Category: News

Microsoft has become the latest major consumer electronics company to see its plans for a smartwatch leak ahead of any official announcement. While Samsung remains the only company to publicly confirm that it is working on a next-generation smartwatch, half a dozen different news organizations have reported various details surrounding an imminent “iWatch” from Apple that may launch later this year. Now, The Wall Street Journal reports that Microsoft is also toying with the idea of launching its own smartwatch, and it is working with partners in the Far East to source components. The report provides no other details, though it notes that Microsoft does not currently have firm plans to launch the device, so it may never see the light of day.

Envysion Inc., a provider of managed video as a service, has named Michelle Shewchuk as its chief financial officer. She joins from Exclusive Resorts, a private equity-backed company. Earlier in her career, Shewchuk worked at Boston’s Berkshire Partners.

PRESS RELEASE
Envysion®, Inc., (www.envysion.com) the leading Managed Video as a Service (MVaaS) provider, today announced the appointment of Michelle Shewchuk as Chief Financial Officer. With this addition Envysion gains critical strategic and financial leadership and capital market expertise to support its aggressive expansion plans.

“We’re excited to bring aboard someone with Michelle’s depth of experience,” said Matt Steinfort, President and CEO of Envysion. “Michelle’s private equity experience and strong track record of managing and optimizing the capital structure for emerging growth companies will be critical to helping us make our vision for the company a reality.”

Shewchuk brings over 20 years of financial leadership experience to Envysion and comes from Exclusive Resorts, a private equity backed company, where she was critical to driving revenue and operational growth and helped manage a $250 million dollar credit facility. In addition, Shewchuk spent part of her early career working at Berkshire Partners, a leading private equity firm in Boston, MA.

In her role as CFO, Shewchuk will be responsible for all finance functions at Envysion, including debt and equity funding and strategic financial planning and analysis, as well as general accounting for the company.

“Envysion’s client portfolio is tremendous and I’m excited to join Envysion at this critical time in the company’s growth trajectory,” said Michelle Shewchuk. “I look forward to helping to further accelerate the company’s already exceptional growth.”

About Envysion Envysion puts the power of video into the hands of a multi-unit operator’s entire organization, enabling users to easily leverage remote video to gain actionable business insights that will improve operations and deliver demonstrated 10-15% profitability improvements. The company created the Managed Video as a Service (MVaaS) model, which brings the Software as a Service (SaaS) approach to video. Envysion’s highly scalable and easy to manage MVaaS platform reaches across departments to 1000s of users without straining the IT department or network. Through Envysion’s Insight Marketplace, the innovative business solutions marketplace that leverages managed video, customers can select from a variety of approved partners who deliver specialized services. Today, Envysion’s solutions are driving bottom line profitability improvements with leading restaurant, retail, hospitality and convenience store operators throughout North America. For more information, visit www.envysion.com or call 877.258.9441.

SOURCE Envysion, Inc.

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Teradata (TDC) today introduced the Teradata Active Enterprise Data Warehouse 6700 platform, a new core analytic brain for big data sets, along with a new fabric-based hyper-speed nervous system. The new offerings expand the company’s Unified Data Architecture, which brings together Teradata, Teradata Aster, and Hadoop technology, as well as partner tools such as SUSE Linux, Intel Xeon processors and now Mellanox InfiniBand.

Active Enterprise Data Warehouse platform 6700

“With adoption of fabric-based computing, Teradata offers a high-speed, private analytic network with flexible configurations as the backbone of the entier Teradata Unified Data Architeture,” said Scott Gnau, president Teradata Labs. “The speed of connection and robust management of fabric-based computing empowers our customers to take hyper-speed analytics and business insights to a new level.”

The new 6700 platform leverages the fabric-based computing benefits of its BYNET software on high-speed InfiniBand networking. BYNET is Teradata’s secret sauce, providing on-the-fly, in-query data sorting, unique point-to-point and broadcast communication functions.  Using InfiniBand from Mellanox, communication is 20 times faster, and brings scalability, performance and reliability for processing large amounts of data. Workload performance has been boosted by 40 percent over previous version by leveraging the Intel Xeon processor E5 family. The Teradata Active Enterprise Warehouse has up to eight times more memory per cabinet, with a typical system reaching multi-terabytes of memory. These system performance enhancements enable customers to do the same data warehouse work using up to 50 percent less energy as compared to the Teradata platform of two years ago.

“Data analytics has become a competitive asset for today’s enterprises that enables quicker reaction and response to changing business conditions and consumer behavior,” said Motti Beck, director, Enterprise Market Development at Mellanox Technologies. “When the Teradata Unified Data Architecture is integrated with Mellanox’s end-to-end InfiniBand solutions as the fabric-based computing foundation, customers reap the benefits of data analytics performance and response time. Together with Teradata, we enable organizations to transform their data into a competitive business advantage.”

Teradata Enterprise Access for Hadoop

Teradata announced Enterprise Access for Hadoop to offer business analysts streamlined, self-service, cost-effective access to Apache Hadoop. As a part of the Unified Data Architecture, the new technology enables business analysts to reach through Teradata directly into Hadoop to find new business value from the analysis of big, diverse data. Offering Teradata smart loader for Hadoop and Teradata SQL-H the solution features robust security, workload management, and comprehensive standard ANSI SQL support on Apache Hadoop.

“As a key component of the Unified Data Architecture, Hortonworks Data Platform provides a reliable Apache Hadoop distribution for enterprise users,” said Bob Page, vice president, products, Hortonworks. “The deep integration of Hortonworks Data Platform with both the Teradata data warehouse and Teradata Aster discovery platform provides users with easy access to data, while giving enterprise IT the advanced security it requires.”

Teradata Studio with Smart Loader for Hadoop enables point and click convenience for browsing moving data between Teradata and Hadoop for analysis and self-service intelligence. Teradata SQL-H gives any user or application across the enterprise direct, on-the-fly access to data stored within Hadoop through ANSI SQL, leveraging the security, workload management, and performance of the Teradata data warehouse. The integrated data ware house is a cornerstone of the Unified Data Architecture, enabling real-time delivery of intelligence to front line decision-makers.

“Today’s announcement of Teradata Enterprise Access for Hadoop is another example of our agressive commitment to building out the Teradata Unified Data Architecture,” said Scott Gnau, president Terdata Labs. “Teradata Enterprise Access for Hadoop empowers organizations to dig deeply into files and data residing in Hadoop and combine the data with production business data for analyses – and action.”

For more on storage news and trends, bookmark our Storage Channel.

TSI Semiconductors has named three new executives: Roger Lee is now chief operating officer; David Bridgeford is chief financial officer; and John Doricko is vice president of Sales and Marketing and president of the company’s research and development subsidiary. In addition, the company announced that Michael Gontar, of Wafra Capital Partners Inc., will serve as its chairman.

PRESS RELEASE
TSI Semiconductors, LLC, a world-class specialty foundry offering flexible technology development and manufacturing services, today announced the appointment of three new executives: Roger Lee as chief operating officer, David Bridgeford as chief financial officer and John Doricko as TSI’s vice president of Sales and Marketing and president of the company’s research and development subsidiary, Technology Development & Commercialization Services (TDCS).

In addition, the company announced that Michael Gontar of Wafra Capital Partners Inc. will serve as its chairman.”I am excited to work with such an exceptional team to advance TSI and position it for success in delivering world-class foundry and technology services in direct partnership with our customers. Each of our executives brings expertise and industry experience that will prove vital in helping us reach our goals,” said Sagar Pushpala, who was announced today as TSI’s new CEO. “Roger is well-suited to serve as COO, having been involved with TSI’s American manufacturing operations and serving as the company’s interim CEO, as well as co-founding and managing large Asian factories. David has an impressive financial management background, having worked with companies of all sizes, and in the manufacturing realm. And, John comes to TSI with an extensive sales and marketing background in both technology and equipment, from early development through manufacturing.”TSI’s New Executive TeamRoger Lee, COO, began working in the semiconductor industry more than 26 years ago, as an engineer for Texas Instruments. During his career, Lee has been awarded more than 150 U.S. patents and served on numerous boards. He has held a variety of executive and senior-level positions for several companies, including senior vice president of SMIC, which went public and became the third-largest foundry in the world. Previously, he co-founded the SMIC-Toppan JV (TSES) and held several management positions, including senior fellow, within Micron Technology. More recently, he was COO and served as a board member of Founder Microelectronics, Inc. in Shenzhen, China, where he was responsible for overall company operations, including fab manufacturing, sales and marketing, procurement, facilities and R&D operations.David Bridgeford, CFO, has more than 35 years of diverse financial management experience, in both private and public companies. Prior to joining TSI Semiconductors, he served as CFO at Acclaim Communications, Inc., Jadoo Power Systems, Inc., BHP Steel Building Products and Steele Resources Corp. Earlier in his career, Bridgeford held senior financial management positions with Level One Communications and Western Plastics Corp.John Doricko, TSI vice president of Sales and Marketing and president of TDCS, brings almost 25 years of experience in a variety of executive and senior leadership roles devoted to sales, marketing, business development and field operations. He has worked with a range of customers — including Intel, Samsung, TSMC and others — to bring advanced lithography, films, etch and other technologies from development to volume manufacturing. Doricko also has helped semiconductor customers find creative approaches to enabling their business objectives through his work in consulting and financing/asset management.Michael Gontar to Serve as Chairman
Serving as chairman at TSI is Michael Gontar, who is also chief investment officer and a director at Wafra Capital Partners Inc., a SEC-registered investment advisor with more than $3.5 billion in assets under management. In addition to his role at Wafra, Gontar serves on numerous boards, including TriplePoint Capital, LLC, Reliant Asset Management, LLC and Somerset Capital Group. Prior to joining Wafra, he worked in the Transaction Services group of international accounting firm KPMG LLP, specializing in private equity due diligence and financial transactions.Gontar also is the co-founder and principal of a real estate investment firm focused on low-income residential properties in the New York region, and was the vice president and co-founder of a nationwide wholesale company and serves on its board of directors.About TSI Semiconductors, LLC
TSI Semiconductors, LLC is a world-class, specialty foundry offering flexible technology development and the highest industry quality manufacturing solutions for projects ranging from the smallest to very large lot sizes. With its 8-inch fabrication plant in Roseville, Calif., and 6-inch fabrication facility in Heilbronn, Germany, TSI can manufacture in a large array of versatile processes that include analog/mixed-signal, deep-submicron, high-voltage BCDMOS, including SOI for power management applications, and solutions such as novel materials structures and devices. Technology Development & Commercialization Services (TDCS), TSI’s research and development organization, provides dedicated fab equipment to enable customers to manage their own development activities. For more information, visit www.tsisemi.com.SOURCE TSI Semiconductors, LLC

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Angiotech Pharmaceuticals Inc. is selling its Interventional Products Business subsidiaries to Argon Medical Devices, the company announced. Argon Medical Devices is a portfolio company of RoundTable Healthcare Partners. Plano, Texas-based Argon, which makes specialty medical products, is paying $362.5 million in cash, and the deal is expected to close in April.

PRESS RELEASE
Angiotech Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Angiotech”) announced today that it had entered into a definitive agreement to sell certain of its subsidiaries, comprising Angiotech’s Interventional Products Business, to Argon Medical Devices, Inc. (“Argon”), a portfolio company of RoundTable Healthcare Partners, for $362.5 million in cash consideration. Angiotech expects the transaction will close prior to the end of April 2013.

“This important transaction will enable Angiotech to retire all of its remaining debt obligations, and in addition will provide excess cash proceeds, which we plan to use to provide an immediate return to our shareholders and to invest in our remaining businesses,” said Thomas Bailey , President and CEO of Angiotech. “This event represents a culmination of turnaround efforts we initiated upon concluding our 2011 restructuring, and is a direct result of the exceptional and improved business results our teams were able to achieve in 2012. We would like to offer our admiration and sincere thanks to the dedicated management and employees of our Interventional Products Business for their resilience through many changes, teamwork and achievements.”

“We are excited to turn our efforts to investing in and executing opportunities in our Surgical Products business, where we still see much untapped opportunity for our proprietary Quill product line, our Look and Sharpoint general wound closure products, and our ophthalmic products,” said Tammy Neske , Chief Business Officer of Angiotech. “In addition, we have retained our recently FDA approved BioSentry (Bio-Seal) product line as part of this transaction, and we will continue to explore commercial and development opportunities for BioSentry while initiating U.S. commercial activities and making it available for customers.”

Highlights and selected terms of the transaction include:

The businesses being acquired by Argon include all manufacturing, commercial and administrative operations relating to Angiotech’s Interventional Products Business. Key product lines in this business include Angiotech’s BioPince™ full core biopsy devices, Tru-Core™ II (fully automatic) and SuperCore™ (semi-automatic) disposable biopsy instruments, T-Lok™ bone marrow biopsy devices, and Skater™ drainage catheters, among other products. Angiotech’s Interventional Products Business also manufactures components for other third party medical device manufacturers, operates manufacturing facilities in Wheeling, IL, Gainesville, FL and Stenlose, Denmark and employs a direct sales and marketing organization in the U.S. and Europe. Angiotech’s Interventional Products Businesses recorded $101.6 million in revenue in the 12 month period ended December 31, 2012.

Consideration for the transaction will total $362.5 million in cash, subject to a potential working capital adjustment, with $347.5 million to be received upon the close of the transaction, and $15 million to be retained in escrow for a period of 12 months to secure indemnification obligations relating to the transaction.

Angiotech expects to use the proceeds received from the transaction to repay all of its remaining outstanding debt obligations, including remaining amounts due under its Senior Floating Rate Notes due December 2013 and the Senior Notes due December 2016. Angiotech also expects to terminate its revolving credit facility with Wells Fargo Capital Finance upon the close of the transaction.

The transaction is subject to approval of Angiotech shareholders. Shareholders representing approximately 70% of Angiotech’s outstanding shares have signed voting agreements in connection with the transaction, and have agreed to vote their shares in favor of the proposed transaction.

The transaction is conditioned on, among other things, expiration of applicable waiting periods under the U.S. Hart Scott Rodino Act.

Angiotech expects to make a cash distribution, in the form of a return of capital, to shareholders in an amount to be determined shortly after the close of the transaction, and subsequent to the repayment of Angiotech’s debt obligations, final payment of all transaction related fees and expenses, and final determination by management and the Board of Directors as to the operating cash needs of Angiotech’s remaining businesses.

Upon the conclusion of the transaction, Angiotech will retain its Surgical Products Business and its Royalty Business. Revenue recorded by Angiotech in the twelve months ended December 31, 2012 from these businesses was $123.1 million and $15.1 million respectively. Key product lines in Angiotech’s Surgical Products business include wound closure products such as the Quill™ knotless tissue closure device, Look™ brand sutures for general and dental surgery and Sharpoint™ UltraGlide and Microsurgical sutures, and ophthalmic products such as the Sharpoint™ brand ophthalmic surgical blades. Angiotech’s Surgical Products Business also manufactures components for other third party medical device manufacturers, and operates manufacturing facilities in Reading, PA, Aguadilla, PR and Taunton, England. Angiotech’s Surgical Products Business also employs a specialized direct sales and marketing team, with dedicated groups focused on its wound closure, ophthalmology and medical components product lines respectively.

Angiotech’s Royalty Business comprises a portfolio of intellectual property relating to a variety of biomaterial, drug and medical device related technologies and technology applications. The most significant intellectual property in this portfolio is related to the use of the drug paclitaxel in treating certain conditions, including certain side effects that may occur coincident with the implantation of medical devices. Angiotech has licensed this aspect of its intellectual property portfolio to its partners Boston Scientific Corporation (“BSC”) and Cook Medical, Inc. (“Cook”) for application in drug-eluting stents used to treat coronary and peripheral artery disease. Virtually all of Angiotech’s Royalty Business revenue in 2012 was derived from royalties received from BSC and Cook.

Angiotech will also retain all intellectual property, rights, assets and inventory related to its BioSentry™ (formerly Bio-Seal) product line, which was recently approved for sale in the U.S. by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”). Coincident with the transaction, Angiotech concluded a three year Manufacturing and Supply Agreement with Argon with respect to BioSentry. Argon will not, as part of this agreement, have commercialization rights to BioSentry. U.S. commercial launch activities for this product line will continue, and customers may inquire or place orders for BioSentry through Angiotech’s existing customer service line.

Lastly, Angiotech will retain real property assets located in Stenlose, Denmark as part of the transaction, and will retain net proceeds generated upon any sale of such real property assets subsequent to Angiotech and Argon concluding Angiotech’s previously announced transfer of production activities from Stenlose to facilities located in the U.S. Such transfer is currently expected to conclude during the first half of 2013.

Upon the close of the transaction, Angiotech will cease to be a voluntary reporting public issuer, and will therefore no longer file financial or other information with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Angiotech expects to continue to provide certain financial information, including audited annual financial information and selected interim quarterly financial information, via a private portal accessible to shareholders of record. Further information will be forthcoming upon the close of the transaction. Angiotech plans to file its 2012 annual report on form 10-K in ordinary course at or around March 31, 2013. Angiotech will also postpone its upcoming investor call, currently scheduled for April 2, 2013, to a later date subsequent to the close of the transaction, at which point Angiotech plans to conduct a conference call, accessible to shareholders of record, to discuss its future plans for its remaining businesses.

Angiotech’s financial advisors respecting the transaction were Moelis & Company and Houlihan Lokey . Angiotech was represented by its legal counsel, Irell & Manella LLP in the transaction, and was represented by Stikeman Elliott LLP on Canadian legal matters.

Forward Looking Statements

Statements contained in this press release that are not based on historical fact, including without limitation statements containing the words “believes,” “may,” “plans,” “will,” “estimates,” “continues,” “anticipates,” “intends,” “expects” and similar expressions, constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and constitute “forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. All such statements are made pursuant to the “safe harbor” provisions of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking statements may involve, but are not limited to, comments with respect to our objectives and priorities in 2013 and beyond, our strategies or future actions, our targets, expectations for our financial condition and the results of, or outlook for, our operations, research and development and product development. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, events or developments to be materially different from any future results, events or developments expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Many such known risks, uncertainties and other factors are taken into account as part of our assumptions underlying these forward-looking statements and include, among others, the following: general economic and business conditions in the United States, Canada and the other regions in which we operate; market demand; competition; technological changes that could impact our existing products or our ability to develop and commercialize future products; governmental legislation and regulations and changes in, or the failure to comply with, governmental legislation and regulations; availability of financial reimbursement coverage from governmental and third-party payers for products and related treatments; adverse results or unexpected delays in pre-clinical and clinical product development processes; adverse findings related to the safety and/or efficacy of our products or products sold by our partners; decisions, and the timing of decisions, made by health regulatory agencies regarding approval of our technology and products; the requirement for funding to conduct research and development, to expand manufacturing and commercialization activities; and any other factors that may affect our performance. In addition, our business is subject to certain operating risks that may cause any results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements in this press release to differ materially from our actual results. These operating risks include: our ability to successfully manufacture, market and sell our products; changes in our business strategy or development plans; our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel; our ability to successfully complete pre-clinical and clinical development of our products; our failure to obtain patent protection for discoveries; loss of patent protection resulting from third-party challenges to our patents; commercialization limitations imposed by patents owned or controlled by third parties; our ability to obtain rights to technology from licensors; liability for patent claims and other claims asserted against us; our ability to obtain and enforce timely patent and other intellectual property protection for our technology and products; the ability to enter into, and to maintain, corporate alliances relating to the development and commercialization of our technology and products; market acceptance of our technology and products; the availability of capital to finance our activities; our ability to service our debt obligations; and any other factors referenced in our other filings with the SEC. For a more thorough discussion of the risks associated with our business, see the “Risk Factors” section in our annual report for the year ended December 31, 2012 to be filed with the SEC on Form 10K no later than April 1, 2013.

About Angiotech

Angiotech develops, manufactures and markets medical device products and technologies, primarily within the areas of interventional oncology, wound closure and ophthalmology. Our strategy is to utilize our precision manufacturing capabilities and our highly targeted sales and marketing capabilities to offer novel or differentiated medical device products to patients, physicians and other medical device manufacturers or distributors. For additional information about Angiotech, please visit our website at www.angiotech.com.

About Argon Medical Devices

Argon Medical is a global manufacturer of specialty medical products headquartered in Plano, Texas. Argon offers a broad line of medical devices for interventional radiology, vascular surgery, interventional cardiology and critical care procedures. Argon’s newest products include the Option™ Inferior Vena Cava Filter, Cleaner Rotational Thrombectomy System, and UltraStream™ Chronic Dialysis Catheter. Argon also offers complete lines of PICC and midline catheters, endomyocardial biopsy forceps, introducer sheaths, pressure transducers and other vascular products. Argon’s products are sold globally through a combination of direct sales representatives and premier distributors.

About RoundTable Healthcare Partners

RoundTable Healthcare Partners, based in Lake Forest, IL, is an operating oriented private equity firm focused exclusively on the health care industry. The partners of RoundTable have significant experience in managing, acquiring and financing multi-billion dollar diversified health care companies.

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Spring has arrived in New York City. The sun is out (besides today). The snow is finally gone. It’s time to shed the winter layers and head outside. And in the spirit of spring, we want to give one of our readers a ticket to Disrupt NY and the ultimate outdoor toy: A Parrot AR Drone 2.0.

Disrupt NY kicks off later this month. The lineup is stellar and we have a new venue. The hackathon and conference will be housed in the Manhattan Center, located conveniently in midtown with plenty of access to public transit. Tickets are still available but we’re giving you a chance to win one right here.

The winner of this giveaway will walk away with one ticket to Disrupt NY (valued at $2,995) and one Parrot AR Drone 2.0 ($299.95).

Want a shot to win? Follow the steps below.

1) Become a fan of our TechCrunch Facebook Page:

2) Then do one of the following:

• Retweet this post (making sure to include the #TCDisrupt hashtag), or
• Leave us a comment below telling us something fun – anything!

The contest will start now and ends April 22nd at 7:30pm PT. Please only tweet or comment once, or you will be disqualified. We will make sure you follow the steps above and choose our winner once the giveaway is over. Please note the winner will only receive one (1) free Disrupt ticket, and it does not include airfare or hotel.

Our sponsors help make Disrupt happen. If you are interested in learning more about sponsorship opportunities, please contact our sponsorship team here [email protected].

Turkey’s ceasefire last month with the Kurdish militant group PKK could boost its trade partnerships multilaterally, as increasing prospects for stability in the region bring economic opportunities in the Middle East and Africa.

The halt in the decades-long armed campaign came on March 21 after the leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, Abdullah Ocalan, sent a letter with the announcement from the island prison cell where he has been held since 1999 when he was arrested for treason.

Although the main pro-Kurdish party has recently poured doubt on the veracity of Ocalan’s statement, the prospect of greater stability in the troubled border region with Iraq could pave the way for greater trade security and pay dividends for investors.

Now that the Turkish economy is pacing along, perhaps not with so much gusto as  a few years ago, but with a young and increasingly tech-savvy population and inflation levels at relatively low levels, peace progressions with the PKK could also help the country’s prospects.

Part of Turkey’s trade is made bilaterally to the West, but increasingly it is made multilaterally with Africa, the Middle East and in particular Iraq, the second largest destination for Turkish exports in 2011, according to EU data.

HSBC analysts said in a note to clients:

We think the strength of the Turkish domestic demand story, plus the strides that the country has made in diversifying exports away from Western Europe towards the Middle East and Africa, both dilute the impact that new Cypriot-related euro zone stress will have on the country. If the Kurdish peace plan came to fruition, it would further embellish the story.

Fitch upgraded the country’s debt on 5 November 2012, citing declining government debt and a sound banking system, while a similar upgrade from Moody’s or Standard & Poor’s could provide the catalyst for more investment flows further into 2013.

Turkey has a large population of netizens (with more than 35 million Facebook users), and with around 50 percent of the population under 29, there is increasing interest the country’s prospects, according to Gokturk Isikpinar, Chief Investment Officer at AK Asset Management based in Istanbul. Turkish sovereign, corporate debt and investment in small and medium sized Enterprises (SME’s) are set to benefit as a result, he says. According to a Reuters poll, Turkey’s economy is set to grow 4 percent this year in line with the country’s government forecasts. Isikpinar says:

No one really knows where to put Turkey but everyone has a flavour of Turkey.

Isikpinar thinks a further credit rating upgrade, which could surface in Q3 this year, will be the catalyst to provide a surge of investment flows. Speaking at an investor meeting with frontier fund manager Silk Invest a few days ago, Isikpinar suggested one of the best ways to play the market is through SMEs.

Note a couple of caveats – there are some concerns the country could face ‘overheating’ and the budget deficit is still considerable at around 7 percent on an annual basis, compared with the government’s target of 2.2 percent of national output in 2013. Fitch cautioned in March the country would need a “durable” reduction in its structural deficit, lower inflation and more foreign direct investment (FDI) to warrant another upgrade.

Future IPOs such as Pegasus Airlines, set for mid-April, may also paint a promising investment picture. But the time to catch the investment wave could come before the upgrade and before more IPOs, certainly before any announcement on Istanbul’s bid to host the Olympic Games in 2020.

By Philip Baillie

At the Data Center Jobs Board, we have a new job listing from GE Energy Management, which is seeking a Critical Power, Technical Solutions Director in Baltimore, Maryland. 

The Critical Power, Technical Solutions Director is responsible for proactively promoting and positioning GE early in the project phase to create value and influence, developing high level and own strategic relationships with key decision makers at mission critical electrical consultants, developing Critical Power solutions covering all of GE product lines such as UPS, Paralleling Switchgear, Automatic Transfer Switches, Power Transformers, Substations, Switchgear, Switchboards, Bus-way, Panel-boards, Power Management/Automation/Software, and Service Solutions, driving identification, prospecting and creation of new sales opportunities/pipeline using Sales Force.com and other commercial tools, and working closely with the Region Sales and Commercial Operations teams on projects throughout the sales cycle; from opportunity identification to post order close out.  To view full details and apply, see job listing details.

Are you hiring for your data center? You can list your company’s job openings on the Data Center Jobs Board, and also track new openings via our jobs RSS feed.

IceWEB Inc., a provider of storage appliances for cloud and virtual environments, has restructured its debt in a deal with Sand Hill Finance. IceWEB is based near Washington, D.C. The company is traded on the over-the-counter Bulletin Board.

PRESS RELEASE
IceWEB, Inc.™ (OTCBB: IWEB), a leading provider of Unified Data Storage appliances for cloud and virtual environments, today announced that on April 12, 2013 the Company entered into an agreement with Sand Hill Finance, LLC to amend their existing Financing Agreement by issuing a convertible debenture to replace IceWEB’s existing note payable, in the amount of $2,139,235. The debenture is convertible into common stock at a fixed price of $0.075 per share, bears interest at 12% annually, and has a two year term. In addition, the terms of the note call for monthly payments of $15,000, which increases to $25,000 in the event that IceWEB raises $3,000,000 or more in an equity financing.

“We are pleased to have been able to reach such a positive arrangement with IceWEB, particularly as we believe the company is so undervalued. We’re very excited about their strategy and their future prospects”

“Sand Hill Finance has demonstrated their faith in IceWEB’s future success by restructuring our debt in a way that allows us to no longer be in default under our financing agreement, improves our cash flow, and gives us the flexibility to successfully complete our pending merger between IceWEB and Computers and Tele-Comm, Inc.,” said IceWEB CFO, Mark Lucky.

“We are pleased to have been able to reach such a positive arrangement with IceWEB, particularly as we believe the company is so undervalued. We’re very excited about their strategy and their future prospects,” said Mark Cameron, Sr. VP of Sandhill Finance.

About IceWEB, Inc.

Headquartered just outside of Washington, D.C., IceWEB manufactures award-winning, high performance unified data storage appliances with enterprise storage management capabilities at a fraction of the price of traditional providers. Through thin provisioning, target deduplication and inline compression, IceWEB’s unified storage arrays enable standardization, consolidation and optimized storage utilization for virtual and cloud environments, saving up to 90% of storage costs, while reducing space, power and cooling requirements and simplifying storage management. For more information please call 800-465-4637 or visit www.IceWEB.com. To become part of the Company’s e-mail list for industry updates and press releases, please send an e-mail to [email protected].

This press release may contain forward-looking statements, which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In some cases you can identify those so-called “forward-looking statements” by words such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “expects,” “plans,” “targets,” “believes,” “anticipates,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “potential,” or “continue” or the negative of those words and other comparable words. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, product tests, commercialization risks, availability of financing and results of financing efforts that could cause actual results to differ materially from historical results or those anticipated. Further information regarding these and other risks is described from time to time in the Company’s filings with the SEC, which are available on its website at: http://www.sec.gov. We assume no obligation to update or alter our forward-looking statements made in this release or in any periodic report filed by us under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or any other document, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as otherwise required by applicable federal securities laws.

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What’s the one thing that is missing from Windows Explorer? Actually, there’s probably more than just one thing missing, but what is the most obvious? Tabs. They are now so ubiquitous in web browsers that it’s unlikely you give them a second thought; they’re just there and you use them. Why should your file browser be any different? This is an anomaly that the developers of Clover felt had to be put right with the latest release.

Aside from the addition of tabs to Explorer — which means that it is possible to deal with multiple folders in a single window — there are a number of other changes in this latest released. For anyone concerned with aesthetics, support for themes means that the look of the program can be completely changed.

But there are more important changes that are worth noting. To allow for easier navigation of files, new methods of interaction have been added. The folder bookmarking system has been updated so that by middle-clicking on a bookmark it is possible to load a folder in a foreground tab, and bookmarks can now be exported and imported.

This is a handy option to have available if you use Clover on more than one machine, but it also serves as a useful backup mechanism.

Another navigation option allows a double click to be used to skip up a directory level. Forget seeking out the Up button, now you can simply double click in an area of white space to jump to the parent of the current folder.

Clover stands apart from many of the tools that are used to enhance Explorer in that it does not try to go too far. It focuses on doing a small number of things and doing them well.

You can find out more and download the latest version at the Clover review page.

Photo Credit: Milena_Bo/Shutterstock

 

There are lots of great comments we can make with this video review of the next generation Toyota truck. Yet, we don’t want to ruin the moment. Get your popcorn ready and check out the video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Amazing right? Wonder what the MSRP will be??

The post Next Generation Toyota truck – Video Preview appeared first on Tundra Headquarters Blog.

Over the past decade, I’ve taught hundreds of executive education, MBA, and undergraduate students at half a dozen other top universities. To put it mildly, I’m a believer in the importance of higher education and graduate studies. But I’m also concerned that some executives view grad school as a panacea — a universally applicable fallback and a sure-fire ticket to promotion, the way teachers still get a union-mandated pay raise if they get their master’s degree.

In a world where the value of even a college education is coming under increased scrutiny (see Andrew McAfee’s recent HBR post, Michael Ellsberg’s book The Education of Millionaires, and entrepreneur Peter Thiel’s controversial fellowship that pays a cadre of teenage overachievers to skip college), it’s worth asking: what about grad school?

There are obvious cases where a graduate degree is mandatory; you’re not going to get very far as a doctor or lawyer if you haven’t done the requisite schooling. But what about everyone else? I often get inquiries from executives looking for advice about whether they should go back. Would an MBA, a JD, a doctorate in organizational psychology, or a journalism degree give them that extra edge? Often, the answer is no. There are a lot of things you could do with $100,000, and going to school because you aren’t sure what to do with yourself, or because of received wisdom that an extra degree is always helpful, could be a colossally misguided move.

If you’re taking the plunge, it’s essential to think through how the graduate experience will benefit you, and know in advance what you hope to get out of it. Joel Gagne, an executive I profile in my book, Reinventing You, completed all the courses for a master of arts in government. But in the midst of running a company, a couple of cross-country moves, and a new baby, completing his master’s thesis just didn’t make the priority list. “I don’t want to say those classes were worthless, because they weren’t,” he says. “There were one or two nuggets. But as far as directly affecting my professional life, graduate work has not had the type of impact necessary or given me the business skill set I need.” Instead, he’s found more success taking targeted classes, on subjects like business writing and goal-setting, that speak directly to his needs.

If you’re doing a graduate program just to get the degree on your wall, or if only a handful of classes excite you, it’s far better (and cheaper) to take adult ed or extension school classes. Here are a few other reasons why you shouldn’t go back:

Because you aren’t sure what you want to do with your life. Yes, it’s a better alternative than moping around if you’re unemployed. But it’s also expensive — and that means you need to treat it like an investment, which means you’ve done your research and really thought about how you can extract the most learning and value from it. If you’re not even sure what your ultimate goal is, you’re wasting your time and money. Go travel instead, or start a blog, or keep doing informational interviews until you get clarity.

Because your career is stalled. It’s the script we’ve all heard from our parents: education is the answer! But let’s be clear: you won’t be promoted because you have a graduate degree. You may get promoted because of what you learned in graduate school and how you apply it at work, which is very different — and unfortunately requires a lot more insight and effort.

Because you got in somewhere. There are great professors at many universities, and you can undoubtedly learn a tremendous amount from them. But the reality is that if you’re going to make a six-figure investment, you should demand even more value — and that comes in the form of a powerful alumni network. A while back, an ambitious young man named Scott contacted me for advice; he had been a junior staffer at an organization where I consulted. He’d applied to business school and now had a choice between a small state school where he could easily afford the tuition, or a “name brand” MBA program with a storied history, but an expensive price tag. What should he do? I’m no fan of debt, but the answer was obvious. If he was going purely for personal edification, he could probably get a wonderful education at the cheaper school. But if he was going so he could take his career to the next level, it was worth investing: a marquee name on your degree and connections to the nation’s powerbrokers are worth it.

The truth is, graduate school isn’t for everyone. It’s simply too expensive, and requires too much time and effort, to take a “why not?” attitude. It can be exactly the leverage you need if you’re an ambitious, thoughtful learner who knows what you want out of the experience. But if you’re thinking about going because you aren’t sure about your direction, or because your career isn’t advancing the way you’d like, it’s important to realize: a master’s degree isn’t a magic pill that will solve all problems. It’s more like a targeted therapy: it works hard (and gets results) when you do.

San Francisco-based Boreas Gear, Inc. is funding its latest product through Kickstarter, in an attempt to build a modular pack system that provides three bags in one. If you’re a bag enthusiast like myself (that might not be a real thing but I still have tons of them) then you’ll appreciate the idea of a simple system that makes it easy to covert a single frame into a daypack, waterproof bag and simple hydration/light carry bag quickly and easily.

The SF-based team founded Boreas Gear in 2010, with the intent of designing packs centered around versatility and good design. Founder and Creative Director Tae Kim has a design background and grew up in Alaska, where he spent plenty of time in the great outdoors. The bootlegger is designed to be the perfect companion for a whole host of outdoor activities.

Besides offering the three different pack configurations, it also boasts something called “Super-Tramp Suspension” which uses pull-straps to shift the weight carried in the pack either closer to or farther away from the back, making it possible to adjust it perfectly for either hiking or biking on the fly. If you’ve owned a specialized biking pack, then you know that the added breathing room can really come in handy, especially on longer rides.

The Super-Tramp Suspension system can then be used interchangeably with three pack tops, including the Torpedo, the Hopper and the Scrimshaw. The Torpedo is a lightweight hydration pack, which can be outfitted with a water bladder to keep you from getting thirsty on long rides or trail runs without adding too much weight. The Hopper is a daypack that has plenty of room for a lunch and gear for a full day on the mountain and the Scrimshaw is a completely submersible waterproof bag, perfect for rain, snow, or use in watersports like canoeing or kayaking.

The system is designed to be used either with any individual bag or with all three, and the project has already blown past its $10,000 funding goal. Boreas Gear has been designing and manufacturing packs for years now, so there’s relatively little risk in terms of the company delivering on its planned July ship date. Pledges for bags start at $65 for the frame + a single pack and range up depending on what options you’re interested in.

Orange has released the first version of its Libon app for Android smartphones and is adding new functionality to the iOS version.

Libon appeared for iOS in November last year, giving Orange a clear competitor to so-called over-the-top (OTT) applications such as Skype and WhatsApp. Like T-Mobile USA’s Bobsled and Telefonica’s Tu Me, the app provided free HD calls and messaging to other users of the same platform — regardless of their carrier — as well as voicemail transcription.

Now it’s available on Android as well as iOS. According to Giles Corbett of the Orange Vallée R&D department, the Android version is “completely integrated” into the native OS in a way that isn’t possible with iOS (see also, Facebook Home). “For instance, it integrates all of your incoming and outgoing GSM calls and SMSs in all of the conversations,” he noted, adding that setup, including the redirection of voicemail, could all be controlled from within the app.

On the iOS side, meanwhile, the new version — to be set live on Tuesday — will remain a step ahead of its Android counterpart, with the integration of audio chat (as in, conducting an asynchronous conversation using audio messages) and photo messaging. That said, Corbett said this functionality would be added to the Android version in the coming weeks.

I asked Corbett how Orange’s OTT efforts were keeping pace with developments such as Telefonica’s Tu Go, which gives O2 U.K. contract customers a Wi-Fi-capable app through which they can make and receive calls and texts using their existing number, with charges being integrated with their standard bill.

Corbett responded by pointing out that Libon creates a similar experience for customers of certain Orange operators. For example, customers of Orange’s low-cost Sosh brand in France can use Libon to call landlines and mobile numbers on “advantageous terms”, with call recipients seeing the caller’s standard number and — for calls to certain countries, at least — with charges coming out of their standard allowance.

Meanwhile, Orange Poland is to adopt a similar strategy, and by the end of June Libon will be integrated with core Orange services in 5 countries. For those who just want to use it as an OTT app alongside core services from other carriers, availability stretches to 95 countries. “It’s a way for Orange to reach and explore new customer bases,” Corbett said.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
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Saving a document as a PDF generally produces a very small file, which is one reason the format is such a popular way to share information.

This isn’t always the case, though. And so if it’s important your documents are as compact as they can possibly be, then you might like to try shrinking them even further, with a little help from the free (for personal and non-commercial use) ORPALIS PDF Reducer Free.

The process starts by specifying your source file, and its destination folder. Sounds straightforward enough, right? But you need to be careful.

The issue here is that ORPALIS PDF Reducer allows you to specify the same folder for your source and destination, but it doesn’t support overwriting the source file. So if you try this, you’ll find the program makes you wait for the entire compression process (that’s anything up to 50 minutes in our tests), before failing with a “can’t overwrite the document” error message. Which is just a little annoying.

Once you understand the problem, though, ORPALIS PDF Reducer is straightforward enough to use, if rather slow in processing our files. And while we found a few documents weren’t cut in size at all, others shrank by anything up to a spectacular 80% (although that kind of higher level did usually involve some level of quality loss).

The technology behind this isn’t too complicated: essentially it involves recompressing document images with a new quality and DPI setting, while removing form fields, annotations, bookmarks, embedded files and more. Although if you have issues with any of this, the Settings dialog allows you to define exactly what you’d like the program to do.

What’s more, the Settings dialog also apparently includes an option to allow for batch processing (General > Input Mode > Folder Selection). This didn’t work consistently for us, though — sometimes the files were compressed correctly, on other occasions the program seemed to be using the wrong folder path — so if you enable this, test the program carefully to make sure it’s working as you expect.

Should you try ORPALIS PDF Reducer Free, then? There is definitely some sloppy programming here, and PDF Compressor, which we looked at last year, seems far more professional (and faster, too).

Still, if you test ORPALIS PDF Reducer Free with a few small files, first, then you’ll soon learn how it works.The program provides a good level of control over how your PDFs will be compressed, and the end result is often a significant reduction in file sizes. Give it a try, see how it works for you.

Photo Credit: Arkady/Shutterstock

U.S. cable firm Liberty Global won unconditional EU regulatory approval on Monday for its $15.8 billion takeover of Virgin Media, a deal that pits the group against Rupert Murdoch’s British satellite TV operation BSkyB, Reuters reported. The European Commission said it did not have any competition concerns regarding the takeover, confirming a Reuters report last week.

(Reuters) – U.S. cable firm Liberty Global won unconditional EU regulatory approval on Monday for its $15.8 billion takeover of Virgin Media, a deal that pits the group against Rupert Murdoch’s British satellite TV operation BSkyB.

The European Commission said it did not have any competition concerns regarding the takeover, confirming a Reuters report last week.

The EU antitrust authority said this was because the companies operated cable networks in different EU countries and because of the merged group’s limited market position in wholesale TV channels in Britain and Ireland.

The companies valued the deal at $15.8 billion on February 6, the day it was announced.

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; editing by Rex Merrifield)

The post Reuters – Liberty Wins Approval for $15.8B Virgin Media Deal appeared first on peHUB.

Later this year, November 22nd to be exact, part two of The Hunger Games, titled The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, will hit the big screen. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer team has partnered with Lionsgate to set up a new IE-optimized website for the sequel to the blockbuster movie with the hope of not only getting you excited about the film but also about the “browser you loved to hate”.

The Hunger Games Explorer launches on the heels of the MTV Movie Awards which premiered the trailer. Microsoft’s Roger Capriotti says “with the global launch of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire trailer, fans can now visit The Hunger Games Explorer to be immersed in this world, track every development of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, including tweets, exclusive images and videos, and then share their thoughts and excitement with others around the world creating a global conversation”.

Meanwhile, Lionsgate’s Danielle De Palma claims “The Hunger Games Explorer is not only a place for fans to spark the conversation around Catching Fire, it is also a destination for us to continue to provide fans with new content, experiences and unprecedented behind the scenes access”.

When fans enter The Hunger Games Explorer they can manipulate the website to customize Catching Fire info to the exact way they want it. You can tailor and filter content in and out of the stream, pull in fan blogs and tweets in addition to messages from the Capitol, and interact with other fans across the globe.

While the site is optimized for Internet Explorer, it works with every other web browser, and probably just as well. Still, it was created by the IE team, along with Lionsgate’s RED Interactive Agency and, given the anticipation for the movie, it is still a win for Microsoft.

Swiss company Alpiq has asked for improved offers for two Czech power plants after bids were well below its expectations, Czech newspaper Hospodarske Noviny reported on Monday. The newspaper cited a partner in one bidding group, Petr Paukner, as saying that bids for the two plants together came in well below 400 million euros ($523.90 million).

(Reuters) – Swiss company Alpiq has asked for improved offers for two Czech power plants after bids were well below its expectations, Czech newspaper Hospodarske Noviny reported on Monday.

The newspaper cited a partner in one bidding group, Petr Paukner, as saying that bids for the two plants together came in well below 400 million euros ($523.90 million).

Paukner is owner of Czech energy trader Carbounion Bohemia, which is bidding for the Alpiq plants with two other companies. He was not available to comment.

Alpiq declined to comment on the newspaper’s report. Hospodarske Noviny said three bidders remained and had to submit improved offers by Wednesday.

The three bidders are the PURS group, consisting of Czech companies Carbounion, E-Invest and Sokolovska Uhelna; Czech energy holding EPH; and investment group Carpaterra Capital Partners.

EPH declined to comment on the report, while Carpaterra could not be reached.

Alpiq’s two Czech plants up for sale have electricity capacity of 529 MW and heating capacity of 1,072 MW.

($1 = 0.7635 euros) (Reporting by Jason Hovet and Jan Korselt; editing by Keiron Henderson)

The post Reuters – Alpiq Asks for Improved Offers for Power Plants appeared first on peHUB.

Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures, the venture arm of Saudi Aramco, has put an undisclosed amount of money into Sekal AS, a provider of support and automation software for the oil and gas industry. Details of the financing were not disclosed. Sekal is based in Sandnes, Norway, with offices in Aberdeen and Houston. Other owners in the company include IRIS, Statoil Technology Invest, and SåkorninVest.

PRESS RELEASE
Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures LLC (“SAEV”), the corporate venturing subsidiary of Saudi Aramco, today announced the closing of an investment into Sekal AS, a company that offers real time decision support and automation software, together with related consultancy and support services to the oil and gas industry.

The company is commercializing two software solutions, DrillScene and DrillTronics, used in drilling operations where rigs have real time data streaming capabilities. DrillScene is a self‐calibrating system that provides real‐time early warnings of impending problems in drilling operations. The driller can respond quicker to take corrective actions, reducing down‐time and improving performance. DrillTronics provides added automation and safeguard features to existing drilling control systems and actively controls key elements of the operation, such as draw‐work, top‐drive and mud pumps.

CEO of SAEV, Ibrahim Buainain said: “We are delighted to announce SAEV’s latest investment. We believe Sekal’s technology is truly superior to competing alternatives in the market, and will have a significant impact in increasing efficiency, reducing downtime and reducing costs in Saudi Aramco’s drilling operations.”

About Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures ‐ Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures LLC (SAEV) is the corporate venturing subsidiary of Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco), the world’s leading integrated energy company. Headquartered in Dhahran with operations in North America and Europe, SAEV’s mission is to invest globally in start‐ups and high growth companies with technologies of strategic importance to its parent, Saudi Aramco.

For more information about SAEV, please visit www.aramcoventures.com

About Sekal – Sekal supplies solutions that employ real time data from a rig to perform advanced monitoring and automated drilling by utilizing advanced models. The solutions provide value by early detection of downhole condition deterioration, either as a monitoring service or as a fully integrated solution with the drilling control system. The result is a safer and more efficient drilling process. The company was incorporated in 2011 with headquarters in Sandnes, Norway, and offices in Aberdeen and Houston. The main owners are IRIS, Statoil Technology Invest, SåkorninVest and now Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures.

The post Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures Backs Sekal appeared first on peHUB.

Dish Network has been looking to make serious inroads in the mobile market and it looks like the company has identified an appealing new option. Dish on Monday announced that it is challenging SoftBank’s plans for a Sprint merger with a bid of its own — $25.5 billion in total, which consists of $17.3 billion in cash and $8.2 billion in stock. The proposed Dish deal would give Sprint shareholders $7.00 per share, which represents a healthy premium over SoftBank’s offer of $4.03 per share. Sprint shares were up more than 12.5% in Monday’s pre-market session on the news. Dish’s full press release follows below.

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