Highlights last week on Philly Tech News (11/19/2012 to 11/25/2012)





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Posts from Philly Tech News:

Eddystone-based InsPro Technologies is the latest high growth insurance software company in the Philly area, having just been named to the Deloitte Fast 500 as #140. I spoke with CEO Robert Oakes.

The Neat Company opened an additional office location in Center City that could eventually house 140 more employees. I spoke with CMO Kevin Garton about Neat's commitment to Philadelphia, among other things.

Retirement plan administration managers Ascensus (Dresher) and ExpertPlan (East Windsor) agreed to merge. The larger partner, Ascensus, cited the value of ExpertPlan's web-enabled technology platform.

I looked at the changing relative fortunes of SAP and HP over the past two years.

Ben Franklin Technology Partners announced it was investing $1.5 million in eight early stage companies.

In news from other sources, HP took a $5 billion writedown from its $11 billion acquisition of Autonomy two years ago, claiming accounting malfeasance. Former Automomy CEO & founder Mike Lynch strongly disputed HP's allegations. Black Friday sales surpassed $1 billion online for the first time, according to comScore data. Comcast's NBC won the November ratings sweeps for the first time in nine years.




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Daily Links 11/28/2012: Workday signs on DuPont; Roberts in group meeting with President





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Jeff Zucker Nearing Deal to Run CNN (Report) (Hollywood Reporter)

Comcast's Roberts Among Execs Talking Budget With President (Broadcasting & Cable)

Va Beach/Kings/Arena Details worked out (WAVY)
Comcast-Spectacor would co-manage arena. More funding from state sought.

Humax's take on an IP-connected TV box for Comcast passes through the FCC
(Engadget)

Workday Sales Beat Estimates on Corporate Cloud-Computing Demand (Bloomberg)

Workday’s First Earnings Report Beats the Street (All Things D)

SAP Predictive Analytics goes GA, with a visual twist (SAP Watch)


Google buys Cambridge online marketing firm (Boston Globe)
This one's for real.

New SevOne appliance ratchets up the density
(Computerworld)

Tierney vs. Tierney: What's in a name? (Philadelphia Daily News)

Red Tettemer’s Annual Facebook Swag-athon Commences (MediaBistro: Agency Spy)

Amazon Supply: Changing the Face of MRO? (Spend Matters)

U.S. Federal Reserve Beige Book: Philadelphia District (Text) (via Bloomberg)
"The overall outlook appears less optimistic relative to the views expressed in the last Beige Book."




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Philly Tech TidBits 11/27/2012: Lehigh Valley Tech gets new look; Coworking grows in burbs & more



Tom Paine


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Lehigh Valley Tech, the hyperactive organization behind Lehigh Valley Tech Meetup, the recent Lehigh Valley Startup Weekend and other events and activities in that area, has received a rebranding and new look courtesey of Philadelphia branding agency At Media. The agency launched its "Brand Refresher" contest in June, and Lehigh Valley Tech was the winner out of over 100 applicants. At Media provided a new logo and business card design, as well as an ample supply of business cards.

Lehigh Valley Tech's original homemade logo emphasized the transition from the area's steel industry legacy. The new logo retained some of the old color scheme including Bethlehem Steel's trademark International Orange shade, but aims to present a more modernistic and forward looking appearance.

Lehigh Valley Tech's old (left) and new (right) logos

Lehigh University launched a new professional master's program in technical entrepreneurship this spring. The one year program, which utlizes many assets within the University's ecosystem, is designed to be more relevant to students with an entrepreurial bent who otherwise might leave school altogether to go it alone. The inaugural class has 15 students, and Lehigh's goal is to grow enrollment to 30. Also, Lehigh's Baker Institute for Entrepreneurship, Creativity and Innovation has opened a new Creativity and Innovation Lab, including 3-D printers, power tools, routers, modeling clay and plastic parts. Presumably Lehigh has these types of tools within its Engineering school but the new resources and lab space are dedicated to the Baker Institute. Since the launch of the Baker Institute in 2010, enrollment in entrepreneurship courses at the University has grown from 193 to 524 students.

Reworkwc Interior

Coworking is expanding in the burbs. Reworkwc, founded by Tom Hudzina, opened a few months ago in downtown West Chester. Also in downtown West Chester is Central Casting, a private (not open to the public) shared coworking setup between what member John Young describes as "four programmers and a seamstress sharing a lease". Young also said they learned alot from Philly's Indy Hall. "We think Indy Hall is great -- one of the best coworking space(s) in the country. Alex Hillman has his head in the right place, and he knows perfectly well that the hard part, and the important part, is community," Young wrote in an email to me.

Skylight Coworking opened early this month in the center of Phoenixville, which is just west of King of Prussia. Individually owned and operated by founder Shannon Coghlan, Skylight features 2,000 square feet, a conference room and kitchen. Skylight is also building an events schedule, including its "Geeks with Talent" show on January 24.



I've provided a helpful map for those who get lost beyond City Line Avenue.




View REWORKWC in a larger map





NextFab Studio, Philly's high tech prototyping workshop, is in the process of relocating from its original 3711 Market Street location to a larger facility at 2025 Washington Avenue. The old location closed to the public on November 15, and the new place is scheduled to open to the public on December 29, with a grand opening party on January 17. The Washington Avenue space will be five times larger than its space at 3711 Market.





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Daily Links 11/27/2012: Time for Oracle to buy HP?; Comcast's Syfy bets big on 'Defiance'





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Time for Oracle to buy HP? (Uneasy Empires)

Autonomy founder's open letter to HP demands a lot of answers (ZDNet)

OS/2 a quarter century on: Why IBM lost out and how Microsoft won (The Register)

Salesforce.com Revenues Surge, But Should You Ignore Losses? (Information Week)

Amazon’s dead serious about the enterprise cloud (Gigaom)

With 'Defiance,' Comcast's Syfy Bets $100M On Convergence Of TV And Videogames (Forbes)

Cyber Monday was biggest online sales day ever, with 30 percent growth (San Jose Mercury News)

Bentley’s Pivot from a Product to a “Hybrid” Services Company (Directions Magazine: All Points Blog)




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Daily Links 11/26/2012: First Round Capital launches new holiday e-commerce website for portfolio companies





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First Round Capital Rounds Up E-Commerce Deals From Its Portfolio Companies On New Website (TechCrunch)

NBCUniversal and DirecTV near new distribution deal
(LA Times: Company Town)

NBC, Verizon Strike TV Everywhere Deal
Deal covers TV stations, cable nets and the Internet
(Broadcasting & Cable)

Why the Cost of Sales Gap is Shrinking between SaaS and Legacy Software Vendors (Sandhill.com)

Michael Hinkelman: Green and powerful (Philadelphia Daily News)
Viridity Energy's Audrey Zibelman.

SAP Moves Upstream (IDC Insights: Intelligent Oil & Gas)

NextGen Healthcare and Microsoft Corp. Join to Deliver Consumer-Based Healthcare Information Technology Solution
New Mobile Application Designed for Windows 8 Platform
(Business Wire)


Will Surescripts Become De facto NwHIN? (Chilmark Research)
NextGen Healthcare partners with Surescripts for its open HIE solution.

Bright House Buys Telovations (Multichannel News)

Sprint launches 11 new LTE markets; maintains small-city focus
(Gigaom)
Philly said to be on the list to launch in a few months.

IBM and Google to Discuss the Future of the Cloud at Wharton BizTech Technology Conference (PR Web)



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Black Friday sales online top $1 billion for 1st time: comScore (Reuters via CNBC)

Investors pick Horsham as medical tech HQ (Philly.com: Philly Deals)

Vanguard Proves It Pays to Advertise
Investment Management Firm Insists Every Penny Deliver on Marketing
(Ad Age)


Philly Tech People News 11/25/2012





Publicis Healthcare appoints Shannon Boyle as SVP, human resources
Boyle takes responsibility for managing human resources for Digitas Health, Publicis Life Brands Medicus and Medicus International
(PMLiVE)

Solve Media Creates First Security Advisory Council for Online Advertising (Marketwire)

David Zinczenko Departs Rodale (MediaBistro; Fishbowl NY)

TMG Health Names Director of Medicaid Services
(PR Newswire)

Wrapp Names Aaron Forth Global Chief Operating Officer (Marketwire)



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A brief tale of relative value: SAP vs HP


Tom Paine


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On November 1, 2010, Léo Apotheker, who had been deposed as CEO of SAP earlier in the year on Superbowl Sunday, became CEO of HP. At the time HP's market value was in the $100 billion range, while SAP's was around $60 billion. Some gave thought to the idea that HP should try to acquire SAP (or achieve a merger of virtual equals between the two). Apotheker did move on one large acquisition, as HP announced in August 2011 it would acquire Autonomy for a price that would end up being $11.1 billion. Although Apotheker would be removed as CEO a month later, under successor Meg Whitman (who was on HP's board when the deal was first approved) the Autonomy acquisition was completed.

What a difference two years make. Today HP's market value after the apparent Autonomy debacle is $24.4 billion, although its bounced back some since the Autonomy news broke, and SAP's is $91.9 billion. And I doubt anyone in Walldorf is thinking about snapping up HP, although there might be some small pieces they might look at in a possible breakup scenario.






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Highlights last week on Philly Tech News (11/12/2012 to 11/18/2012)





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Hamilton, NJ-based billing system vendor Billtrust received a $25 million investment
from Bain Capital Ventures
.

Avantor, the Center Valley, PA specialty chemical manufacturer run by former Rohm & Haas CEO Raj Gupta and owned by New Mountain Capital, filed suit in the US District Court for the District of New Jersey against IBM, claiming it botched a SAP ERP implementation at Avantor and used what it asserts was inappropriate off-the shelf IBM software. Avantor claims "tens of millions" of damages resulted. SAP was not named in the suit.

American City Buiness Journals, publisher of the Philadelphia Business Journal and similar titles in other cities, announced it had acquired Streetwise Media, which publishes online websites covering tech and other local news in Boston and DC. Radnor-based TL Ventures was an investor in Streetwise.

In news from other sources, reports persist that Arris is a possible buyer of Horsham-based Motorola Home, and one unverified analyst report suggested that Arris technology would be used in a new Apple TV product, and that Comcast might be testing the potential impact of an Apple TV offering on its internet network. The Inquirer's Bob Fernandez noted how rising sports broadcasting rights fees are increasingly driving the price of cable TV subscriptions. And Comcast's NBCU was reported to be cutting about 450 jobs across its different units.

Michael Dell discussed the important role Dell Boomi plays in Dell's emerging software strategy. SAP is adding features to its HANA in-memory platform that will bring it closer to its goal of hosting ERP applications on HANA.






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