Muni WiFi Collapse a Boon for WiMAX (Red Herring)


Smart Leaders
Nooruddin ‘Rudy’ Karsan
Chairman and CEO, Kenexa Corp. (Smart Business Philadelphia)



Bentley Acquires STAAD/CHINA and SSDD Software to Deliver Complete Structural Steel Solutions to China (Bentley Press Release)


Review: After Smoke Clears, FiOS a Hit (Associated Press via Google News)
Everybody in the press loves to praise FiOS and lambast Comcast. Accurate? Maybe.


Verizon Shoots FiOS Infomercials
Telco Targets Comcast Markets With ‘My Home 2.0’ (Multichannel News)


Franklin Elects New Officers (PR Newswire)


Franklin Electronics looking for acquisitions (Philadelphia Inquirer)


Envisioning the Next Chapter for Electronic Books (New York Times)
The entry of two big players into the ebook market could have a major impact on Franklin Electronic, either positively or negatively.


Newtown-built satellite crashes after launch (Philadelphia Inquirer)


A towering debate (phillyBurbs.com)
Almost everybody wants to use cell phones. but nobody wants the towers anywhere near them.



Phase Forward's J&J Deal Helps It Retain Leadership (Investor's Business Daily via CNNMoney)
Also discusses Phase Forward competitor eResearch Technology of Philadelphia.


NEC Claims First Multi-Frequency, Multi-Protocol RFID Device (eWeek)



Drexel University to Host the “Unconference” PodCamp Philly for Industry Veterans and Novices (BusinessWire)

Philly's IncPlace Launching Global Biz Dev Network (alarm:clock)
Said to be "well funded". We'll see what this one looks like when its launched.


GSI Commerce and MLB.com Extend E-Commerce Agreement Through 2016 (PR Newswire via CNNMoney)
Home Run?


SAP CEO Henning Kagermann warms up for A1S launch (ZDNet Blogs)


Cognos to Acquire Applix for $339 Million (eWeek)
Trying to fight off growing competition from SAP and Oracle in the BI market; also may be a stronger competitor to Radnor's Qliktech.


FCC Denies Comcast Again (Light Reading:Cable Digital News)


Comcast Uses Mobile Workforce Management Solution from Amdocs and Ventyx(TM) (PR Newswire)


Five area tech firms to get Pa. funding
The Ben Franklin Technology Partners will invest a total of more than $1.4 million. (Philadelphia Inquirer)


Microsoft's healthcare chief promotes the unified touch (Healthcare IT News)


SMB & Galephar Select Liquent Technology to Streamline Submission Publishing(PR Newswire)
Liquent is a unit of Philadelphia's Thomson Scientific.


OpSource Partners with Boomi to Revolutionize Delivery of Integration On Demand (BusinessWire)


Videoegg, a video ad network, raises $15 million (VentureBeat)
Philadelphia's First Round Capital was an early investor in Videoegg, which also does a lot of business on myYearbook.com (another FRC portfolio company).



NetBooks hopes to become the SAP for small businesses (San Jose Mercury-News)


RFID Readers Get Boost With Bluetooth (Information Week)

Comcast Tests Do-It-Yourself Install Kits for Phones (Bloomberg)


MetroPCS plans to take a Leap (CNET News)
MetroPCS' proposed merger with Leap could create a strong competitor to the big four wireless companies, and pose a challenge to the industry's traditional pricing structure. Both MetroPCS and Leap have licencses and plans to enter the Philadelphia market within the next year or two.

Healthy growth in marketing of drugs (Philadelphia Inquirer)


Devon IT Adds Key Industry Executives to Spearhead Business Development, Strategic Alliance Plans
(BusinessWire via TMCnet)
Adding some heavyweights. Perhaps they are gearing up for an IPO.


Software Disruptors March On (Clayton Christensen on Forbes)
Clayton Christensen, author of "The Innovator's Dilemma", discusses the potential disruptive threat that SAP may be facing from the likes of Salesforce.com, and SAP's response to it so far.


Project Management Software is Hot (Red Herring)
Along the same lines, Primavera may be facing a similar disruptive threat from saas (software as a service) vendors who start at the lower end of the market and move up. Several are mentioned here.

Microsoft preps PerformancePoint Server 2007 (Computer Business Review/UK)
Microsoft's new BI platform may have appeal to many, but Qliktech doesn't see it as as threat to them right now.

Alliance Consulting Partners with SAP and Selects SAP(R) Business Suite (PR Newswire)


Global Design Firm Selects Microsoft Dynamics as Its Blueprint for Business Success (PR Newswire)
EwingCole to use Microsoft Dynamics for project management.


Phila.-area venture fund stakes software maker (Philadelphia Business Journal)


Solstice Software Chairman of the Board Appointed CEO (BusinessWire)
This is not a business for the faint of heart.


Inrix Looks for Express Lane (Red Herring)
Microsoft spinoff competes with Traffic.com


Lockheed Martin Team Shifts Into Production Effort to Add GPS Demonstration Signal to Modernized Satellite (PR Newswire)


Kulicke & Soffa Raises Guidance For Fourth Quarter to $226 Million (BusinessWire)


Ametek sells $450M in senior notes (Philadelphia Business Journal)


C&D Technologies Completes Sale of Power Electronics Division to Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (PR Newswire)


Philly Prepares to Open Faucet on New System -- After Opening Its Wallet (Computerworld)


City cabbies say technology is too taxing (Philadelphia Inquirer)


Reps. aim to create council to oversee high-tech systems (EveningSun.com)
Proposes State council to oversee uses of GIS technology.

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)