EchoStar, With Slingbox, May See Set-Top Box Opportunity (Dow Jones via CNNMoney.com)
Could pose a longterm competitive threat to Motorola's set-top box business, based in Horsham.


At Age 2, Verizon FiOS Evolves (Light Reading: TELCOTV NEWS ANALYSIS)
FIOS TV to move to an all-IPTV platform.


Court affirms Vonage infringed 2 Verizon patents (Reuters)
The article refers to Vonage having the highest market share in VoIP, though I think by most measurements Comcast is now considered the leader.


TCS Teams with SAP on the Launch of the 'Perfect Plant' Center of Excellence (PR Newswire via CNNMoney.com)
Center to be located in Newtown Square.


India to help build second Silicon Valley in US (The Economic Times India)
A bit of an exaggeration, perhaps. First incubation center planned for somewhere in New Jersey.


Outsourcing Works, So India Is Exporting Jobs (New York Times)


Latest Issue of BE Magazine Looks at Intelligent Transportation Systems (BusinessWire via Yahoo Finance)
On Bentley Systems' magazine.


Out of the Gate: Tyco Electronics
Tyco Electronics Shares Rise As Credit Suisse Analyst Begins Coverage at "Outperform" (Associated Press via CNNMoney.com)


SGE Announces David Tamburri as Entrepreneur in Residence (PR Newswire)
SGE is a private equity branch of Susquehanna International Group.


Safend Joins SanDisk Enterprise Solutions Technology Alliance (MarketWire)
Safend, an Israeli software security firm, has its US headquarters in Philadelphia.


Microsoft Takes Aim at Google’s Ad Supremacy (New York Times)


Penn’s Autonomous Car “Little Ben” Advances to the Semi-Finals (University of Pennsylvania Almanac)


Aria Systems Takes In-Game Billing to New Level With IBM (Marketwire)

Technology PR Sessions at 2007 PRSA Conference (Copywriting That Sells High Tech Blog)
To be held next month in Philadelphia.

LiquidHub raises $38M (Philadelphia Inquirer)
King of Prussia systems consultant backed by NewSpring, others.


Dykstra: Tune In to Comcast Calls (TheStreet.com)
In case you didn't know, now that he is no longer running into fences and (hopefully) driving into trees, Lenny Dykstra is giving investment advice. Caveat emptor.

Zimbra plays matchmaker for Comcast and Yahoo! (ZDNet Blogs)

Comcast Wireless Rumors Dragging Company Stock
Will Comcast bid on upcoming 700Mhz spectrum? (BroadbandReports.com)


Judge steps up pace in Oracle-SAP spying case (Reuters UK)

Larry Ellison Says 'Just Say No to SaaS' (Intelligent Enterprise)

SAP's rocky road to on-demand
Can SAP make the transition to a services business model? (InfoWorld)

DHS to Reopen Technology Contracts; Thompson Calls for Independent Probe (CQ Today)
More about the Unisys situation.


New CEO at Radnor software firm QlikTech (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Steve Case's Gratis Card Relaunches As Revolution Card (alarm:clock)
A threat to the very foundation of Delaware's economy?

Facebook Slice Could Boost Microsoft's aQuantive Unit (Information Week)


Strategic investment made in software company (Philadelphia Business Journal)
Project Management software upstart receives $3 million in funding from venture arm of Susquehanna International Group.

N.J. invests $1M in Camden company (Philadelphia Business Journal)

Marchex Announces Closing of VoiceStar Acquisition, Bringing Call-Based Services to Marchex Local Advertising Platform (eMediaWire)


Corpus Christi Muni—The Exception That Proves the Rule? (Out of Control: Reason.org)

Supply Chain Consultants Announces Release of Report 'Forecast Less and Get Better Results' (PR Newswire)

Seven Primavera(R) Customers Win Constructech Vision Awards (PR Newswire)

WorldGate Announces Investment of Additional $1 Million from Current Investor (Business Wire)

Software Freedom Day, PLUG West and MythTV Seminar (pleia2’s blog)
On recent Linux activities in the Philly area.

The Comcast Conundrum (Barron's)

Arris Group to Acquire C-COR for $730M (Associated Press via CNNMoney)
C-COR is based in State College. Both C-COR and Arris do significant amounts of business with Comcast.


Disappointing Deal for Arris Group?
One analyst wonders if Arris will get enough long-term growth from C-COR's equipment for cable providers (Business Week)


Out of the Gate: Optium (Associated Press via Forbes)
Another good day for Optium.


SAP Appoints Director Of Its Palo Alto Labs
Rami Branitzky, a longtime ally of former SAP President Shai Agassi, will be charged with beating the NetWeaver drum. (Information Week)

Smaller and Even Less Flexible (EvolvingExcellence)
Interesting perspective on the wisdom of imposing a SAP-like structure on a smaller business.

FBI probes Unisys after U.S. government hack
The systems integrator allegedly failed to detect a hack of DHS computers (Computerworld)
As if Unisys didn't have enough problems.

Are Web Giants Looking to Edge Out Ad Agencies? (Adweek)
Raises questions again about Microsoft's long-term commitment to Avenue A/Razorfish.


Genome research grant goes to Phila. firm and Princeton U. (Philadelphia Inquirer)

BioNanomatrix Announces Issuance of Key Nanofluidics Patent Enabling Single Molecule Whole Genome Analysis (PR Newswire)

Advanta Proudly Announces the Birth of ideablob.com, Where Ideas Grow (PR Newswire)


InfoLogix Announces Approval for NASDAQ Listing (PR Newswire via CNNMoney)

eMoney Advisor is a Leading Financial Planning Software According to Independent Research Firm (PR Newswire)

Georgia Tech Pioneers Intelligent Decision Making in Simulated Environments with Ternion FLAMES(R) and PHX ModelCenter(R) (PR Newswire)
Discusses Philadelphia-base Phoenix Integration.

Business of health care school launched in Phila. (Philadelphia Business Journal)
University of the Sciences starts new school.


Healthcare Veteran Richard Findlay Joins Diamond Management & Technology Consultants as Partner (PR Newswire via CNNMoney)

Productivity Gains enabled by ICT and KM Support Systems (Barry Hardy: The Ferryman)
Discusses Knowledge Management conference at Bryn Mawr next month.

Two interesting tech events will be held in Philadelphia next week. InfoCommerce 2007 will be held at the Park Hyatt from September 24 through the 26th. The same group will also stage a conference called HealthContent 2007 on the 24th, also at the Park Hyatt. Not sure about seating available for the conference, although I believe there is also an exhibit hall.

The 6th RFID, Barcoding & Emerging Technologies for Hospitals and Health Systems (that's a mouthful) will be held at the Hub Cira Centre in Philadelphia from September 24-26. It's obviously a major topic of interest to many in the Philadelphia area.

A Shopping Network Wants to Own the 17th Letter of the Alphabet (New York Times)


Liberty Interactive sees boosting debt leverage (Reuters)


QVC, HSN combination hinges on valuation: Malone (Reuters)


Premarket Movers: Optium Soars (Associated Press via CNNMoney)
Up 28% in one day is very impressive.


Heartland Payment Shares Rise (Associated Press via Forbes)



U.S. satellite projects appear in jeopardy-WSJ (Reuters)



Five Questions For SAP's Leo Apotheker (Information Week)


SAP-rival Oracle's 1Q Profit Up 25 Percent (Associated Press via Philly.com)


Oracle gives business users a bigger say in SOA (SearchOracle.com)
Discusses Oracle's deal with IDS Scheer. Basically, IDS Scheer has the intellectual property that many vendors build their Business Process Management offerings around. With BPM being a very hot market right now, that puts IDS Scheer in a strong position.


Exec exits papers to become head of N.Y. Lottery (Philadelphia Daily News)
Gordon Medenica leaves Philadelphia Media Holdings.


Lobbying kicks off against patent bill
FOES SAY 'TROLL' MEASURE WOULD STIFLE INNOVATION (San Jose Mercury-News)
Discusses InterDigital's concerns.


Troops share tips on Web (Washington Times)
Gestalt LLC of King of Prussia puts up website.



New Appointments to Help Drive USA Technologies Expansion
Company Signs Industry Experts to Lead Sales, Services & Business Development (BusinessWire)


Accu-Sort(R) Bar Code Systems Help Snack Food Maker Keep Production Crisp (Marketwire)


StarCite CEO Speaks to Company’s Growth Strategy at Think Equity Growth Conference (BusinessWire)


MEN Micro Inc. Named Winner in the 2007 Intel(R) Communication Alliance Technology Showcase Contest (PR Newswire)


Web 2.Uh-Oh?(Business Week)

SAP Business ByDesign: More Analyses:



Forrester points out missing pieces in SAP's A1S hosted ERP
SAP's Business ByDesign on-demand suite lacks simplicity, ease of use, says Forrester analyst (InfoWorld)

SAP's On-Demand Strategy Draws Tepid Reviews (internetnews.com)


SAP Business ByDesign: Competitive Advantage and the Dynamics of Enterprise Software (ZDNet Blogs)


SAP Business ByDesign: An introduction (Podcast: SearchSAP.com)

Why I Left Comcast for Verizon (TVPredictions.com)


Comcast Must Die: Chapter 4
My Phones Don't Work, and Theirs Don't Either (Bob Garfield: Advertising Age)
Not a happy customer


Burke Sizes Up Telcos, Content Opportunities (Light Reading: Cable Digital News)
More on Comcast COO's presentation at Goldman conference.


What's Eating Citywide WiFi, Part 1 (TechNewsWorld)
Perhaps the best analysis I've seen on the Muni WiFi situation.


Small carriers urge U.S. not to lift Verizon rules (Reuters)


Optium Corporation Announces Fourth Quarter and Fiscal 2007 Results
Fourth Quarter Sequential Revenue Decline Expected to Rebound in First Quarter (PrimeNewswire via CNNMoney)


ICT GROUP Announces Co-Marketing Agreement with VoiceVerified
Voice Authentication Service to Provide Greater Accuracy and Customer Security (BusinessWire)
VoiceVerified is based in New Hope, ICT in Langhorne.


These Notebook PCs Aren't A Security Risk (Investor's Business Daily via CNNMoney)
On Neoware.


New Way to Count Listeners Shakes Up Radio
Arbitron's Electronic Meters Beat Diaries for Accuracy; Philly Stations Cut Ad Rates
(Wall Street Journal)

Mint.com wins Techcrunch40 Conference! (Josh Kopelman: Redeye VC)
Mint.com is one of First Round's portfolio companies (based in California)

Presentation on Using the Embedded JBoss Container
Gave a presentation tonight to the Philly JBoss Users Group about using Embedded JBoss. (Rob Di Marco: Innovation On The Run)

A hundred million miracles
(ZDNet Blogs)
Mentions significance of OpSource/Boomi partnership.


Danka Deploys Astea's Mobile Workforce Solution (TMCnet)


Newest 64-Bit Single Board Computer From MEN Micro Inc. Incorporates Latest Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo Processor Providing Exceptional Graphics Performance (PR Newswire)


Tyco Electronics sells $2.05 bln of debt - source (Reuters)


CDI Corp. sells staffing subsidiary to Spherion (Philadelphia Business Journal)

Halfway.com's final bid for fame (Baker City Herald)
An amusing reminder of Philadelphia's Internet past. I guess it worked out OK for Josh Kopelman, though.


Comcast says feeling telco, satellite competition (Reuters UK)
COO Stephen Burke speaks at Goldman Sachs investor conference.


TV for the people: Public-access cable finally coming to Phila. (Philadelphia Daily News)


Microsoft Ships PerformancePoint Server 2007
There’s a good chance PerformancePoint Server could take performance management mainstream (Enterprise Systems)


Business Objects Launches BI OnDemand
The new software-as-a-service offering provides subscribers with advanced BI features, such as formatted reporting, dashboards and ad-hoc query and analysis. (Intelligent Enterprise)


HSN on rebound, Diller assures
New "breakthrough" product lines are showing promise. (St Petersburg Times)
Barry Diller also suggests that Liberty Media's stake in his IAC/InterActiveCorp will increase at some point. Could this mean a closer strategic relationship between Liberty Media's QVC and HSN?

Heartland: Public Stock Offering Priced (Associated Press via Houston Chronicle)

mindSHIFT Technologies Merges with Invision
Invision Expands mindSHIFT's Managed Hosting and e-Business Applications Capabilities (PR Newswire)
mindShift acquired Philadelphia-based Network Alternatives, Inc. in June.


Aegis to Showcase Upcoming Version 7 Software Release at Productronica (Press Release via pcb007.com)


Drexel University Subscribes to AcademyOne Transfer Automation Services (PR Newswire)



Proscape Technologies Selected to Pilot AstraZeneca's Closed Loop Marketing Program (PharmaLive)

Mobile Monday Mid-Atlantic (MoMo-Ma) to Host Inaugural Event in Philadelphia on September 24th (LBSzone.com)


Joel Spolsky in Philadelphia (Ramble)
FogBugz World Tour

John Baer | Guv, the blonde & lobbying law (Philadelphia Daily News)

SAP Introduces Business ByDesign


SAP today unveiled its new mid-market, on-demand software suite at the Nokia Theater in New York. (I half-expected a full musical production, given the hype.) The offering was christened Business ByDesign, perhaps a less regimented name than the more strict sounding R/3. It is targeted toward a more narrow segment than some expected, aimed at firms with 100 to 500 users. Some 95% of the code is said to be completely new. The rollout will be gradual at first, starting in the US and Germany.

Here is SAP's press release, and a replay of the webcast should be found here.
I'm sure there will be more meaningful analysis in the coming days and weeks, but here are some early reviews:


SAP Launches 'New Era' With On-Demand Software
SAP Business ByDesign automates a wide range of business processes and will cost companies $149 per user per month. (Information Week)

SAP's Down-Market Gamble
The German giant's new, Web-based software targets smaller outfits than its usual corporate clients. But is it too tricky for small business? (Business Week)


SAP A1S Morphs into Business ByDesign
Business ByDesign is the new on-demand application suite from SAP, geared towards mid-market companies (eWeek)

German software giant hopes offering resource management online delivers new customers (Associated Press via San Jose Mercury-News)

Comcast confirms: We ban downloaders after 90 GB (Computerworld)


Roberts Likes Comcast's Chances (Multichannel News via Broadcast Newsroom)


Computer Memory Designed In Nanoscale Can Retrieve Data 1,000 Times Faster (ScienceDaily)
A long way from commercialization, but they are doing something exciting things at Penn in this area.


SAP to Unveil Web Software (Reuters via Red Herring)


Salesforce Unveils New Name with Force (eWeek)


Boomi On Demand Rolls Out on Salesforce.com's AppExchange (ebizQ)


Styky Launches Mobile Social Networking App at TechCrunch (MMDNewswire.com)
Styky is from Philadelphia-based Fone2Fone Inc.


MySpace Gets Facebook Travel App (WebProNews)
About "Where I've Been", created by Philadelphian Craig Ulliot.

Facebook Funders Launch Facebook Fund for App Developers (GigaOM)
First Round Capital's Josh Kopelman will be on advisory panel.


Siemens plans to focus on organic growth - CFO (Thomson Financial via CNNMoney)
Specifically refers to Siemens Medical.



T-Mobile buys local SunCom Wireless (Philadelphia Inquirer)


Intertek Group acquires two companies for 13 mln stg in US, Australia (Thomson Financial via Hemscott.com)
UK firm buys Philadelphia-based National Software Testing Labs(NSTL), which specializes in testing mobile applications, for $12 million.


Beyond.com, Inc. Unveils an On-Demand, Comprehensive Career Portal Solution for Online Businesses (BusinessWire)

Modevity Launches Imperium(TM) New Digital Media (DRM) Digital Rights Management Technology with Integrated Content Management an Industry First (PR Newswire)

Board takes a close look at cell towers (phillyBurbs.com)
I wonder if any of these people are willing to give up their cells, or use them less.

Vanguard Ranks Third in Information Week 500

The Information Week 500 for 2007 is out. This list focuses not on IT vendors(though some are on it), but on how well companies utilize IT to function internally and serve customers. Vanguard ranked third (see article on Vanguard here). Also, there is a profile of Vanguard's CIO, Paul Heller. Wyeth was mentioned as one of seven companies that have ranked consistently high over the last five years. There are several more Philly area companies ranked in the top 250; I plan to have a breakout of them within the next two days.