwitus :

Funding
$2 million primarily from founders, private investors and the commonwealth of Pennsylvania venture capital fund.

I assume the venture fund is Ben Franklin Partners, which does list Smarter Agent in its portfolio, though again there didn't seem to be much publicity about it.

In my research, I also came across this post by Jonathan Spinney on the blog maperture:

Smarter Agent needs a smarter agent

Smarter Agent will reportedly (subscription required) close their first VC finance round next week, with plans to double staff thereafter and make a run for it. I’ve encountered widely varying opinions on this type of app. Back in 2004, a then Director of LBS at Sprint said marketing cash support for a real-estate app was unlikely based on direct industry experiences she had, citing MLS listings as fragmented, inaccurate databases with little-to-no-value. Strong words for sure, but conversational nonetheless since Sprint eventually deployed the app—minus the expensive marketing effort to support its discovery.

Given the current infighting for real-estate mapping among the big portals and GIS vendors, and given Microsoft’s 80% market share in this space via Virtual Earth, I wonder if it makes sense for Smarter Agent to find, well, a smarter agent D2C channel.

Just one man's opinion.

SAP's India Customers Double in a Year (Associated Press via Forbes)
SAP also announces new partnership with Wipro.

Samsung to Build Mobile Network in NY (Korea Times)
Sprint had previously awarded contracts to Samsung to build out WiMax in Philadelphia and other East Coast cities.


EarthLink to Cut 900 Jobs; Shares Rise (Associated Press via New York Times)
That's about half their workforce.

It's a Philly Thing(Cable360)
Comparing the Eagles to Comcast


How to lose friends and make enemies: The Comcast Capacity Planning lesson (Network Performance Daily)

Harleysville Insurance Agent Portal Improves Carrier/Policyholder Relations(TechWeb)
Interview with Akhil Tripathi, CIO of Harleysville.


JasperSoft and Unisys to Deliver Open Source Services for Business Intelligence
(PR Newswire via CNNMoney)
JasperSoft is partially backed by SAP Ventures.


Beyond.com, Inc. Provides Jobs to Members of OLX, Inc.(BusinessWire)


Lenfest buys Environmental Tectonics preferred shares(Philadelphia Inquirer)

Vendors Target SIM Cards And Transit Applications In Budding NFC Market (CardTechnology)
Collaborative effort between NXP Semiconductors and Gemalto, whose U.S operations(formerly Gemplus) are based in Montgomery County.

Credit Card Industry Booming, Despite Treacherous Stock Market This Fall (FoxNews Business)
But storm clouds may be looming on the horizon.

Lockheed Martin's Spoken-Language-Understanding Technology to Aid Warfighters and First Responders (PR Newswire)
L-M's Advanced Technology Laboratories in Cherry Hill puts out some interesting stuff.


Americas’ SAP Users’ Group Announces New President/Chief Executive Officer
Former CIO of Morris Communications to Become First Full-Time Employee of User Group (BusinessWire)

Search Engine Finds Memories From Way Back (EDD Blog Online)
On Health Advocate case.


Rendell decides not to delay computer work on gun sales database (Associated Press via Philadelphia Inquirer)


INTERVIEW: SETH RAVIN ON THIRD-PARTY SOFTWARE MAINTENANCE (SearchCIO.com)
Founder of TomorrowNow (sold to SAP) and Rimini Street Inc.

The Inc. 500 is out. There is actually an expanded Inc. 5,000, and here are links to lists of the companies included in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and even little Delaware. The Deloitte Fast 50 came out about two weeks ago. There are separate Fast 50's for Greater Philadelphia and New Jersey. I haven't been able to find those complete lists online yet, but when I do I will post them as well. (Actually, I just went back and looked and found that New Jersey now seems to be available, but Philadelphia still is not.) The Philadelphia 100 should be out in a couple of months.
So this is the time that everybody starts to crank out those press releases, saying how high they rank on one list or another. And they should. I do not mean to belittle those accomplishments at all. There are many outstanding companies included in these rankings that will have very successful futures. My issue with each of these lists is that despite their qualifying criteria they are all driven by sheer percentage of revenue growth, which is often off a very small base. And that's problematic to me, considering that there are so many ways to buy or generate additional revenues.
One big contract can produce phenomenal growth for a very small company, but may not be a good indicator of future success. A rapid but poorly planned string of acquisitions can get you on one of these lists, yet end up in disaster. And it is generally a lot easier to find ways to ramp up revenues quickly in very low margin, low value-added business than it is in higher margin busineses.
So that's the end of my lecture. These rankings can be useful, and they are better than nothing. But use them with care.

Comcast Stock May Soar on Cash Flow: Barron's (Reuters via New York Times)


What Makes QlikTech So Good? (Customer Experience Matrix Blog)


Late to Web Retailing? There’s Still Money There (New York Times)
Article about GSI Commerce

Five Suggestions to Improve Viddler (Allen Stern/CenterNetworks Blog)


Lockheed, Boeing vie for satellite deal (Thomson Financial via CNNMoney)
Lockheed's satellite unit is based in Newtown. This is a very important contract that's at stake.


Lockheed Expands IT Work As Other Defense Spending May Slow(Dow Jones via CNNMoney)

Supply Chain Software Once Again Hot Sector (Investor's Business Daily via Yahoo News)


AMETEK Acquires CAMECA SAS (Laboratory Networks.com)


EPAM: Success Offshore and Nearshore(CMP Channel)
Interview with Arkadiy Dobkin, CEO of rapidly growing outsourcer.

Chiquita chooses Pa. firm to manage spending (Philadelphia Business Journal)
ICG Commerce gets two new clients.

CADD Centre Enters Strategic Alliance with Primavera Systems
Professionals in India now have Access to the Latest Project Management Technology (BusinessWire India)


Beauty’s next mogul (Reuters Blogs)
John Malone's Liberty Media, which owns QVC, takes minority interest in cosmeceutical firm. Is this part of a strategy extension for QVC?


Finalist firms to pitch for seven-figure Comcast job (PRWeek)


Arbitron Blames Software In PPM Houston Snag (MediaDailyNews)
New radio ratings system, also being tested in Philadelphia.


ETC working on another flight training module (Philadelphia Business Journal)


Briggs & Stratton Corporation Deploys MCA Solutions’ Service Planning and Optimization (BusinessWire)

SAP to hold board meeting in India for first time (Business Standard India)


SAP’s cautious Web 2.0 imagineering(ZDNet Blogs)


SAPs 429 page lecture: who’s learning what? (ZDNet Blogs)


Who Will Win The SAP, Oracle Battle? (internetnews.com)


An Inside Look At The Fastest Growing Company In Business Intelligence Software
With a new Silicon Valley office, a unique approach to BI and a seasoned management team, QlikTech is planning an IPO next year. (Information Week)
This article is a little dated, but definitely worth the read if you don't know much about this Radnor-based company.



Inc digs deep (phillyinc/Philadelphia Inquirer)
Inc. Magazine releases Inc. 500(and more).


The New Face of Telecom Is Wireless (NJBIZ.com)



Democracy at your fingertips (NorthJersey.com)


PPL Completes Sale of Telecommunication Subsidiary (PR Newswire)


SICOM Systems Receives Burger King Corporation Vendor of the Year Award (PR Newswire)

I don't usually cover life sciences news much, but today was a very busy day for it in the Philadelphia area, so I thought it was worth mentioning. Globus Medical Inc. of Audubon raised $110 million to continue development of its spinal implant technologies. Cephalon agreed to pay $100 million to acquire North American rights to the muscle-spasm drug Amrix.
Beijing Med-Pharm of Plymouth Meeting raised $30.6 million, and Isolagen of Exton raised $13.8 million. In addition to hopefully helping people who need it and producing a good return to investors, all this activity creates opportunities for IT
providers.


WiMax Backers See Broad Deployment In Two Years (Information Week)
But it may not make Wi-Fi obsolete.

Microsoft's New Agency Look (internetnews.com)
Roles of aQuantive and Avenue A|Razorfish explained.

Google's growth has come at a price (Mercury-News.com)
Is Google becoming as arrogant as Microsoft? Also discusses potential Google challenger Openads, a UK startup partially backed by Philadelphia's First Round Capital.

Philly spending $6.7M to replace billing system. (WaterTech Online)


Comcast sends phone users scrambling for service
Residents can choose the new AT&T or sign up for Voice-over-Internet.
(Jacksonville Times-Union)
I saw another article yesterday on the same thing happening in Michigan, so I guess this is a system-wide changeover for Comcast.

Verizon Wins Oregon Franchise
Telco Challenges Incumbent Operator Comcast (Multichannel News)


A very fast shot (phillyinc/Philadelphia Inquirer)
New from Lockheed Martin's Advanced Technology Labs in Cherry Hill.

Environmental Tectonics Corporation's Simulation Division Introduces Crash Truck Simulator for Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting Services (PR Newswire)
Environmental Tectonics has lost revenues, seems to be branching out into other applications for its technology.

Local company puts records within reach (phillyBurbs.com)
About CapMed of Newtown.

Report calls for linking RFID and bar code technology (Healthcare IT News)

Web-based PACS a low-cost option (Healthcare IT News)
This company's approach appears similar to that of Philadelphia-based HX Technologies.


CTG rejects 2nd RCM offer (Buffalo Business First)


C-COR Reports Financial Results for Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2007
(BusinessWire)


M&A Data Consolidation Made Practical by SingleVision Software from Business Development Solutions (BusinessWire)

Clarient Launches Next-Generation Internet-Based PATHSiTE(SM) Flow Cytometry Program
(PR Newswire)
Clarient, based in California, is a Safeguard Scientifics partner company.

Civil War Museum begins two tourism projects (pennlive.com)
Adding historical sites to Google Earth.

Rhapsody, MTV Urge services merging (Seattle Times)
Verizon to provide wireless access.

Finally: Verizon Wireless snags the Motorola Q9m (CNET News Blog)


Comcast knocking on AT&T's door
Company sees success with bundling telephone, cable and Internet services
(Atlanta Journal-Constitution)


Comcast Posing as Big Ten Fans in Anti-BTN Astroturfing Campaign (FanHouse)
Funny


Workday: Forget ERP, start over (ZDNet Blogs)
More on startup Workday's new approach.


State looks at limiting scanning technology (San Diego Union-Tribune)
Fears about RFID, from the left and the right.


Tracking technology ready for a new life (phillyBurbs.com)
More on RFID and local companies.


Devon IT President Discusses Growth, Development of Alternative Desktop Industry in Podcast
Executive outlines growth projections for hosted client computing, the implications of the HP/Neoware combination, IBM’s blade solutions, and more (BusinessWire)

Monster.com’s bad summer (The Browser/Fortune)
Not good news for Philadelphia Media Holdings, which has tied its employment advertising business to Monster.


Microsoft Completes aQuantive Acquisition (SearchEngineWatch)
Avenue A | Razorfish now part of new Advertiser and Publisher Solutions Group


Top Building Material Retailer and Manufacturer to Improve Business Process Structure with DEACOM ERP Software (BusinessWire)

Innovation Philadelphia to Host the Region's First Creative Industries Career Fair (PR Newswire)


SEI Announces Oak Associates Contract Renewal (PR Newswire)

Primavera® Debuts Total Management Approach for Government (BusinessWire)
Probably trying to put a greater emphasis on competing with Deltek in the Federal market.


Bitter. Biting. Boundless.
Local sports fans don't hold anything back (delawareonline)
Impact of new media on fans, players.