4/11: Pennsylvania Issues Revised Ruling on Sales Tax Treatment of Software-Related Services; Altice USA Files IPO Documents



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Risks of New Technology Highlighted by Medication Errors in Pennsylvania Hospitals (Government Technology)

Pennsylvania Issues Revised Ruling on Sales Tax Treatment of Software-Related Services, Creating a Refund Opportunity for Some Taxpayers (Reed Smith LLP)

Altice USA Files IPO Documents
(Multichannel News)

Altice Files IPO Plans That Could Raise $1 Billion, Value At $20 Billion (IBD)


Comcast Cable's technology exec Kotay quits for personal reasons (Philly.com)


Deloitte upgrades to S/4HANA to align global financial processes (Computerworld)

LinkedIn steps closer to CRM as it gives Sales Navigator an enterprise boost (TechCrunch)


From The Information :

"The list of companies considered potential IPO candidates that don’t have CFO hires is long, and includes Tanium, Qualtrics, Cloudflare, Anaplan, Stitch Fix, Illumio, Gusto, Freshdesk and Jam City. Some of the largest private companies like Uber and Slack also have notably still not hired CFOs."

Of course, Anaplan went about a year without a CEO, before bringing on Frank Calderoni as CEO at the beginning of this year. Calderoni was once CFO of Cisco Systems, so perhaps the temporary lack of a CFO doesn't pain him. But Anaplan is expected to IPO soon, perhaps this year, so arrival of a new CFO should be forthcoming.

Calderoni's brother, Bob Calderoni, is chairman of the board at Anaplan, and was CEO of Ariba when it sold to SAP in 2012.

Philly guy and ex-iPipeline President ( also ex-Ariba and SAP) Paul Melchiorre was named Chief Revenue Officer of San Francisco-based Anaplan more than a year ago.

Actually founded in the UK, Anaplan is among a group of new wave cloud-based enterprise performance management platform vendors (Adaptive Insights and Host Analytics among the others) whose products enable enhanced cross-functional, dynamic business planning. It was valued at slightly more than $1 billion in its last round, and said it expected to exceed $100 million in revenue last year. SAP is a competitor.







PACT Announces Phorum 2017 Demo Pit Finalists

PACT Announces Phorum 2017 Demo Pit Finalists

Eleven technology startups set to compete for ‘Phorum Phorward’ Best-In-Show Recognition

Philadelphia, April 10, 2017 – PACT, the Philadelphia Alliance for Capital and Technologies, today announced the finalists for the popular Demo Pit at Phorum 2017, its annual enterprise technology strategy conference. This year, eleven startup companies from the Mid-Atlantic region will demonstrate their cutting-edge technologies and compete for Phorum 2017, Phorum Phorward “Best in Show” award.

51maps
51maps.com
51maps allows organizations easy access to their entire application portfolio to run on consumer devices in a manner that is more secure than locked down PC's behind the firewall, delivering a seamless, native feeling, role-based experience on any device. Its application bus technology securely integrates any application (legacy, custom, cloud, or native) without changing source code allowing employees to pass information between disparate applications. The audit capability allows organizations to gain visibility, down to individual key strokes, around all user activity for the purposes of fraud investigation, productivity improvement, training, time & motion studies and much more.

DivvyCloud
Divvycloud.com
DivvyCloud software enables enterprises to achieve their cloud computing goals by simplifying and automating security, compliance and cost optimization of public and private cloud infrastructure. Using DivvyCloud, customers leverage programmatic Bots to identify and remediate common cloud problems in real time. DivvyCloud was founded by veteran technologists who understand first hand what is necessary to succeed in today’s fast-changing, multi-cloud world.

Fishtown Analytics
Fishtownanalytics.com
Fishtown Analytics is building a modern workflow for data analysts. Its product, dbt (data build tool), helps analysts write modular, high-quality analytic code by borrowing elements of the software development workflow. dbt is open-source, and used in production today by analytics teams at Casper, Seatgeek, Credible and dozens of other companies.

Journey Sales
Jouneysales.com
Journey Sales makes it easier for your customers to buy with Smart Rooms, an Account-Based Selling solution built on Salesforce®. Smart Rooms are private customer experiences built for each account and opportunity, where buying and selling teams can engage, collaborate and build consensus. With Smart Rooms, enterprises create personalized buying experiences for their strategic accounts at scale and
build deeper relationships for improved cross-sell and upsell opportunities. Executives receive deep insight into accounts of who is most engaged and what they are engaging with to predictably close more valuable deals.

Pulse Infoframe
Pulseinfoframe.com
Focusing on rare disease, cancer and patient reported outcomes, Pulse Infoframe, a data insights and precision knowledge company, delivers real-time analytics and visualization to advance knowledge, improve outcomes, generate real-world evidence and accelerate time-to-value. Pulse Infoframe, a 21st Century asset for healthcare, uses its software to capture and aggregate data from multiple sources, making it available to relevant stakeholders and offering numerous benefits including dramatically improved efficiency, productivity and collaboration, which are required for value-based care.

RiskLens
RiskLens
RiskLens empowers large enterprises and government organizations to manage cyber risk from the business perspective by quantifying it in dollars and cents. As the leading provider of risk quantification software, RiskLens enables its customers to understand their cyber risk exposure in financial terms, prioritize their risk mitigations, measure the ROI of their security investments, and optimize their cyber insurance coverage. RiskLens is the only cyber risk quantification software purpose-built on FAIR, the only standard quantitative model for cyber security and operational risk.

TimelinePI
Timelinepi.com
TimelinePI is a SAAS-based analytics and visualization platform that provides a new approach to understanding operational data in the context of its related business processes. Using its patent- pending Timeline Analysis approach to analyze event data, TimelinePI accepts event data from any number of systems and automatically reconstructs the underlying business process logic behind the data. A variety of pre-built analyses to quantify process performance, identify process execution issues and perform root cause analysis are available to users. The TimelinePI platform also supports operational monitoring through its continuous assessment of new event data to determine if any adverse conditions occur and can immediately notify business operations personnel so they can act.

TopBox
topbox.io
Founded by customer experience industry veterans, TopBox was created to fill the void of customer contact analytic solutions that yield truly actionable insights and a clear ROI. TopBox’s cloud-based application analyzes your customer interactions by automatically transcribing, interrogating and categorizing them to reveal the root cause of customer experience, product, sales, marketing and operational problems. With a subscription pricing model, easy installation, unlimited user licenses, and an intuitive user interface, TopBox is unlike anything on the market.

VitalTrax
Vitaltrax.net
VitalTrax is transforming the clinical trial experience for patients, sites and study teams. VitalTrax delivers a complete patient engagement and data collection solution comprising an enterprise web application for study teams and a mobile application for patients. VitalTrax delivers Wing Enterprise, a cloud-based solution for clinical study teams to set up, recruit patients and run trials efficiently and effortlessly. VitalTrax also offers Wing, a mobile application that transforms the patient experience during the trial from the beginning to the end.

Widget Brain
http://widgetbrain.com/
Widget Brain is passionate about creating smart solutions that have a real impact on daily life: algorithms that lower CO2, improve recycling rates, deliver faster, prevent critical failures and decide autonomously. Widget Brain is ambitious in achieving its vision of the future - a connected universe of things, capable of outperforming everything else in the analogue world in terms of superior service, lowest costs, and compatibility with other smart devices. They cover the full digital ecosystem, including smarter cities, smarter factories, and smarter supply chains. Its customers use Widget Brain software to monitor their water pumps to detect leaks, forecast fill rates in waste containers to optimize service routes, and collect usage data to monitor equipment and predict maintenance moments.

Wylei
Wylei.com
Wylei is pioneering the use of AI and Machine Learning to change the way marketers connect with consumers by dynamically assembling content, optimizing each creative, and enabling personalization at scale. With the first predictive video solution on the market, a patented dynamic content assembly engine, and proprietary machine learning technology, Wylei drives dramatic conversion lifts and customer engagement with video, email, web, social, and mobile marketing campaigns
and now Facebook Predictive Ad campaigns. At the same time, our solutions learn for you. Wylei ingests and processes massive amounts of data in real-time, enabling micro, on-demand segmentation and predicts the optimal variation of content, assembles it in real-time and delivers it to the right person, at the right moment. Wylei has partnered with and counts as clients some of the largest companies in the world and proves over and over again the power of AI to achieve the highest marketing ROI.


“Attendees look forward to the Demo Pit competition every year,” said Sean Dowling, Vice President of Osage Partners and a member of the Demo Pit selection committee. “This year’s group of finalists offers a fresh glimpse of companies solving real-world problems. Each year, our pool of participants grows and it makes the selection process even harder. We have a tremendous group for Phorum 2017 and are excited for them to take the stage and share their stories with attendees.”

Phorum 2017 Demo Pit judges include David Drahms, Partner, Osage Venture Partners; Lisa McCann, Principal, Enterprise Shared Services of Information Technology and Security, Vanguard; and Robert J. Moore, Chairman, Stitch. The Demo Pit is sponsored by Osage Partners.

Hosted by PACT and sponsored by Fairmount Partners and LiquidHub, Phorum 2017: Digitizing the Enterprise – The Future is Now, will feature lightning talks and panel discussions by industry analysts, technology visionaries and business executives including Geoffrey Moore, Peter Coffee, Liz Herbert, Mukhtar Ahmed and others.


For the latest details, agenda and other details about Phorum 2017 or to reserve your ticket, please visit PhorumPhilly.com.

About Phorum
Phorum is an annual technology strategy conference that gathers the Nation’s leading minds and most innovative solutions around a single, trending topic. Hosted in Philadelphia, this intensive, one-day event includes insights from the Nation’s most authoritative experts; up-close interaction with relevant technological solutions and learnings from business leaders with first-hand experience capitalizing on what is new. For more on Phorum or to purchase tickets for Phorum 2017, visit www.phorumphilly.com.
About Philadelphia Alliance for Capital and Technologies (PACT)
PACT’s vision is to be the go-to resource for fast growing companies, and a driver of entrepreneurship and innovation in the Philadelphia region. PACT provides its members with valuable content and connections to capital, coaching, and customers that will accelerate their growth and success, and to collaborate with other organizations to drive innovation and entrepreneurship in the region. www.philadelphiapact.com
Media Contact:
Kevin Jurrens
Broadpath
215 644-6504 kjurrens@broadpathpr.com


eClinical sector remains of high interest to PE: CRF viewed as next target (PE Hub)


Tom Paine



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From PE Hub Buyouts (Subscription)

"The eClinical sector remains of high interest to PE
Vitruvian's CRF (Plymouth Meeting) viewed as next eClinical target of scale to go
Bracket Global (Wayne), ERT (Philadelphia) and BioClinica (Doylestown) all commanded mid-teen multiples of EBITDA."

Bracket Global was just acquired by Genstar Capital.

Veeva Systems (NYSE: VEEV), with offices in Radnor, is also about to enter the market.




The Westinghouse blame game / CNBC



Sunday Highlights: Lehigh brings Silicon Valley closer to home; East Swedesford Road corridor enjoys renaissance



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Lehigh University brings Silicon Valley closer to home (Morning Call)

Google offers at least $880 million to LG display for OLED investment: Electronic Times (Reuters)
Wondering if this will have an impact on Universal Display?

Geeks invade Philly: It's also an HR play (Philly.com)



Hot Spot: East Swedesford Road corridor enjoys renaissance (Daily Local News)

TaskRabbit is looking into selling itself
(Recode)

Inside The Global Q1 2017 VC Mark (CrunchBase)



Saturday Highlights: Yuengling, Phillies sign sponsorship agreement; Nuclear Power's Original Mistake



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Nuclear Power's Original Mistake: Trying to Domesticate the Bomb (Bloomberg)

In war on Amazon Echo, new Google Home may add mesh Wi-Fi (CNBC)

Yuengling, Phillies sign sponsorship agreement (Reading Eagle)

Philly CEO: Yikes, I'm almost out of money (Philly.com)

Locus Health eyeing national expansion after strong results at UVa (Charlottesville Tomorrow)
Rothman Institute is an investor. Sounds like a variation on Penn-founded RightCare Solutions.




4/7: PA native Urban Rumored for Trump Chief of Staff; MapR File System selected by SAP for cloud storage layer



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Urban Rumored for Trump Chief of Staff (Politics PA)

A western PA native and West Point grad, David Urban has Temple and Penn degrees, spent time at Ballard Spahr, and served as Arlen Specter's chief of staff. Ran Trump campaign in PA.


Alphabet Moves Two Top Google Fiber Executives Off Project (Bloomberg)

GOP Said Moving Toward `Unenforceable' Version of Net Neutrality (Bloomberg)


Xfinity Home’s New Message (Multichannel News)

Comcast’s New Mobile Service Is a Good Deal, But Maybe Not Good Enough (Wired)

Comcast Is Wooing Cord Cutters Over Heavy Mobile Users (Fortune)

MapR File System selected by SAP for cloud storage layer (ZDNet)

Amazon.com wins $1.5 billion tax dispute over IRS
(CNBC)
With a little help from Morgan Lewis.

Philly startup SocialLadder wins “best management team” from N.J. Tech Council (Philly.com)

Online auto parts company Turn5 plans expansion, will add 200 jobs (Delco Times)

The $90 Billion Investor Who’s Out to Fire Wall Street (Bloomberg)









COMCAST INTRODUCES XFINITY MOBILE: COMBINING AMERICA'S LARGEST, MOST RELIABLE 4G LTE NETWORK AND THE LARGEST WI-FI NETWORK



APR 6, 2017

COMCAST INTRODUCES XFINITY MOBILE: COMBINING AMERICA'S LARGEST, MOST RELIABLE 4G LTE NETWORK AND THE LARGEST WI-FI NETWORK
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Go Unlimited or Pay By the Gig for Data; Up to Five Lines Included with Unlimited Talk and Text, and No Line Access Fees; Get a Better Wireless Experience For Less Money on the Most Popular Devices

PHILADELPHIA, PA


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Xfinity Mobile - Hero


Xfinity Mobile - Data


Xfinity Mobile - Logo


Xfinity Mobile - Fact Sheet



Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) today introduced Xfinity Mobile, a new wireless service designed for the way people use their phones today, with the internet and data at the center of the experience. Up to eighty percent of smartphone data traffic in the U.S. travels over Wi-Fi,1 not cellular networks, making Wi-Fi a key solution to today’s mobile data consumption. Xfinity Mobile uses America’s largest, most reliable 4G LTE network along with Comcast’s 16 million Wi-Fi hotspots to provide consumers with a better wireless experience, for less money, on today’s most popular devices.

"We’re doing mobile differently by bringing our customers the best networks and a product designed to save them money in an increasingly data-driven world," said Greg Butz, president of Comcast Mobile. "Mobility is more important than ever to consumers, so we’ve designed Xfinity Mobile the way mobile should be – a simple solution for internet and entertainment in and out of the home."

Xfinity Mobile benefits customers by bundling wireless service with Comcast’s other Xfinity experiences. With Xfinity Mobile, customers only pay for the gigabytes they use, with the flexibility to easily switch back-and-forth between data options using the Xfinity Mobile app at no cost.

Key benefits and features of Xfinity Mobile include:

No Line Access Fees

Get up to five lines automatically included when you add Xfinity Mobile to your Xfinity Internet service, with no line access fees, unlimited talk and text, and your first 100 MB of shared 4G LTE data included – all at no extra cost.

Save Money – Pay for Only the Gigabytes (GB) You Use

The end of the data bucket is near with two straightforward data options available that will save most Xfinity Internet customers money when they add Xfinity Mobile:


Unlimited – Consume all the cellular data you want for one set price for up to five lines.2 $65 per line on up to five lines with no usage limits, or $45 per line for our customers with our best X1 packages.

By the Gig – $12 per GB of cellular data across all lines on an account each month. Seventy percent of U.S. wireless customers use less than 5 GB of cellular data per month3, so families can share their data across devices and will only pay for what they use.

Flexibility – Families can mix-and-match on an account so that each person can choose the way to pay for data that makes sense for them.

No Penalties – Easily switch back-and-forth between data options at no cost. If customers find that they’ve used more data on a "By the Gig" option one month, they can switch to "Unlimited" for that month, then switch back the next month with no penalties.


A Simpler Solution for Entertainment and Internet Both In and Out of the Home

Take the friction out of connecting to Wi-Fi by auto-connecting to Comcast’s millions of Xfinity WiFi hotspots and finding the best internet connection at home.

When using Xfinity Mobile, you’re already signed into your other Xfinity apps – whether it’s watching up to 200 live TV channels and 40,000 On Demand movies and shows with the Xfinity Stream app, or controlling your home devices from the road with the Xfinity Home app.



Digital-First Experience

An intuitive click-and-buy online experience that is credit card billed so customers never forget a payment.

24x7 customer support via text message – designed to support the way customers use their smartphones today.

Use the Xfinity Mobile app to view your data use and call logs in real time, manage payment options, switch back-and-forth between data options, order a new device or add additional lines.

24x7 support available from a dedicated Xfinity Mobile call center support team, available to assist with any questions.


With Xfinity Mobile, you will be able to select from the most popular mobile devices, including iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus – including the new iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus (PRODUCT) RED Special Edition – iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, and iPhone SE.

Xfinity Mobile will also feature the best devices from Samsung and LG.

Sign up here to receive more information when Xfinity Mobile soon becomes available. For additional details, visit http://comcastcorporation.com/mobile. To view the investor presentation, visit www.cmcsa.com.



1 NPD Group "Smartphone Data Consumption Report, Oct. 2016"

2 Reduced speeds after 20 GB of cellular data usage

3 Nielsen







About Xfinity Mobile

Xfinity Mobile is the nation’s first wireless service combining America’s largest and most reliable 4G LTE network with 16 million Xfinity WiFi hotspots to deliver a better wireless experience, for less money, on the most popular devices. With Xfinity Mobile, customers can choose to pay only for the gigabytes they use with the flexibility to easily switch back-and-forth between data options using the Xfinity Mobile app at no cost. For more information on Xfinity Mobile, go to www.xfinitymobile.com.

About Comcast Cable

Comcast Cable is one of the nation's largest video, high-speed internet and phone providers to residential customers under the XFINITY brand and also provides these services to businesses. Comcast has invested in technology to build an advanced network that delivers among the fastest broadband speeds, and brings customers personalized video, communications and home management offerings. Comcast Corporation (CMCSA) is a global media and technology company. Visit www.comcastcorporation.com for more information.



Comcast Sets Xfinity Mobile Wireless Launch; Salesforce celebrates capping of tallest building west of Chicago



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Comcast Sets Xfinity Mobile Wireless Launch With Verizon, Promising Big Savings (Variety)

Comcast: How Will ‘Xfinity Mobile’ Define Success? Asks BTIG (Barron's Tech Trader Daily)

Comcast Enters Wireless Business With $45-a-Month Service (Bloomberg)

Xfinity Mobile Isn't a WiFi Phone Service (Mari Silbey / Light Reading)



Salesforce is celebrating the capping of the tallest building west of Chicago, and the views are astounding (CNBC)




Comcast's new tower: 1,121 ft

Salesforce's new tower: 1,070 ft



Reports: Lyft hails another $500 million
(Axios)

Philadelphia’s Chamber Of Commerce Sues To Halt City Pay Equity Law (CBS Local)


Office Practicum moves into Fort Washington Office Park
(Ambler Gazette)







3/5: Liberty Interactive to acquire General Communication, create GCI Liberty, change its name to QVC Group; MSG Network looking to sell

Liberty Interactive to acquire General Communication, create GCI Liberty, change its name to QVC Group (LightwaveOnline)
I'm surprised General Communication isn't being attributed to Liberty Broadband, which consists mostly of Liberty Media's holdings in Charter Communications.

QVC Group will become an asset-backed, rather than a tracking stock.

MSG Networks is looking to sell (NY Post)
Comcast unlikely to bite.

Comcast’s New Mobile Service Is Facing Increasingly Competitive Market (Fortune)


Home run: Majestic's sale to Fanatics will keep MLB uniform, fanwear production in Palmer (Morning Call)

This former top Microsoft exec just raised $100 million from Mark Zuckerberg's favorite fund to take on Oracle, Google, and Amazon (Silicon Alley Insider)

Monetate launches its machine learning-powered personalization engine (VentureBeat)



How Hana is disrupting SAP hosting services (ComputerWeekly)

Oracle and Accenture – the consultant’s view (Diginomica)