Philly-based hosted VoIP & Unified Communications provider Alteva acquired

Alteva, a Philadelphia-based hosted VoIP and unified communications provider, has been acquired by the Warwick Valley Telephone Company of Warwick, New York, it was announced today. The total value of the acquisition is $17 million in cash and stock ($11 million in cash, $4 million in stock and $2 million in potential earnouts).

Warwick Valley intends to combine Alteva's operations with its USA Datanet CLEC (Competitive Local Exchange Carrier) business as it seeks more growth than its traditional local telephone business offers. Warwick is in Orange County, in the far northern exurbs of New York. Warwick Valley will hold a conference call tomorrow to explain the deal.

Alteva was founded in 2003 by Bill Bumbernick and is headquartered in the Bourse building along Independence Mall. No word yet on what this deal will mean for its Philadephia presence.

You can see my previous pieces on Alteva here
and here.



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Robert Sandie on being pushed out at Viddler

Viddler co-founder Robert Sandie posted a rather blunt (though restrained) note on his personal blog yesterday about him being forced out as the company's CEO/President. He will continue to serve on the board and still has a significant stake in the company, but will no longer have an operational role. No word yet on his replacement. He says he will probably leave Bethlehem and move elsewhere, mentioning Philly as one possibility.

Sandie says the online video service is "profitable, 25+ employees and growing". Interestingly, he also says that "after the fate of Viddler is decided, I will probably be more public on lessons learned/etc". Does that mean the company is actively considering a sale?

Ben Franklin Technology Partners NE and First Round Capital are the only institutional investors I am aware of. (Update: ITJ Ventures was apparently another investor. I was wrong about First Round having ever been involved.)



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Daily Links 7/14/2011: Cuts at Digitas Health; Journal Register sold to hedge fund

Software AG Drops as Sales Miss Estimates (Bloomberg)
Cites fall in demand for SAP-related products. Softwsre AG also has an area presence through its acquisition of IDS Scheer a couple of years ago.

Software AG's weak Q2 rattles investors, shares plummet (Reuters)

Axe falls at Digitas Health (Medical Marketing & Media)

‘Digital First’ (Yardly-based) Journal Register Sold To Hedge Fund (paidContent)

Can Discounted Tablets Lure New Newspaper Subscribers? (Knowledge@Wharton)

Philadelphia 76ers Owner Reaches Agreement to Sell Team to Apollo’s Harris (Bloomberg)

Comcast Bans Seattle Man From Internet for His Cloudy Ways (Wired: Epicenter)

Safeguard Scientifics Celebrates 40 Years of Trading on the NYSE
Milestone to be Commemorated Today with Ringing of the Closing Bell (Business Wire)

Jaspersoft Closes New Financing (PR Newswire)
Open Source BI vendor raises $11 from backers including return investor SAP Ventures.


Obama’s health IT coordinator: Know the regulations (Philadelphia Business Journal)



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Daily Links 7/12/2011: Workday enters market for Higher Ed administrative systems

Octagon Research Solutions, Inc. Advances Regulatory Cloud Strategy, Expands Internationally (Business Wire)

Cigna adding Conn. jobs, stirring concerns about Phila. staffing
(Philadelphia Inquirer)
Update: Cigna announces its moving corporate headquarters from Philadelphia to Connecticut


Verklin Out At Canoe, Timko Named Interim CEO
MSO-Owned Advertising Venture Has Yet to Show Traction (Multichannel News)

Philadelphia newspapers unveil plans to deliver subsidized Android tablets to subscribers (Liliputing)
Includes video of yesterday's press conference.

Workday Delivers First Unified Higher Education Administrative Solution in the Cloud (Workday Press Release)
Sounds as if Workday is going right after SunGard Higher Ed and Oracle Peoplesoft.

SunGard Higher Education Launches Integration Certification Program for Collaborative Member Solutions (SunGard Press Release)

MyYearbook chases engagement, games and mobile for social networking success (Gigaom)
Story totally misses the fact that myYearbook is geared towards teens.

Turntable.fm Has Lots Of Buzz, But Will The Labels Crush It? (paidContent)

Google Hand Holding Brings Pharma to YouTube (ClickZ)

Janney Montgomery Scott settles SEC charges (AP via Business Week)

Dealtalk: Barnes & Noble won't get better bid than Malone's (Reuters)



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Daily Links 7/11/2011: Philadelphia Media Network to offer Android tablets, launches new media venture incubator

Philly Papers to Sell Android Tablets (Ad Week)

Philadelphia Daily News to become ‘loud, irreverent, fun tabloid’ (Poynter)
Philadelphia Media Network also announces launch of "Project Liberty", incubator for new media ventures in cooperation with Ben Franklin Technology Partners, Drexel, the Knight Foundation, and DreamIt Ventures.

VCA Antech, Inc. to Acquire MediMedia Animal Health, LLC Unit of MediMedia USA Inc. (Business Wire)
Yardley-based animal health marketing data & communications firm Vetstreet sells for $146 million.

Halma Buys Avo Photonics For Initial Cash Consideration of $9 Million (Dow Jones via Fox Business)
Also potential for additional $11 million payout.


Cisco Set-Top Plant Is for Sale (Light Reading Cable)
Is Cisco considering exiting the business entirely?

After early zeal, TV networks pull back Web series (AP via Boston Globe)

NHL Hands Extensive Ad Sales Responsibilities Over To NBCU (paidContent)

Guess what? Netflix won’t buy Hulu
(Gigaom: NewTeeVee)

TripAdvisor Buys Once-Popular Facebook App Where I’ve Been (All Things Digital)
Where I've Been was actually started by Craig Ulliott when he was in Philadelphia before he got funded and moved to Chicago.

ShopRunner takes to the streets
The shipping service soon will launch a mobile app aimed at shoppers in stores. (Internet Retailer)
ShopRunner is one of the ventures spun out from GSI Commerce prior to its acquisition by EBay and is part of Michael Rubin's new ecommerce holdings.

SAP creates 100 jobs in Ireland to expand technical and R&D functions (Computer Weekly)



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FCC Bureau: Judge Should Mandate Tennis Carriage
Enforcement Bureau Says Net Made Case For MSO Discrimination Based On Affiliation; Recommends $375,000 Fine Against Comcast (Multichannel News)

Comcast hopes to make a splash with Skype (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Jets GM, SAP co-CEO share game plans for winning (AP)

Philly Tech People News 7/10/2011

iMANY Names Chief Marketing Officer
Susan McKenna Appointed to Lead Global Marketing Organization (Marketwire)

MTI Names Michael Kelly SVP, Business Development (Business Wire)

NBC Universal Names Suzanne Kolb President of E! Entertainment (Ad Age)

SeaChange CMO McGrath To Lead ThePlatform's European Campaign
Exec Named GM of Europe for Comcast's Video-Publishing Subsidiary (Multichannel News)

Neiman Group adds Mike Raetsch as VP Director of Client Services (Philly Ad Club News)

Brownstein Group adds seven new people as client roster grows (Philly Ad Club News)

Lannett Announces Appointment of Vice President - Logistics and CIO (Business Wire)

Auditors: Army's Huge SAP Project 'at High Risk' (PC World)

Comcast Likely to Deploy New ZigBee Living-Room Networking (PC Magazine)

Cable association to FCC: AllVid is DOA
(Gigiom: NewTeeVee)

SEC filing cracks the egg on Chegg’s Notehall purchase (VentureBeat)
Notehall was a DreamIt Ventures portfolio company.

Daily Links 7/8/2011: SAP Human Resources chief Angelika Dammann resigns

Why Verizon should buy Hulu (Gigaom)

Netflix: Is it broadband’s cash cow or data hog?
(Gigaom)

Comcast XFINITY TV Gets Honeycomb Support, Your Tablet is Your New Remote (Phandroid)

FCC commissioner blasts his agency for over-regulation (The Hill)


FCC Submits Net Neutrality Regulations (National Journal)

ANGELIKA DAMMANN RESIGNS FROM SAP EXECUTIVE BOARD (SAP Press Release)
She wasn't there for very long, but says leaving for personal reasons (though there is perhaps a little more to the story )

Why Workday is a Major Threat to SAP (Jarret Pazahanick)

SAP core applications certified on Oracle Exadata (ZDNet Blogs)

Beyond SaaS; Cloud Computing Update and Investment Opportunities
(Enterprise Irregulars)

Although Many Investors Are Spinning, Turntable.fm Has Not Yet Picked A DJ (TechCrunch)
Contrary to yesterday's Business Insider report (though it may be just a matter of timing).


Curt Schlling Is Back Pitching His Start-Up (Wall Street Journal: Venture Capital Dispatch)



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Medical Marketing & Media looks at the top agencies

The July "Agency Issue" of Medical Marketing & Media Magazine is out, profiling what it has identified as the 75 largest agencies in the healthcare advertising business. As always, many of them are based in or around the Philadelphia area, including:

Cadient Group (Conshohocken)

CDM Princeton (Princeton)

Digitas Health (Philadelphia)

Dudnyk (Horsham)

Razorfish Health (Philadelphia)

RosettaWishbone (Hamilton, NJ)

Roska Healthcare Advertising (Montgomeryville)

Saatchi & Saatchi Healthcare Innovations (Yardley)

Vox Medica (Philadelphia)


Others with an established presence in the Philadelphia area include Blue Diesel, evoke interaction , imc2 Health & Wellness, and Publicis Healthware International. San Francisco-based Eveo says it is hoping to add a Philadelphia office.

Most of the Philly area agencies claimed low double digit revenue growth last year-a few considerably higher. Digitas Health reported revenue growth in the mid-teens, as revenue exceeded $100 million. Recently Publicis announced a reorg that might be a step towards integrating Digitas Health and sister agency Razorfish Health to some degree. Publicis also consolidated its Publicis Healthcare Communications Group shops, including Saatchi & Saatchi Healthcare Innovations (which used to be based in Newtown), into new offices in Yardley.

Of course, Publicis's other big move this year was its $575 million acquisiton of Hamilton, NJ-based Rosetta Marketing, which has a substantial healthcare business beefed up by its acquisition of New York-based Wishbone at the end of 2009. Last year, its healthcare unit, now rebranded as RosettaWishbone, generated $68 million in revenue.

Conshohocken-based Cadient Group said it experienced double-digit growth in the second half of 2010 after some of its clients' brands failed to launch in the first half due to non-approval. Cadient reintegrated strategy, digital and tech solutions, which had been separated into different units in 2009.
Cleveland-based Blue Diesel, with offices in Newtown, and Dudnyk also reported strong growth. Roska Healthcare Advertising, which reported 2010 growth of 30%, says the business is changing and it is increasingly emphasizing a multichannel approach to meet client needs.



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Daily Links 7/7/2011: Lengthy contract extensions for SAP co-CEOs

Lubert-backed SmarterAgent lures NY, Seattle techs (Philly.com: Philly Deals)

SAP: No Change at the Top as Board Extends CEO Contracts (PC World)

Rimini Street second quarter bookings, revenue jump (ZDNet Blogs)

Can Comcast Stop Losing Video Subscribers? (Light Reading Cable)

OH My! Omnicom, Horizon Team Up To Pitch Comcast (MediaPost: Media Daily News)

Comcast to hike rates 3.3% for cable TV customers (Lancaster Intelligencer Journal)
Not clear from this article which parts of Pennsylvania this applies to right now, but they'll probably get everyone eventually.


Major ISPs agree to "six strikes" copyright enforcement plan (Ars Technica)

Liberty Media’s Malone Says Buyouts of Live Nation, HSN May Make Sense (Bloomberg)

Third Circuit Remands Newspaper-Broadcast Rule Change Back To FCC
Upholds Decision Not To Loosen Other Regs (Multichannel News)

Back to the future for Safeguard (Philadelphia Business Journal)

APAC Customer Services to be Acquired by One Equity Partners
(Business Wire)
JPMorgan investment arm will merge APAC with Horsham-based NCO Group.

Turntable.fm and the Siren Song of the Start-up Pivot (Betabeat)
First Round Capital portfolio company reportedly raising funds at $40 million valuation.
Update: Turntable.fm  funded  at $37.5 million valuation

Commonwealth Court rules in Department of Public Welfare's favor over its bid award to Deloitte Consulting LLP (Harrisburg Patriot-News)

With new web addresses, Internet continues to grow (Philadelphia Inquirer)



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