Daily Links 6/17/2011: More cuts coming at Digitas Health?

Digitas Health: Cuts Coming (MediaBistro: AgencySpy)

Genetic technology company moves to San Diego (San Diego Union-Tribune)
A bit more detail on why BioNanomatrix is moving its headquarters out of Philadelphia (because of a stronger genetic technology ecosystem in San Diego, the company says), and what will remain behind in Philadelphia.

SAP’s Conflicted Relationship with Customer Choice (ASUG News)

SAP's strategy shaped by 3 megatrends
Mobile, big data, cloud drive opportunities for SAP (Washington Technology)

Under Pressure, Salesforce Steps Up Acquisitions (Dow Jones VentureWire)
Quotes local startup Visibiz's Chief Executive Ami Assayag.

Falcone’s LightSquared in Deal With Sprint (Bloomberg)

Blackboard Shareholders Seen Losing 50% Gain With Private Equity: Real M&A (Bloomberg)

Angelo Gordon Makes A Take-Private Play For Battery Maker [Blue Bell's C&D Technologies] (Dow Jones LBO Wire)



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What will ING Direct USA's acquisition by Capital One mean for its future?

               ING Direct Cafe in Philadelphia (Source: ING Direct)



Capital One to buy ING's U.S. online bank (Reuters)
ING Press Release

Will this acquisition be a net plus or minus for Wilmington over time? ING Direct has been a very innovative, well run, and consumer friendly business. Will Capital One screw it up?


Capital One to buy ING Direct for $9 billion
(Wilmington News Journal)

Capital One plans $90M cost cuts at ING Direct: Update (Philly.com: Philly Deals)

Capital One Buys ING Direct, and Customers Start to Freak Out (Time: Moneyland)



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CableShow Wrap

CABLESHOW-Shadow of Silicon Valley looms over cable crowd (Reuters)

Comcast's New Products Aim To Bring Digital Media To Cable TV (Dow Jones Newswires via NASDAQ.com)

First look at Comcast’s enhanced TV service with Facebook integration (VentureBeat)

Cable Executives Confident Despite Signs Of Economic Glitch (Dow Jones Newswires via NASDAQ.com)

Wires staying primary for media delivery: Motorola (MarketWatch)

Time Warner Cable Considers Usage-Based Internet Billing
(Bloomberg)

News from The Cable Show: 6/16/2011

Comcast Shows Off 1 Gbps Broadband (Gigaom)

Comcast Uses Cisco Gear In 1-Gig DOCSIS Demo
Vendor's 3G60 CMTS Card, Modems Used on Operator's Chicago Network (Multichannel News)

Did the cloud just kill the set-top box? (Gigaom: NewTeeVee)

Interview with Comcast's Brian Roberts
(Bloomberg Video)

ICUETV SCORES TCOMMERCE DEALS WITH MAJOR MSOS (InteractiveTV Today)

Cable Show 2011: Ethnic TV Tables Turning To Cable
Bandwidth Improvements, Online Platforms Tilting Field To Cable: Execs (Multichannel News)

Cox: We're Not Selling Our Spectrum (Light Reading Cable)

Motorola Mobility looks to tablets, smartphones as set-tops fade (Crain's Chicago Business)

Daily Links 6/16/2011: Philly Fed Index drops; Capital One reported winner of Wilmington's ING Direct

Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2011 Greater Philadelphia Award Winners Announced (Business Wire)

June Philly Fed index drops into negative level (MarketWatch)
Not a good sign.

Philly Fed factory activity lowest level in 2 years (Reuters)
Philly Fed Press Release

Churchill Club podcast: Venture capital roundtable 2011 (ZDNet Blogs)
First Round Capital's Josh Kopelman was on the panel. Very interesting listen.

Capital One Near Takeover of ING Direct USA (Bloomberg)
Update: deal reported to be reached.

Providence Equity Partners Is Said to Be Leading Bidder to Buy Blackboard (Bloomberg)
Some analysts had suggested that SunGard, through its SunGard Higher Ed unit, might have been a possible bidder. (Although its worth pointing out that Providence Equity was a major investor in SunGard's LBO.)


WPCS agrees to be bought by DirecTV installer Multiband (Philadelphia Business Journal)

Alan Haberman, Who Ushered In the Bar Code, Dies at 81 (New York Times)
Implemented technology that had been pioneered earlier at Drexel.


WCI Consulting Expands to Philadelphia
Business Intelligence Provider Establishes East Coast Presence (Business Wire)



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Philly loses BioNanomatrix headquarters to San Diego

BioNanomatrix today announced it had opened its new headquarters offices in San Diego, although it will maintain its Philadelphia offices. The company, which is developing a nanotechnology-based single-molecule imaging platform for low-cost whole genome analysis, had announced plans to add a West Coast presence when it closed a $23.3-million Series B round (pdf) of equity financing earlier this year. It had not been clear at that time, however, that BioNanomatrix would be relocating its headquarters.



CEO Dr. R. Erik Holmlin said in a statement "that while a number of key employees are moving from Philadelphia to San Diego, the company’s East Coast office will remain 'an important site for ongoing research and development' of its systems in the field and support for users". BioNanomatrix also named two new key executives today.


BioNanomatrix was spun out of a research project at Princeton by its founder, Chief Scientific Officer Han Cao, in 2003. It is not clear whether Dr. Cao is relocating to San Diego. The company's headquarters have been located at Philadelphia's University Science Center. Ironically, its new headquarters will be at San Diego's University Science Center.

News from The Cable Show: 6/15/2011

Okay, Okay, Maybe Netflix Is a Problem for Cable After All (All Things Digital)

@ Cable Show: Netflix And Hulu On Cable Set Tops? (paidContent)

@ Cable Show: Comcast’s Roberts Shows Off 1Gbps Potential (paidContent)

Comcast likely to show off gigabit cable broadband (Gigaom)

What You Need to Know About Comcast Xcalibur (Zatz Not Funny)

NBC Chairman Robert Greenblatt Shares His Plan to Rebuild the Network (Exclusive Q&A) (Hollywood Reporter)

How thePlatform Fits in Xfinity (Interview: Light Reading Cable)

Comcast To Stage Network DVR Trial
MSO Plans Small Trial of Technology Later This Year (Multichannel News)

Motorola Hooks Up With Honeywell For Home Security
Joint Solution to Combine 4Home Systems With Honeywell Alarm Panel Hardware (Multichannel News)


The Cable Show 2011: Genachowski: Broadband Adoption 'Just Not Good Enough'
Praises cable for deployment and adoption efforts to date, but wants more (Broadcasting & Cable)



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Chris Saridakis to Head GSI Commerce Once eBay Acquisition Closes (All Things Digital)

Is ING Direct Ready to Name a Buyer?
ING Groep's board of directors reportedly ready to meet to discuss the sale of its U.S. online bank division. (Bank Systems & Technology)
Capital One, said to be a leading bidder for ING Direct, has also bid for HSBC's US credit card business, the Wall Street Journal reports (subscription required).

Context Capital Ups Bet On Betzwood (FINalternatives)
I wrote about Bala Cynwyd-based Context's initial investment in Betzwood last year.

H-P sues Oracle over Itanium 'strong arm' tactics (MarketWatch)

FieldView raises US$2m to boost market share (DatacenterDynamics)
Philly's Osage Ventures joins round in Edison, NJ startup.

Cherry Hill's icueTV teams up with Groupon at The Cable Show

icueTV, the Cherry Hill-based provider of an interactive apps platform for cable tv, will team up with Groupon today to demo an interactive app which TV viewers can use for Groupon, the Chicago Tribune reports.


The application will enable viewers to subscribe to Groupon using their remote controls. The Tribune story says the demo will not show a user being able to sign up directly through the TV for an actual voucher, "but icueTV technology does encompass this kind of functionality". No word yet on whether this is only a demo, or if Groupon and icueTV have specific plans to roll this out.


icueTV made a lot of noise at the Cable Show two years ago, as I reported then, but has been almost invisible (publicly, at least) since then. A variety of factors, some technical and some marketing related, have slowed the adoption of interactive apps.

Channel Intelligence Announces Acquisition of ClickEquations
(Business Wire)
CI is backed by Internet Capital Group. Conshohocken-based ClickEquations has been a First Round Capital portfolio company, and also has had backing from ICG. ClickEquations has been working with Channel Intelligence for some time, judging from this 2008 press release (ClickEquations was then known as Commerce360).
Update: A little more on the deal from the ClickEquations blog. ClickEquations President Craig Danuloff will continue as Chief Product Officer at Channel Intelligence.

SAP Rolling out New Analytics for SMBs (PC World)

BioLeap Moves Headquarters and Expands Staff to Meet Demand for Its Novel Molecular-Design Services
New Jersey Company’s Proprietary Technology Serves Research For Drug Discovery, Consumer Products, and Agrochemicals (Business Wire)

Lockheed Martin Space Systems to Eliminate Approximately 1,200 Positions (PR Newswire)
Includes cuts in Delaware Valley.

Ericsson to Buy Telcordia for $1.2 Billion (Bloomberg)
Telcordia is based in Piscataway.

News from The Cable Show: 6/14/2011

Comcast to Offer Customers Skype Video Calls on Their TVs (NY Times)

COMCAST TEAMS WITH SKYPE TO OFFER VIDEO CALLS ON TV (InteractiveTV Today)
Interview with Comcast's Neil Smit and demo.

Comcast Taps Facebook for Enhanced TV Experience (Hollywood Reporter)

Comcast Confirms Xcalibur Partners (Light Reading Cable)

CableLabs Melds Comcast's CMAP And TWC's CESAR
R&D Consortium Releases Technical Report Defining 'Converged Cable Access Platform' (Multichannel News)

Arris' cable technology teases us with 4.5Gbps download speeds (Engadget)

Motorola Mobility and Time Warner Cable Collaborate To Deliver an Advanced Video Gateway Platform
DCX3600M provides entertainment hub for the evolution of TV and video content sharing in the home (Motorola Press Release)

Comcast Spotlight Licenses Ensequence iTV Manager® Platform for Local Interactive Advertising (Marketwire)


Cable Show 2011: Cutthroat Chicago A Cable Kind Of Town (Multichannel News)

Media chiefs confront challenges facing cable TV industry (LA Times: Company Town)


@ Cable Show: Britt: ‘No Such Thing As A TV Anymore’ (paidContent)



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