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As a co-founder of Basho Technologies, the company behind the Riak database, Antony Falco observed that companies already had lots of databases. It makes sense, given that not every database was created equal. But Falco noticed an inherent structural problems with using multiple databases.

Keeping data isolated inside any one database prevents companies from making discoveries across multiple data sets. Plus, he said, at least one database tends to have trouble at any given time.

Earlier this year, Falco started Orchestrate.io to respond to these issues. The company provides a single API through which customers can send data from multiple databases. This way, customers can join, say, geolocation data, time-series data and tweets, drawing graph relationships and doing full-text searches on top of it all.

To build out the infrastructure to do this with multiple cloud providers and bring on customers, Portland, Ore.-based Orchestrate.io is taking on $3 million in seed funding. True Ventures is leading the round (see disclosure) alongside contributions from Frontline Ventures and Resonant Venture Partners.

Some companies were already testing out the Orchestrate.io service, although Falco declined to identify them. He said the price of using the service is tied to the number of queries per second customer make.

When it comes to competition, Falco said, “Certainly there’s Amazon.” On Amazon Web Services, customers can get a slew of tools, from RDS for relational databases to DynamoDB for nonrelational work to Elastic MapReduce for Hadoop. And, of course, if companies don’t buy into the Orchestrate.io logic, existing databases constitute challengers. But Falso has an answer for that. “Databases can do most of these queries,” he said. “The problem is, they can’t do them efficiently and at scale at the same time.”

After the company comes out of private beta, Falco thinks Orchestrate.io has the potential to be a go-to provider for lots of different kinds of data-analysis services, Falco said, just as companies look to Twilio for voice services and SendGrid for email. “(There’s a) shift of operational burden from a corporation or the end user to a service provider,” he said. “I think we’re just part of the trend. You’re going to continue to see that over the next several years.”

Disclosure: Orchestrate.io is backed by True Ventures, a venture capital firm that is an investor in the parent company of GigaOM. Om Malik, founder of GigaOM, is also a venture partner at True.

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The Novo Group has acquired Xellia Pharmaceuticals for about $700 million. The sellers are 3i and other Xellia shareholders. Xellia, of Oslo, Norway, is a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on anti-infective products.

PRESS RELEASE

OSLO & COPENHAGEN–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Xellia Pharmaceuticals (“Xellia”), a pharmaceutical group focusing on the development, manufacturing and global commercialization of anti-infective therapies, announced today that Novo A/S (“Novo”), the holding company of the Novo Group, has purchased all shares of the group for approximately US$ 700 million from 3i and other current shareholders. As a consequence of the transaction, Xellia will revert to Danish ownership with headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Since its spin-out from Alpharma Inc. in 2008, Xellia’s management and international investor 3i have successfully transformed the business from an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacturer to a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on anti-infective products. Xellia’s life-saving anti-infective products for multi-drug resistant infections address a growing global medical challenge, and the Company is a world leading supplier of Vancomycin and Colistimethate Sodium (CMS). Xellia’s products are all manufactured using fermentation-based biological processes at facilities located in Denmark, Norway, Hungary and China.
Xellia’s strategy for future growth is rooted in its leading product development competences, extensive manufacturing expertise and strong commercial partnerships. Over the past years, Xellia has built a substantial pipeline of generic anti-infective treatments, which will be advanced towards commercialization in the coming years. Novo’s investment will allow Xellia to enhance its focus on R&D and expand its global manufacturing footprint to further scale its finished-dosage-form (FDF) business.
Novo is a significant international life science investor, and the major shareholder of Novo Nordisk A/S, Novozymes A/S and Chr. Hansen Holding A/S. These companies, which have similar technology and manufacturing approaches to Xellia, are global leaders in many of the business segments in which they operate, and have experienced significant growth in recent years. As such, Novo is well positioned to support the continued growth of Xellia through its experience and long-term investment focus.
Carl-Åke Carlsson, CEO, Xellia said: “When the management team bought out Xellia in 2008, we had ambitious plans, which we were able to implement with 3i’s support, expertise and commitment. We have successfully transitioned the business in order to become a world leader in the supply of certain anti-infective products. Now, as we focus on the future and the further development of the business, including the launch of our novel antibiotics pipeline, we look forward to working with Novo and benefitting from their expertise in the life science sector.” He added, “Together with Novo we can strengthen the positive development that Xellia has achieved over the past few years, and at the same time the investment by Novo will help accelerate our developments further.”
Henrik Gürtler, CEO, Novo A/S said: “Xellia strongly complements our portfolio of significant life science companies in which we have major investments. This acquisition is well aligned with our strategy, and is one of the largest investments made by Novo A/S to date. The products that Xellia supplies are critical life-saving treatments for many patients around the globe, and are manufactured by use of fermentation technologies, which is a manufacturing approach similar to that of Novo Nordisk, Novozymes and Chr. Hansen. Xellia is a leader in its business area, and a company with a long Scandinavian heritage, which we are proud to bring back into long-term Danish ownership. We look forward to establishing a strong relationship with Xellia’s experienced management team and invest together in the future success of the Company.”
Closing of the transaction will be subject to relevant competition law approvals, and is expected to take place during the third quarter of 2013. Kromann Reumert, Latham & Watkins, PwC, NNE Pharmaplan, NNIT and Moelis & Company, acted as advisors to Novo A/S.
– Ends –
About Xellia
Xellia Pharmaceuticals is a fully integrated specialty pharmaceutical company focusing on the global anti-infective market, with over 100 years of experience and expertise in the supply of fermented and semi-synthetic finished dose products and active pharmaceutical ingredients for life-saving therapies against serious infections. The Company has growing sales in more than 70 countries to over 700 customers across the healthcare industry and for the financial year ending December 31 2012 generated revenues of US$220 million. Currently headquartered in Oslo, Norway, Xellia has global facilities including operational and manufacturing capabilities in Denmark, Hungary and China, and currently employs 900 people, of which 400 are working in Denmark.
Xellia is a leading supplier of Vancomycin and Colistimethate Sodium (CMS) which together combat life-threatening, multi-drug resistant (MDR) bacterial infections across Gram-positive and Gram-negative species. Xellia is also developing novel antibiotics effective against MDR Gram-negative bacteria in a development project with SINTEF Materials and Chemistry (Trondheim) and the Statens Serum Institut (Copenhagen), supported by a grant from the Research Council of Norway. Further information can be obtained at: www.xellia.com.
About Novo A/S
Novo A/S, the holding company in the Novo Group, is responsible for the management of the assets of the Novo Nordisk Foundation, which are currently valued at more than USD 30 billion. Novo A/S is a private limited liability company fully owned by the Novo Nordisk Foundation. Besides being the major shareholder in Novo Nordisk A/S and Novozymes A/S, Novo A/S provides seed and venture capital to development stage companies and takes significant ownership positions in well-established companies, within life science and biotechnology, as well as manages a broad portfolio of financial assets.

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ConsultingMD, a startup that connects patients with leading medical specialists, has raised a $10 million round of funding from Venrock Capital. The company, which launched earlier this year and previously raised $1 million from Harrison Metal, enables patients to seek second opinions from a network of top doctors, and to get referrals to  specialists in their own area. With the funding, the startup said it plans to further develop its technology and build out its network of elite doctors.

In contrast to startups like ZocDoc or HealthTap, which help patients find any doctor available in their area or online, ConsultingMD bills itself as service that offers access to only the doctors in the top echelon of the medical world. These physicians – who encompass the one percent of their profession – tend to be the chiefs or chairmen of the department, with publications in the top medical journals, the company says.

“The core problem is that in the highly elite world of academic specialists… access to these people is difficult [and] patients don’t know how to find them in the first place,” said CEO and co-founder Owen Tripp, who was previously COO and co-founder of Reputation.com. The company’s other co-founder is Dr. Lawrence Hofman, chief of interventional radiology at Stanford Hospital.

Through the site, patients in need of second opinion spend a few minutes describing their case, disclosing where they’ve already received care and authorizing ConsultingMD to access their medical history. Then the startup digitizes and indexes the relevant medical records (an often frustrating and dragged-out process for patients) and delivers it to the appropriate specialist on ConsultingMD.

While it can take the company an average of seven or eight days to aggregate all the records, once the doctor receives the information, Tripp said, they the doctor  can turn around a second opinion in an average of 48 hours.

For individuals coming to the site, the pricing is steep, emphasizing ConsultingMD’s positioning as an elite service – the company’s website says a second opinion costs $3,750. But the company believes its bigger opportunity is by offering the service to employers looking for a way to help their employees get better outcomes (and therefore boost productivity and lower costs).

For an additional $200, the company will also locate and schedule a priority appointment with a top specialist in a patient’s area, as well as deliver all of the necessary medical records.

For doctors, the site offers a chance to interact with other top-tier medical professionals (doctors are only admitted to the site by peer recommendation), see more cases that match their research interests and, of course, earn a little more cash. For patients, the opportunity to reach the one or two leading experts in a given field may be attractive — especially in very specific or rare medical situations. But even though the company says that outcomes for elite doctors differ substantially from outcomes for less pedigreed professionals, it’s unclear that the research backs that up.

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Blackrock, the $4 trillion U.S. fund manager, has bought private equity real estate fund MGPA in a deal that boosts its presence in Asia and continental Europe, Reuters is reporting.

(Reuters) – Blackrock, the $4 trillion U.S. fund manager, has bought private equity real estate fund MGPA in a deal that boosts its presence in Asia and continental Europe.

The combined business will have $25 billion of property under management and the transaction is due to complete later this year. No price was announced.

The real estate fund management industry has been under pressure since the financial crash and larger funds find it easier to raise money, attract high-quality staff and benefit from the efficiencies of scale to deliver the high returns demanded by investors.

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Five people are dead after an apparent bank robbery in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba went tragically wrong yesterday.

Around lunchtime yesterday, an armed man entered a branch of Bank Hapoalim in a residential area. In the ensuing standoff with police, two bank employees and two customers were killed before the gunman killed himself.

While initial reports called the incident a botched robbery, subsequent information has revealed a slightly different picture. According to the Jerusalem Post, the gunman, 40-year-old former border guard Itamar Alon, had recently been denied an extension on his credit due to an outstanding debt.

The victims were branch manager Avner Cohen, deputy manager Meir Zeitoun, and customers Anat Evan-Haim and Idan Schnitzer Sabiri.

Seven West Media Ltd, owner of Australia’s top-rated free-to-air television network, said on Tuesday that its major shareholder private equity firm KKR & Co had sold its entire A$260 million stake in the company, Reuters is reporting.

(Reuters) – Seven West Media Ltd,  owner of Australia’s top-rated free-to-air television network, said on Tuesday that its major shareholder private equity firm KKR & Co had sold its entire A$260 million stake in the company.

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co advised Seven West Media of its decision to sell its 12 percent stake following the close of the market on the Australian Securities Exchange, with brokers Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank taking orders for the stock.

“We will welcome our new shareholders following completion of KKR’s sale of its shares,” said Seven West Media Chairman Kerry Stokes in a statement.

Stokes blamed funding pressures on KKR bought about by a high Australian dollar and the fact that KKR had been unable to dispose of its shares following Seven West’s appointment of television division head Tim Worner as chief executive.

KKR spokesman Justin Reizes said the sale decision was driven by a range of factors on which the company based its initial December 2006 investment and returns sought over a planned 5-7 year stake in Australia’s most watched network.

Over the past year Seven West has been on a cost-cutting drive aimed at offsetting weaker revenues from advertising in Australia’s flagging economy and as it adapts to strong competition in the media sector from online and cable content competitors.

Shares in Seven West Media closed at A$2.28, down 3.39 percent. Bids for KKR’s holding were starting at A$2.21.
Seven West Media went public in 2011 through a merger with West Australian Newspapers. The group is 33 percent owned by Seven Group Holdings (SVW.AX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), controlled by Stokes.

In addition to the Seven Television network, Seven West also owns The West Australian newspaper, 50 percent of web site Yahoo!7, and the country’s second-largest magazine group, Pacific Magazines.

The post KKR Sells Entire Stake in Australia’s Seven West Media appeared first on peHUB.

Research company IHS iSuppli has released figures showing that solid-state drives are set to claim 33 percent of the storage market by 2017. Over this time total worldwide sales of SSDs are expected to rise from 31 million units in 2012 to 227 million.

The growth is being driven by demand for ultrabooks and other slimline systems which need powerful, compact drives. Sales should also be helped by the falling price of flash memory and the faster performance and lower power requirements of SSDs. Increasing numbers of systems being launched with convertible and touch screen formats is likely to push things further too.

IHS’s Fang Zhang reckons that conventional hard drives will still dominate due to their lower price and higher capacities. He says, “HDD shipments also will gradually pick up in the second half this year as Windows 8 and Ultrabooks gain traction among consumers, after failing to perform as expected upon launch last year.”

New technologies are starting to become affordable too with hybrid drives that combine a small SSD for fast boot speeds and caching along with a larger hard disk for general storage. Overall though despite the rise of the SSD it looks like the conventional electro-mechanical hard drive will be with us for quite a while yet.

Boston Celtics guard Terrence Williams was arrested Sunday in Washington State on charges of brandishing a firearm. According to police, the incident happened during an argument with the mother of his 10-year-old son. When Williams arrived to pick up his son, he got into an argument with the boy’s mother. During the argument Williams allegedly made threats and brandished a firearm.

Williams was later tracked down by police and arrested, though his gun was not found. He appeared in court yesterday in Kent, Washington, where a judge set his bail at $25,000.

According to the Boston Herald, officials with the Celtics have declined to comment on the situation, the organization is said to be conducting its own investigation of the incident, per policy.

Williams came to the Celtics late last season after playing for the Nets, Rockets, Kings, and a team in China. He played a handful of games – including two playoff games – last season. The Celtics have signed him to a $948,000 contract, provided he earns a spot on the team’s roster during training camp.

LogMeIn,  the company behind user-friendly web conferencing, screen sharing service and a Dropbox alternative, is about to add identity and application management capabilities to its menu.

On Tuesday, the Boston-based company is launching a preview of AppGuru which aims to help IT  deal with the burgeoning bring-your-own-application (BYOA) craze which forces admins to deal with cloud-delivered personal applications that employees use at work but may not be officially sanctioned.

AppGuru promises a central console for managing multiple apps; an easy way to create, import or move users which works with Active Directory if it’s installed; and tools for managing licenses. It also vows to provide an easy way to set policy management and granular controls as needed. That’s a mighty tall order.

Michael Simon, CEO of the Boston-based company, said LogMeIn gets invaluable perspective from both the consumer and the IT side of the BYOA divide.

“We don’t just have heavily used applications — with 55 million users — but we get visibility from consumer and IT perspectives,” Simon said.

AppGuru will manage LogMeIn’s web conferencing and collaboration application; Joinme screen sharing and Cubby, a Dropbox alternative for businesses, as well as Google Apps and Microsoft Office 365, he said.

Simon said small and medium sized businesses are the company’s sweet spot but it has some very large enterprise accounts as well. Last quarter, for example, it announced a seven-figure deal with Hewlett-Packard, for LogMeIn Rescue, the company’s’ remote support offering.

Simon did not disclose pricing but said AppGuru should be commercially available this fall.

LogMeIn may have the chops to attack both the consumer and admin side of the equation, but it also faces formidable competition on the file-sync-and-share side of its business. Dropbox, the consumer champ, is gearing up Dropbox for Business while Google and Microsoft are pushing their respective application and storage tandems; and other competitors include Accellion, Egnyte and OwnCloud. They all claim to combine Dropbox-like simplicity with enterprise management perks.

That’s probably why LogMeIn is adding enterprise perks that go beyond file storage and sync.

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On Tuesday, two and a half months after the first beta was released, Opera announced that its new WebKit-based browser for Android is now available as a “final version”. This is just one step towards a Presto-free Opera as, in mid-February, the Norwegian company revealed that it will slowly adopt the WebKit rendering engine across all of its browsers.

Opera for Android, among other new features, emphasizes content discovery by allowing its users to find (and read) various articles straight from the browser’s homescreen. Folks simply have to select their areas of interest, such as arts or technology, and Opera displays a number of stories from “relevant global and regional sources”. This is similar to what Flipboard and other apps deliver.

“Most people just see a fraction of what the web has to offer”, says the company’s executive vice president Rikard Gillemyr. “We check out the same sites every day, and you can get through with the latest news after just a short bus ride. We wanted to give people a relaxed way of discovering interesting articles and checking them out without any extra effort”.

Opera for Android now sports the compression algorithms from its Mini sibling, available through the new Off-Road mode. The feature is designed to reduce cellular data usage and ensure faster loading times, depending on the scenario (data caps or poor connection, respectively).

The app comes with a redesigned interface which is “built to the native specifications of the Android platform”, forgoing the design quirks of the older versions. There is a new combined address and search bar which can be had at either the top or the bottom of the app, easy history access as well as improvements to tabbed browsing and Speed Dial (bookmarks are “fused together” with entries). Users can also save webpages for offline reading, similar to Pocket and other apps.

Opera for Android is available to download from Google Play.

Following successful pilots, SAP will step up its hiring of people on the autistic spectrum, the German business software firm has announced. Working with an outfit called Specialisterne, the company will bring in hundreds of autistic staff around the world to work in fields such as software testing, programming and data quality assurance.

This is the latest move in what appears to be an interesting new trend. Texas-based CRM firm Alliance Data recently started seeking out workers on the autistic spectrum, as have other IT-related businesses such as the Berlin-based consultancy Auticon. SAP is the first major multinational to adopt similar hiring policies.

Because autism tends to impair the sufferer’s social abilities, it can be problematic in a work environment. As a result, many sufferers find it difficult to gain and hold down a job. However, the autistic spectrum is wide and many of those with low-level autistic spectrum disorder – such as the recently reclassified Asperger Syndrome – can function in a work setting.

People with autistic spectrum disorders often display highly focused and analytical behavior and, in the context of software testing and programming, it is these characteristics that companies such as SAP and Alliance Data are finding can work to their advantage. In its statement on Tuesday, SAP said it saw “a potential competitive advantage to leveraging the unique talents of people with autism.”

According to SAP human resources chief Luisa Delgado:

“By concentrating on the abilities that every talent brings to the table, we can redefine the way we manage diverse talents. With Specialisterne, we share a common belief that innovation comes from the ‘edges.’ Only by employing people who think differently and spark innovation will SAP be prepared to handle the challenges of the 21st century.”

SAP has previously piloted its new hiring policies in India, where it worked with Specialisterne – a Denmark-based IT consultancy specializing in employing autistic workers – to hire 6 autistic software testers. It claims the result was a boost in productivity.

SAP has also recently completed the screening process for hiring 5 autistic workers in Ireland, and is now preparing to take the program global. The company said the global expansion would begin in the U.S., Canada and Germany this year.

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ParkMe, a leading provider of real-time parking information to navigation companies and consumers and Amano McGann, a provider of off-street parking automation in the US, have merged. Angeleno Group, Fontinalis Partners and IDG Ventures are previous investors of ParkMe.

PRESS RELEASE

ParkMe, the leading provider of real-time parking information to navigation companies and consumers, and Amano McGann, the leading provider of off-street parking automation in the United States, have joined forces to bring the most comprehensive, real-time parking information to consumers nationwide.

With the largest off-street parking footprint in the industry, Amano McGann will provide ParkMe with real-time occupancy data from thousands of Amano parking installations nationwide. Amano McGann will reach millions of users who are accessing ParkMe data through ParkMe’s award-winning iOS mobile app, widget, website and its partnerships with GPS and in-car navigation systems. The data will allow drivers to find the best place to park based on location via a live map of available parking, which includes rates, hours of operation, and payment types, in addition to real-time occupancy information.

“Parking is one of the most stressful and wallet-draining experiences for any urban driver and our goal is simply to make parking as painless as possible,” said Alex Israel, COO and Co-Founder. “Integrating ParkMe with Amano McGann, which has the industry’s largest off-street parking footprint, further cements our leadership in delivering real-time parking information to even more consumers so they can easily find the closest and most economical parking available.”

“Amano McGann is committed to raising the bar in parking automation, and teaming with ParkMe will further extend our mobile innovation to reach even more users,” said Larry Feuer, President and CEO of Amano McGann. “As the mobile app leader in delivering real-time parking data, ParkMe is highly complementary for the Amano McGann portfolio. The integration of our live-parking databases enables us to improve the parking experience through real-time occupancy information.”

ParkMe allows drivers to find the best place to park based on location by providing a live map of available parking which includes parking rates, hours of operation, payment types, and real-time occupancy information for on-street meters and off-street parking lots and garages. The app, which has recently jumped into the top 10 of free navigation apps in the iTunes App Store, provides drivers with live parking information in hundreds of cities across North America and Europe. Users are able to find the perfect parking spot in more than 28,000 locations around the globe, 1,800 cities, 32 countries and seven continents. Download the free ParkMe iOS app by visiting the iTunes App Store.

For more information on the ParkMe and Amano McGann partnership, please visit ParkMe in booth #101 or Amano McGann in booth #325 at the 2013 IPI Conference & Expo in Fort Lauderdale, Florida from May 19-22, 2013. Moreover, to find parking at the conference check out ParkMe’s Ft. Lauderdale city guide.

About Amano McGann Amano McGann is the leader in parking automation and revenue control with a level of experience and service unmatched in the industry. Quality hardware and feature-rich software solutions have led to over 5,000 installations nationwide. Amano McGann has an extensive network of branch offices and distribution partners offering sales, installation, service and technical support. Amano McGann is a subsidiary of Amano Corporation, a worldwide organization with annual revenues in excess of $1 billion. Additional information about Amano McGann can be obtained from the company’s website at www.amanomcgann.com.

About ParkMe Based in Santa Monica, Calif., ParkMe is the leading provider of real-time parking information to navigation companies and consumers. Consumers can access ParkMe via GPS and in-car navigation systems, ParkMe.com, online widgets, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad app. Founded by Sam Friedman and Alex Israel, ParkMe’s mission is to make parking easier, faster and cheaper. The Company collects and aggregates data about both on-street and off-street parking, and has built the world’s most comprehensive parking database. This includes more than 28,000 worldwide locations in more than 1,800 cities, 32 countries and seven continents. ParkMe can be found on the Web at ParkMe.com, on Twitter @TheParkMeApp, and on Facebook Facebook.com/TheParkMeApp.

ParkMe is backed by a highly respected group of investors, including Fontinalis Partners, IDG Ventures and Angeleno Group. Fontinalis Partners is a leading transportation technology strategic investment firm founded by Bill Ford, Ralph Booth, Mark Schulz, Chris Cheever, and Chris Thomas. IDG Ventures is a global network of venture capital funds with approximately $5 billion under management and a portfolio of over 220 companies built over the last 15 years.

Media Contacts:

For ParkMe: Ray Yeung / Nancy Zakhary | Brainerd Communicator | 212-986-6667 | [email protected] / [email protected]

For Amano McGann: Becky Collins / Marketing Manager | 612-524-6188 | [email protected]

SOURCE ParkMe

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Global investment management firm Invesco has elected Richard Wagoner as a member of the board of directors, effective October 7, 2013. Wagoner, 60, served as chairman and chief executive officer of General Motors Corporation from May 2003 through March 2009.

PRESS RELEASE

Invesco Ltd. today announced that G. Richard (“Rick”) Wagoner, Jr. has been elected a member of the Board of Directors, effective October 7, 2013. Mr. Wagoner, 60, served as chairman and chief executive officer of General Motors Corporation from May 2003 through March 2009.

“We are extremely pleased to welcome Rick to the Invesco Board of Directors,” said Invesco Chairman of the Board Rex Adams. “He brings tremendous experience and a wealth of knowledge to his new role. His guidance will be invaluable as we work to further strengthen our ability to meet the investment needs of our clients across the globe.”

With the addition of Mr. Wagoner, the Board expands to 11 members – 10 of whom, including Mr. Wagoner, are independent. Mr. Wagoner will also join the Audit, Compensation, and the Nomination and Corporate Governance committees.

Mr. Wagoner served as chairman and chief executive officer of General Motors Corporation (“GM”) from May 2003 through March 2009, and had been president and chief executive officer since June 2000. Prior positions held at GM during his 32-year career with that company include executive vice president and president of North American operations, executive vice president, chief financial officer and head of worldwide purchasing, and president and managing director of General Motors do Brasil. Mr. Wagoner is a member of the board of directors of The Washington Post Company and several privately held companies. In addition, he is a member of the advisory boards of AEA Investors and Jefferies Investment Banking and Capital Markets Group, and he advises a number of start-up and early-stage ventures. Mr. Wagoner is chair of the board of trustees of Duke University and a member of Duke’s Fuqua School of Business Advisory Board. He is a member of the mayor of Shanghai, China’s International Business Leaders Advisory Council. Mr. Wagoner received an MBA from Harvard Business School and a bachelor’s degree from Duke University.

About Invesco Ltd. Invesco Ltd. is a leading independent global investment management firm, dedicated to helping investors worldwide achieve their financial objectives. By delivering the combined power of our distinctive investment management capabilities, Invesco provides a wide range of investment strategies and vehicles to our retail, institutional and high net worth clients around the world. Operating in more than 20 countries, the firm is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol IVZ.

SOURCE Invesco Ltd.

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Danlaw, a provider of vehicle telematics solutions, automotive electronics and embedded engineering services, has appointed Jim Street as its new chief financial officer. Reporting directly to DANLAW’s Chief Executive Officer, Raju Dandu, Street brings deep experience with securing equity investments and funding sources.

PRESS RELEASE

Danlaw, Inc. (DANLAW), a global provider of vehicle telematics solutions, automotive electronics and embedded engineering services, announced today the appointment of Jim Street as its new Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Reporting directly to DANLAW’s Chief Executive Officer, Raju Dandu, Street brings deep experience with securing equity investments and funding sources, as well as managing the financial strength of fast-growing public and private companies to DANLAW’s explosive growth and expansion activities.

Street comes to Danlaw with a strong background in financial management, business model development and multi-national accounting and controls expertise. Street’s thirty-five years of financial management experience with high-tech alternative energy start-up companies and automotive OEMs in Michigan, will help to guide and propel Danlaw’s growth and global expansion.

“Jim has demonstrated success in helping to build great businesses for more than thirty-five years and has led the finance organizations of many successful private and public companies,” said Tom Rzeznik, President of DANLAW. “He also understands how to manage the growth and global expansion of high technology businesses, which is key to helping manage DANLAW’s explosive growth. We are very excited for him to help take DANLAW through the next phase of its growth initiatives.”

Before joining the company, Street was the VP of Finance for ALTe which was engaged in the business of designing, developing and installing complete hybrid-electric powertrains into fleet applications with forecast of $2.5 Billion annual revenue. Street served in senior financial management positions with Ford Motor Company, Mazda Motors (USA) and BBK, Inc. a business advisor and restructuring company, providing financial and operational oversight to multi-billion dollar business interests within these companies.

While at Ford and Mazda, Street led the finance effort for several national labor negotiations. During his time at BBK, he led several major companies through successful restructuring initiatives. Street earned his Bachelor of Arts in Accounting from Michigan State University, and his Masters of Business Administration from Wayne State University.
About Danlaw:

Danlaw’s 300+ engineering professionals have been providing cloud-based, connected vehicle telematics solutions and embedded electronics to OEM’s and their Tier-1 supply base for over 29 years. Danlaw has global reach with facilities in the USA, UK, India and China. Danlaw’s specialty areas include telematics, infotainment, vehicle network communications, embedded systems development, testing and manufacturing. Their customers include automotive insurance and fleet companies, automotive OEMs and suppliers, worldwide.

SOURCE Danlaw, Inc.

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Orthopaedic Synergy has elected two experienced directors to its board. Guy Mayer, an experienced orthopaedic executive, will serve as the chairman of the board of directors and David Johnson, an established medical device expert, will join as a director. Orthopaedic Synergy Inc., a Raynham, Mass.-based provider of products for the orthopaedic device market is backed by Pioneer Capital Partners and Birnie Capital Partners.

PRESS RELEASE

The Board of Directors of Orthopaedic Synergy, Inc. (“OSI”) whose subsidiary companies include OMNIlife science®, Inc., Enztec, Ltd., and Praxim, SA, have elected two experienced directors to their Board. Guy Mayer, an experienced orthopaedic executive, will serve as the Chairman of the Board of Directors and David Johnson, an established medical device expert, will join as a director.

Before joining OSI as Board Chairman, Mr. Mayer served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Ascension Orthopedics, Inc. until it was acquired by Integra Life Science Holdings Corporation. Prior to that role, Mr. Mayer was President, Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Tutogen Medical, Inc. where he played an instrumental role in the sale of Tutogen to RTI Biologics, Inc. Mr. Mayer has also served as President and CEO of several other well known companies in the pharmaceutical and orthopaedic industry, including as President of Zimmer’s Global Products Group. Currently Mr. Mayer also sits on the Board of Directors of Pivot Medical, Inc.

“I welcome the opportunity to serve as Chairman of OSI’s Board of Directors, and look forward to working with the newly formed Board and the executive teams at OMNI, Enztec and Praxim. While assisting OSI to deliver on the corporate mission and goals, I plan to focus on the strategic development and governance necessary to take the next step in the evolution of OSI and its subsidiaries,” Mr. Mayer said in accepting his appointment.

The Board of Directors also appointed David Johnson as a Board member. Mr. Johnson joins the Board with a broad spectrum of corporate management expertise and over 30 years experience leading private and public medical device companies. Most recently he served as Chief Executive Officer of ConvaTec, Inc. Prior to this position he held senior level positions with Zimmer, Inc., Fisher Scientific, and Baxter Corporation. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Alliqua, Inc.

George Cipolletti, Omni’s Chief Executive Officer, stated he was thrilled with the additions of Guy and Dave to the Board of Directors. “They bring a wealth of strategic and industry experience that will help to facilitate the implementation of our aggressive growth initiatives. Their business relationships and knowledge relating to strategic transactions, private equity and the capital markets will greatly benefit the company as we move forward.”

About Orthopaedic Synergy, Inc. Orthopaedic Synergy, Inc. functions as a holding company for its subsidiaries, OMNIlife science, Inc., (USA) Enztec Limited (New Zealand) and PRAXIM, SA. (France). Together these companies represent a global reconstructive orthopaedic concern that is committed to improving clinical outcomes through the design, manufacture and global distribution of high quality orthopaedic implants, as well as instrumentation and computer and robotics based surgical delivery systems for those implants. Providing a business and financial environment that encourages innovation, engineering excellence and shared business success in our subsidiary companies is the cornerstone of our corporate philosophy.

About OMNIlife science, Inc. OMNIlife science, Inc. was founded in 1999 as an organization committed to the design, manufacture and distribution of high quality orthopaedic devices. Our corporate headquarters are located in East Taunton, Massachusetts. Our products are prescribed by orthopaedic surgeons for their patients who require total joint replacement. OMNI is ISO 13485 certified and its products are FDA cleared and CE approved. OMNI is emerging as a leader in modular hip stem technology and total knee replacement systems. We continue to challenge the design and functionality of our products based on continued advances in reconstructive surgical techniques, anatomic and biomechanical data, as well as input from surgeons. Our corporate strategic objectives include continued growth through line extensions to our hip and knee product offerings as well as the introduction of new products that will complement our current product portfolio and allow us to provide new clinical options for our customers.

SOURCE Orthopaedic Synergy, Inc.

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IntelliBreeze Software has released Gmail Notifier Pro 5.0, a major update of its Windows tool for monitoring various online accounts via the Taskbar Notification area. The tool, which allows personal users to monitor up to two supported accounts without registration, offers more than simple Google Mail notifications, and version 5.0 extends this support further by adding Microsoft Exchange and SkyDrive notifications to its feature list.

Version 5.0 also adds a built-in local RSS feed server, allowing users to pipe notifications from the program into RSS readers on other platforms, including smartphones as well as computers.

Gmail Notifier Pro 5.0 also promises better customization options, allowing users to define Notification themes using rules, so context-sensitive notifications can be sent depending on the content of the message. Also supported in this new build is the ability to define custom actions for message operations where multiple operations can be combined.

Other improvements in Gmail Notifier Pro 5.0 include the ability of the program to monitor the user’s Facebook message inbox as part of their wider Facebook profile, a switch to the new Google Drive SPI and better folder support for IMAP.

Users also get to choose their own custom encryption key for securing their Gmail Notifier Pro accounts, additional settings appearing in the Options dialogue box and a number of bug fixes, including one that boosts overall IMAP stability.

Users are also warned about the loss of the Google Reader service from July 1, but the option to use Google Reader accounts remains in the new release.

Gmail Notifier Pro 5.0 is available now as a free download for PCs running Windows XP or later with the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 or later installed in XP or Vista. The free, unregistered version is limited to personal use and supports just two accounts; users can purchase single-user Personal Licenses for $12.95+VAT and single-user Commercial Licenses for $19.95 plus VAT.

Cloud, cloud, cloud, cloud, cloud. This fairly innocuous word has become one that is bandied around with abandon, often with the misplaced notion that it adds an element of ‘cool’ that was not previously present. But is working in the cloud all it’s cracked up to be? Is it necessary? Should you care about it?

You don’t have to think back all that far to remember a time when simply being online seemed like a fairly alien concept — never mind actually working online. When the concept of Active Desktop was added to Windows 9x the notion of staying online throughout the day just to see the desktop update with the latest weather forecast, news, stock prices or other data was unimaginable.

These were the days of dialup connections; every minute online cost money and downloading files of almost any size was a somewhat painful experience.

For home users, the thought of using software that was not installed locally seemed incredibly futuristic.

Software as a service was very much in its infancy and few people could imagine that in just a few short years internet connections would have become fast enough and stable enough to be used to deliver not just downloadable files, but also streaming videos and music, on-demand television shows and even online word processors, image editors and much, much more.

But all of these things are now available to virtually everyone — and for the most part they are available completely free of charge. In some instances the concept of working online has become so commonplace that it’s easy to take some services for granted.

It’s likely the only time you really think about Gmail consciously is when you find yourself somewhere remote enough to be devoid of wifi networks and data connections.

The prevalence of online tools — particularly those from Google — means that it is very easy to take them for granted, but also become blinkered and forget just what is possible. Spend a moment thinking about Google Drive.

Put aside any anti-Google prejudices you may have and just consider what an astonishing piece of technology it is. Anyone with an internet connected computer can create a free account and then create, edit, store and share documents online.

The only software that’s needed is a web browser, everything else is taken care of by Google’s servers. How cool is that? Never forget to be astonished by the web.

With an online word processor, spreadsheet, presentation and drawing tool — and your inbox not far behind — Google is a great starting point for anyone looking to start working in the cloud. Of course, it is far from being the end of the story, and there are certainly better tools available in each of these categories, but they are a great first point of entry.

These are not just online versions of applications you need to use every day, the fact that they are online tool means that it is possible to introduce features such as collaborative working and much more.

Need an image editor? There are plenty to choose from Aviary is a great example, but even Adobe has got in on the act and made a version of Photoshop available online.

Received a file that is in a format you don’t have the software to open? Rather than seeking out the program you need, you could instead turn to any of a number of online for conversion tools which will quickly and painlessly provide you with a file you can open up online or using your preferred application.

Comet Docs is one such online conversion service, but there are plenty of others to choose from.

Working online using the tools and services is a great solution when you’re on the move or if you’re looking to keep software costs to a minimum.

Of course there will be some tools you use that do not have online cousins. This does not mean that you need to find a new way of working as remote access is always an option.

Even this does not mean that you need to have a great deal of traditional software installed on your laptop. If you have Chrome as your web browser you can use a handy extension to remotely tap into your desktop computer at home or in the office — a decent alternative to the likes of VNC. And Microsoft’s SkyDrive has remote access baked in too.

So, could you work solely with cloud based tools? In theory, there is no reason why many day to day tasks could not be performed in this way. Could I do it? To be honest, I’m not sure. I do have a great deal of time for Google products in general, but whenever I have tried to switch to using Google Docs as my primary office suite, I always find something that makes me switch back to using Microsoft Office.

At a very basic level this could be because of a simple difference between the way online and offline programs work. Integration with cloud storage services is outrageously useful for anyone working on multiple computers, but one issue that I tend to run into time and time again is when switching between tasks.

Having used Windows for approaching two decades, Alt-tabbing between apps is something I do without a second thought. This is slightly different to working in a browser tab. When I’m researching something online and making notes in a Google document, I frequently find that I will try Alt-tabbing from the website I’m reading to try to reach my word processor.

Of course, there’s nothing to stop me pulling me out a tab of my browser so I can then switch between two windows, but this is yet to become second nature. Memory muscle can be hard to re-train.

But working in the cloud does not just mean finding online, browser-friendly tools that you can use to replace familiar desktop software, there are advantages to be found in tools that make use of cloud-based, shared information.

System optimization tool Soluto makes great use of shared information to help provide a better experience for all of its users. Much like an antivirus tool uses a definitions database to cross-check finding, so this tool uses information gathered from computers all over the world to help provide the best system security and optimization advice.

Speaking of security, Panda Cloud Antivirus (like a growing number of similar tools) takes its definitions online. Rather than requiring users to download updates, the most recent definitions can always be accessed from Panda’s servers.

This takes the onus of being up to date away from the end user, thereby helping to increase overall security levels; in theory at least.

So… what do you think? Is there additional value to be found in tools and services that make use of ‘the cloud’? Are there any programs you have dropped in favor of online alternatives? Is the ‘cloud’ tag nothing more than a faddish label? Could you ditch traditional software entirely? Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below.

Photo Credit: olly/Shutterstock

Flickr is the service Yahoo forgot about between its latest Mail and homepage redesigns. It’s boring, outdated, bland, ugly and uninviting and these are just a couple of the words that cross my mind right now. Thankfully, Flickr wants to change all that with the latest revamped version, announced late-yesterday. You know, maybe the cool kids will want to hang out again.

The biggest change comes from the new website, which drops the old design. It’s now fresh, simple and modern and gives the cloud service character. Big photos in the stream, menu bar on top and the usual suspects on the right — Explore, Flickr Blog and a list of people you may (want to) know — dominate the uncluttered experience. Friends get a similarly-styled profile page which emphasizes shared content.

The other biggest change is that users now get 1 TB of cloud storage, for free, in order to upload content with “no limited pixels, no cramped formats, no memories that fall flat”. That is a nice feature considering that modern mobile devices and dedicated cameras churn out pretty large photos compared to the days of old.

Flickr, however, does not allow users to upload 1080p videos longer than three minutes. That is a pretty annoying limitation which may keep some folks away. After all, what good is 1 TB of free storage if users can’t fill it up with content?

To complete its renaissance, Flickr also announced a new Android app which comes with a redesigned interface. It is available to download from Google Play.

Orange Business Services has expanded its Flexible Computing infrastructure-as-a-service product to North America and Asia, targeting multinationals with a presence across those continents and Europe and South America, where the platform is already available.

As can be expected with that sort of customer base, France Telecom’s business services arm is highlighting global business continuity support as the main reason for choosing its IaaS over the likes of Amazon or Rackspace. As the company’s international cloud chief, Chris McKay, told me, configurability is also a selling point.

“There are no small, medium or large instances. You pay for what you use, but you don’t have to pay for steps in instances,” McKay said.

Regarding competition from other telcos, particularly others from Europe such as BT and Deutsche Telekom, he stressed the “industrialized” nature of Orange’s offering – “we provide a catalog for the customer which has granularity of managed services which the customer can choose, from the OS to middleware to applications” – and the fact that Orange manages its own cloud data centers around the world rather than turning to outsourcing in certain locations.

Orange already has around 500 customers for Flexible Computing, which allows both self-managed and fully managed usage. The platform is based on in-house technology, but McKay said Orange was also looking at “other avenues”.

“Right now we’re carrying out studies,” he said. “[We will try] possibly OpenStack and a few others for an internal cloud solution at France Telecom in the next four months, where we’re going to evaluate what the right direction is for the future.”

According to an Orange Business Services statement on the North American and Asian expansion, the company is on track to rake in €500 million ($644 million) in cloud revenues in 2015. It managed €113 million in 2012, which was a third up on the year before.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
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IRS official Lois Lerner who heads the tax exempt division of the IRS will be invoking Fifth Amendment protections under the Bill of Rights to avoid incriminating herself in federal testimony, reports the LA Times. What makes this such a hilarious example of hypocrisy…