Waterloo Tech Digest - February 9, 2010
In this issue:
Read the latest Waterloo tech news stories every day as they happen (links to 85 items in the last month, including profiles of SparkMatrix, eSentire, IMS, and RIM's "spring surprise")
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
S P O N S O R S
RISK FREE LEAD GENERATION
From sales opportunity development to increasing attendance for events, Virtual Causeway accelerates your sales process! With a focus on selling and marketing complex services and technology, we guarantee a consistent and reliable flow of quality leads - assuring that your pipeline is constantly full. Contact us today to learn how we can help connect you with your next customer. Call 519-886-1600 ext. 405 or email marketing@v-causeway.com for details.
AERO CORPORATE BENEFITS - Your Employee Benefits Solutions Provider
Located in Waterloo, we've served the KW technology community for over 20 years, providing employee benefits solutions to companies large and small. Our mission is simple. Help our clients succeed by doing what we do best: -- Design and monitor programs that attract & retain the most qualified employees -- Contain costs of employee benefits, retirement plans, and HR support -- Provide employee-level support & advice to help you manage risk & compliance. Please contact Herb Goedecke at 519.489.2376 x11 or herbg@aero-corp.com for details.
GO BEYOND STAFFING
For over 30 years, Procom has been matching people with companies, for jobs that are a perfect fit - contract, full-time, or part-time. We partner with large and small companies across North America, including some of the world's best-known enterprises, to provide a range of services, training tools, and the ideal candidates to help them flourish. We've been named one of Canada's 50 Best Managed Companies and go beyond staffing to look strategically at the processes and people that will truly help a company succeed. Phone: 519.885.4331.
DID ANYONE READ THIS AD? TELL US.
Twitter #mfxad
mfxad@mfxpartners.com
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[1]---------------------------------------------------------------
Avvasi raises $15M, prepares to launch product next week
February 1, 2010
Avvasi has closed a $15 million round of funding, with follow-on investments from Tech Capital Partners and Celtic House, along with a first-time contribution from the Ontario Emerging Technologies Fund (OETF), the provincial government's $250 million co-investment fund.
Avvasi was founded two years ago by Mate Prgin, Alex Leyn and Michael Gallant, who had previously worked together at VideoLocus and PixStream (companies that had been funded by Tech Capital and Celtic House, respectively). It raised seed funding a few months later.
The company will be unveiling its first product, Q-Vue, next week at Mobile World Congress 2010 in Barcelona. It says Q-Vue enables wireless carriers to measure mobile video quality of experience, giving operators "complete and comprehensive insight into their ability to deliver on QoE expectations for video and other mobile applications. The solution identifies mobile video traffic patterns and subscriber QoE without the need for drive testing."
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S P O N S O R
GOWLINGS & AVVASI
Gowlings was pleased to assist Avvasi Inc. in completing its $15 million Series "B" financing with Celtic House Venture Partners, Tech Capital Partners and the Ontario Emerging Technology Fund. Gowlings' Waterloo Region Technology Law Group provides sophisticated, practical and timely advice in all areas of technology law to a broad range of clients, from start-ups to public companies. 40 professionals serving Waterloo Region and Guelph (over 700 professionals nationwide). The Right People. Right Here.
Contact David.Petras@gowlings.com or Sean.Gomes@gowlings.com at 519-576-6910.
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[2]---------------------------------------------------------------
Sandvine sales up 35% in 2009
January 14, 2010
A good end to the fiscal year for Sandvine, with sales of $19.0 million in the quarter ended November 30 (Q4 09). Sales were up 19% from the previous quarter and 2% from last year. Net loss in the quarter was $4.7 million, which included a previously announced $1.7 million charge from the surrender and cancellation of 780,000 stock options.
Three companies accounted for 46% of sales -- about the same as in Q3, with two of those companies repeating among Sandvine's three largest customers. DSL was Sandvine's largest customer segment in the quarter, while the wireless segment dropped from a strong Q3 but was still the second largest market for Sandvine in the quarter, ahead of cable. Of the eight new customers won in the quarter, six were wireless service providers and the other two were DSL.
For the year, Sandvine sales of $68.8 million were up 35% from 2008. Net loss for the year was $19.5 million -- about the same as a year ago. Sales to DSL and wireless customers accounted for nearly two-thirds of all revenue, up from just under half last year.
Sandvine ended the year with $85.8 million in cash and securities.
[3]---------------------------------------------------------------
Open Text quarterly sales jump to nearly US$250M
February 3, 2010
Open Text also reported a solid quarter, earning US$21.2 million on sales of US$247.8 million in the period ended December 31 (Q2 10). Sales were up 19% from last year and 17% from the previous quarter. The company had six million-dollar licensing deals in the quarter.
Operations generated US$32.5 million in cash and Open Text ended the quarter with a cash balance of US$247.6 million.
[4]---------------------------------------------------------------
Arise raises an additional $900K, wins Cambridge contract
January 14 & 26, February 2, 2010
Arise has taken three more draws from its equity funding facility with Haverstock Master Fund, receiving an additional $900,000 from the issuance of 3.92 million shares. That's on top of the $250,000 raised early in January that was mentioned in the last digest.
The price of Arise shares has fallen with each draw, dropping a total of 10% in the month between the first and fourth draw.
Arise plans to take another $250,000 draw next week, bringing the total to $1.4 million.
Haverstock buys shares from Arise at a discount to the market price and can then sell them on the open market (see October 6 digest).
Arise also announced that it won the contract with the Region of Waterloo to install a 150kW rooftop solar system at the Regional Operations Centre on Maple Grove Road in Cambridge. The Region received 19 bids on the project, six from firms within Waterloo Region (including Canadian Solar). The system is expected to be operational by the middle of the year.
[5]---------------------------------------------------------------
Moxy Media acquisition part of Toronto company's IPO plans
January 25, 2010
Guelph's Moxy Media was at the centre of a planned IPO for Toronto's Avid Life Media. The Globe and Mail reported that Avid Life was trying to woo investors for a $60 million IPO that would see the company acquire Moxy Media shortly after the offering closed.
Avid Life calls itself "a network of targeted niche brands with highly engaged users," but, despite its best efforts, just about everyone else was calling it "the company behind Ashley Madison" -- the website that helps married people have affairs. The headline on the Globe story was "Adultery website owner aims for listing." Avid Life acquired Ashley Madison in 2007 and also bought the popular HotOrNot in 2008.
Reuters subsequently reported that IPO plans were put on hold after Avid Life received a lukewarm response from investors.
As part of the investor sales pitch, it was disclosed that Moxy Media had sales of $192 million and EDITDA of $27 million in 2009 (both far higher than Avid Life's numbers). Moxy Media evolved out of Geosign and says it runs "more than 300" websites, with the actual number thought to be more than an order of magnitude higher than 300.
[6]---------------------------------------------------------------
Dalsa ends challenging year with small profit
January 28, 2020
An optimistic end to a rough fiscal year for Dalsa, with the company reporting earnings of $156,000 on sales of $43.4 million in the quarter ended December 31 (Q4 09). Sales were up 6% from the previous quarter and down 6% from a year ago and were the highest of all four quarters in the year.
Operations lost $1.3 million in Q4, with all of that loss coming from a restructuring charge in Dalsa's Semiconductor business. A $1.2 million recovery of earlier charges related to Dalsa's discontinued digital cinema business put it back into the black. The company said it was able to negotiate settlements on some obligations of the digital cinema business for less than the contracted amounts.
Operations generated $633,000 in cash and Dalsa spent $3.2 million on property and equipment, mostly relating to its 200mm MEMS production in Quebec. It ended the quarter with $8.5 million in cash.
For the year, Dalsa earned $1.7 million on sales of $162.5 million, down 21% from 2008. Operational loss for the year was $633,000, and in addition to the digital cinema gains in Q4, the company's bottom line was aided by gains from the sale of land to RIM earlier in the year.
Backlog at year-end was $79.5 million, with more of the total booked for delivery in the short-term than was the case a year ago.
[7]---------------------------------------------------------------
RDM reports quarterly loss
February 5, 2010
RDM lost $489,000 on sales of $5.7 million in the quarter ended December 31 (Q1 10). Sales were flat from the previous quarter and down 20% from a year ago.
The company shipped 5,800 scanner units in the quarter, a big drop from a year ago but enough to make digital imaging products RDM's largest business segment, contributing 53% of revenue. After growing steadily over the last few years, transaction volumes on RDM's ITMS system showed a small sequential decline for the second straight quarter. Sales from RDM's long-standing quality assurance segment fell to just $251,000 or 4% of sales.
Operations generated $558,000 in cash, boosting RDM's cash levels to $16.2 million.
Doug Fisher, who has been with RDM since 2001, was made acting sales VP, following the departure of John Mamalakis, who had held that position for nearly nine years.
[8]---------------------------------------------------------------
Com Dev sales up 14% in 2009; Ainsworth steps down from board
January 11, 2010
The full results for Com Dev in the quarter ended October 31 (Q4 09) were in line with the preliminary results announced at the end of November (see December 7 digest). The company earned $858,000 on sales of $58.3 million. Sales were down 5% from the previous quarter and 2% from a year ago.
For the year, Com Dev earned $15.3 million on sales of $240.4 million, up 14% from 2008. Of the 29 satellite programs announced in 2009, Com Dev won work on 20 and could end up with contracts for up to seven more. In 2008, of the 35 satellite programs, Com Dev worked on 26 and is still in the running for two others.
It ended the year with $21.4 million in cash.
Com Dev also announced that Keith Ainsworth has stepped down from its board. Ainsworth joined Com Dev in 1975, became president in 1990, and was CEO from 1999 to 2002. He also served as chairman from 2005 to 2009.
Claude Séguin, SVP at Montreal's CGI Group (which has an office in Waterloo) and a former Quebec Deputy Finance Minister, has joined Com Dev's board.
[9]---------------------------------------------------------------
STOCK REPORT: Dalsa, Biorem shares bounce back to 2008 levels
January 2010
Not much movement in stock prices in the month, but there was something notable about the few that did move. Investors seem to be optimistic that the worst for Dalsa is behind the company, as they pushed the company's shares to their highest level in the last year. Dalsa stock finished January with its highest month-end price since August 2008.
A similar story with Biorem shares, which have already passed their high point of 2009 and ended the month with their best month-end price since September 2008.
For the month of January:
Biorem [TSXV: BRM] +19%
Dalsa [TSX: DSA] +5%
RDM [TSX: RC] +1%
Com Dev [TSX: CDV] +1%
Sandvine [TSX: SVC] +1%
Descartes [TSX: DSG] 0%
===============================
Open Text [TSX: OTC] -1%
--S&P TSX VENTURE INDEX -2%
ATS [TSX: ATA] -3%
MKS [TSX: MKX] -4%
RIM [TSX: RIM] -5%
--S&P TSX COMPOSITE INDEX -6%
Arise [TSX: APV] -15%
TurboSonic [OTCBB: TSTA] -17%
At the bottom of the list, TurboSonic shares gave back all the gains made in December that had allowed them to snatch the title of best performer of 2009. And Arise shares ended the month at 23 cents -- their lowest month-end price in four-and-a-half years.
Companies with headquarters outside the area:
Agfa-Gevaert [Brussels: AGFA] +16%
NCR [NYSE: NCR] +8%
===================================
Ansys [Nasdaq: ANSS] -4%
Intel [Nasdaq: INTC] -5%
Oracle [Nasdaq: ORCL] -6%
Sybase [NYSE: SY] -6%
McAfee [NYSE: MFE] -7%
Electronic Arts [Nasdaq: ERTS] -8%
T-Ray Science [TSXV: THZ] -10%
Blue Coat [Nasdaq: BCSI] -14%
Google [Nasdaq: GOOG] -15%
Acorn Energy [Nasdaq: ACFN] -15%
ON Semiconductor [Nasdaq: ONNN] -18%
[10]---------------------------------------------------------------
Startup Notes
Miscellaneous Tidbits
- Avvasi raises $15M, prepares to launch product next week
- Sandvine sales up 35% in 2009
- Open Text quarterly sales jump to nearly US$250M
- Arise raises an additional $900K, wins Cambridge contract
- Moxy Media acquisition part of Toronto company's IPO plans
- Dalsa ends challenging year with small profit
- RDM reports quarterly loss
- Com Dev sales up 14% in 2009; Ainsworth steps down from board
- STOCK REPORT: Dalsa, Biorem shares bounce back to 2008 levels
- Startup notes from Clearpath Robotics, T-Ray Science, PostRank, Tungle
- Miscellaneous tidbits from SMARTsoft, Restaurantica, Desire2Learn, Christie, Athena
Read the latest Waterloo tech news stories every day as they happen (links to 85 items in the last month, including profiles of SparkMatrix, eSentire, IMS, and RIM's "spring surprise")
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
S P O N S O R S
RISK FREE LEAD GENERATION
From sales opportunity development to increasing attendance for events, Virtual Causeway accelerates your sales process! With a focus on selling and marketing complex services and technology, we guarantee a consistent and reliable flow of quality leads - assuring that your pipeline is constantly full. Contact us today to learn how we can help connect you with your next customer. Call 519-886-1600 ext. 405 or email marketing@v-causeway.com for details.
AERO CORPORATE BENEFITS - Your Employee Benefits Solutions Provider
Located in Waterloo, we've served the KW technology community for over 20 years, providing employee benefits solutions to companies large and small. Our mission is simple. Help our clients succeed by doing what we do best: -- Design and monitor programs that attract & retain the most qualified employees -- Contain costs of employee benefits, retirement plans, and HR support -- Provide employee-level support & advice to help you manage risk & compliance. Please contact Herb Goedecke at 519.489.2376 x11 or herbg@aero-corp.com for details.
GO BEYOND STAFFING
For over 30 years, Procom has been matching people with companies, for jobs that are a perfect fit - contract, full-time, or part-time. We partner with large and small companies across North America, including some of the world's best-known enterprises, to provide a range of services, training tools, and the ideal candidates to help them flourish. We've been named one of Canada's 50 Best Managed Companies and go beyond staffing to look strategically at the processes and people that will truly help a company succeed. Phone: 519.885.4331.
DID ANYONE READ THIS AD? TELL US.
Twitter #mfxad
mfxad@mfxpartners.com
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
[1]---------------------------------------------------------------
Avvasi raises $15M, prepares to launch product next week
February 1, 2010
Avvasi has closed a $15 million round of funding, with follow-on investments from Tech Capital Partners and Celtic House, along with a first-time contribution from the Ontario Emerging Technologies Fund (OETF), the provincial government's $250 million co-investment fund.
Avvasi was founded two years ago by Mate Prgin, Alex Leyn and Michael Gallant, who had previously worked together at VideoLocus and PixStream (companies that had been funded by Tech Capital and Celtic House, respectively). It raised seed funding a few months later.
The company will be unveiling its first product, Q-Vue, next week at Mobile World Congress 2010 in Barcelona. It says Q-Vue enables wireless carriers to measure mobile video quality of experience, giving operators "complete and comprehensive insight into their ability to deliver on QoE expectations for video and other mobile applications. The solution identifies mobile video traffic patterns and subscriber QoE without the need for drive testing."
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
S P O N S O R
GOWLINGS & AVVASI
Gowlings was pleased to assist Avvasi Inc. in completing its $15 million Series "B" financing with Celtic House Venture Partners, Tech Capital Partners and the Ontario Emerging Technology Fund. Gowlings' Waterloo Region Technology Law Group provides sophisticated, practical and timely advice in all areas of technology law to a broad range of clients, from start-ups to public companies. 40 professionals serving Waterloo Region and Guelph (over 700 professionals nationwide). The Right People. Right Here.
Contact David.Petras@gowlings.com or Sean.Gomes@gowlings.com at 519-576-6910.
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
[2]---------------------------------------------------------------
Sandvine sales up 35% in 2009
January 14, 2010
A good end to the fiscal year for Sandvine, with sales of $19.0 million in the quarter ended November 30 (Q4 09). Sales were up 19% from the previous quarter and 2% from last year. Net loss in the quarter was $4.7 million, which included a previously announced $1.7 million charge from the surrender and cancellation of 780,000 stock options.
Three companies accounted for 46% of sales -- about the same as in Q3, with two of those companies repeating among Sandvine's three largest customers. DSL was Sandvine's largest customer segment in the quarter, while the wireless segment dropped from a strong Q3 but was still the second largest market for Sandvine in the quarter, ahead of cable. Of the eight new customers won in the quarter, six were wireless service providers and the other two were DSL.
For the year, Sandvine sales of $68.8 million were up 35% from 2008. Net loss for the year was $19.5 million -- about the same as a year ago. Sales to DSL and wireless customers accounted for nearly two-thirds of all revenue, up from just under half last year.
Sandvine ended the year with $85.8 million in cash and securities.
[3]---------------------------------------------------------------
Open Text quarterly sales jump to nearly US$250M
February 3, 2010
Open Text also reported a solid quarter, earning US$21.2 million on sales of US$247.8 million in the period ended December 31 (Q2 10). Sales were up 19% from last year and 17% from the previous quarter. The company had six million-dollar licensing deals in the quarter.
Operations generated US$32.5 million in cash and Open Text ended the quarter with a cash balance of US$247.6 million.
[4]---------------------------------------------------------------
Arise raises an additional $900K, wins Cambridge contract
January 14 & 26, February 2, 2010
Arise has taken three more draws from its equity funding facility with Haverstock Master Fund, receiving an additional $900,000 from the issuance of 3.92 million shares. That's on top of the $250,000 raised early in January that was mentioned in the last digest.
The price of Arise shares has fallen with each draw, dropping a total of 10% in the month between the first and fourth draw.
Arise plans to take another $250,000 draw next week, bringing the total to $1.4 million.
Haverstock buys shares from Arise at a discount to the market price and can then sell them on the open market (see October 6 digest).
Arise also announced that it won the contract with the Region of Waterloo to install a 150kW rooftop solar system at the Regional Operations Centre on Maple Grove Road in Cambridge. The Region received 19 bids on the project, six from firms within Waterloo Region (including Canadian Solar). The system is expected to be operational by the middle of the year.
[5]---------------------------------------------------------------
Moxy Media acquisition part of Toronto company's IPO plans
January 25, 2010
Guelph's Moxy Media was at the centre of a planned IPO for Toronto's Avid Life Media. The Globe and Mail reported that Avid Life was trying to woo investors for a $60 million IPO that would see the company acquire Moxy Media shortly after the offering closed.
Avid Life calls itself "a network of targeted niche brands with highly engaged users," but, despite its best efforts, just about everyone else was calling it "the company behind Ashley Madison" -- the website that helps married people have affairs. The headline on the Globe story was "Adultery website owner aims for listing." Avid Life acquired Ashley Madison in 2007 and also bought the popular HotOrNot in 2008.
Reuters subsequently reported that IPO plans were put on hold after Avid Life received a lukewarm response from investors.
As part of the investor sales pitch, it was disclosed that Moxy Media had sales of $192 million and EDITDA of $27 million in 2009 (both far higher than Avid Life's numbers). Moxy Media evolved out of Geosign and says it runs "more than 300" websites, with the actual number thought to be more than an order of magnitude higher than 300.
[6]---------------------------------------------------------------
Dalsa ends challenging year with small profit
January 28, 2020
An optimistic end to a rough fiscal year for Dalsa, with the company reporting earnings of $156,000 on sales of $43.4 million in the quarter ended December 31 (Q4 09). Sales were up 6% from the previous quarter and down 6% from a year ago and were the highest of all four quarters in the year.
Operations lost $1.3 million in Q4, with all of that loss coming from a restructuring charge in Dalsa's Semiconductor business. A $1.2 million recovery of earlier charges related to Dalsa's discontinued digital cinema business put it back into the black. The company said it was able to negotiate settlements on some obligations of the digital cinema business for less than the contracted amounts.
Operations generated $633,000 in cash and Dalsa spent $3.2 million on property and equipment, mostly relating to its 200mm MEMS production in Quebec. It ended the quarter with $8.5 million in cash.
For the year, Dalsa earned $1.7 million on sales of $162.5 million, down 21% from 2008. Operational loss for the year was $633,000, and in addition to the digital cinema gains in Q4, the company's bottom line was aided by gains from the sale of land to RIM earlier in the year.
Backlog at year-end was $79.5 million, with more of the total booked for delivery in the short-term than was the case a year ago.
[7]---------------------------------------------------------------
RDM reports quarterly loss
February 5, 2010
RDM lost $489,000 on sales of $5.7 million in the quarter ended December 31 (Q1 10). Sales were flat from the previous quarter and down 20% from a year ago.
The company shipped 5,800 scanner units in the quarter, a big drop from a year ago but enough to make digital imaging products RDM's largest business segment, contributing 53% of revenue. After growing steadily over the last few years, transaction volumes on RDM's ITMS system showed a small sequential decline for the second straight quarter. Sales from RDM's long-standing quality assurance segment fell to just $251,000 or 4% of sales.
Operations generated $558,000 in cash, boosting RDM's cash levels to $16.2 million.
Doug Fisher, who has been with RDM since 2001, was made acting sales VP, following the departure of John Mamalakis, who had held that position for nearly nine years.
[8]---------------------------------------------------------------
Com Dev sales up 14% in 2009; Ainsworth steps down from board
January 11, 2010
The full results for Com Dev in the quarter ended October 31 (Q4 09) were in line with the preliminary results announced at the end of November (see December 7 digest). The company earned $858,000 on sales of $58.3 million. Sales were down 5% from the previous quarter and 2% from a year ago.
For the year, Com Dev earned $15.3 million on sales of $240.4 million, up 14% from 2008. Of the 29 satellite programs announced in 2009, Com Dev won work on 20 and could end up with contracts for up to seven more. In 2008, of the 35 satellite programs, Com Dev worked on 26 and is still in the running for two others.
It ended the year with $21.4 million in cash.
Com Dev also announced that Keith Ainsworth has stepped down from its board. Ainsworth joined Com Dev in 1975, became president in 1990, and was CEO from 1999 to 2002. He also served as chairman from 2005 to 2009.
Claude Séguin, SVP at Montreal's CGI Group (which has an office in Waterloo) and a former Quebec Deputy Finance Minister, has joined Com Dev's board.
[9]---------------------------------------------------------------
STOCK REPORT: Dalsa, Biorem shares bounce back to 2008 levels
January 2010
Not much movement in stock prices in the month, but there was something notable about the few that did move. Investors seem to be optimistic that the worst for Dalsa is behind the company, as they pushed the company's shares to their highest level in the last year. Dalsa stock finished January with its highest month-end price since August 2008.
A similar story with Biorem shares, which have already passed their high point of 2009 and ended the month with their best month-end price since September 2008.
For the month of January:
Biorem [TSXV: BRM] +19%
Dalsa [TSX: DSA] +5%
RDM [TSX: RC] +1%
Com Dev [TSX: CDV] +1%
Sandvine [TSX: SVC] +1%
Descartes [TSX: DSG] 0%
===============================
Open Text [TSX: OTC] -1%
--S&P TSX VENTURE INDEX -2%
ATS [TSX: ATA] -3%
MKS [TSX: MKX] -4%
RIM [TSX: RIM] -5%
--S&P TSX COMPOSITE INDEX -6%
Arise [TSX: APV] -15%
TurboSonic [OTCBB: TSTA] -17%
At the bottom of the list, TurboSonic shares gave back all the gains made in December that had allowed them to snatch the title of best performer of 2009. And Arise shares ended the month at 23 cents -- their lowest month-end price in four-and-a-half years.
Companies with headquarters outside the area:
Agfa-Gevaert [Brussels: AGFA] +16%
NCR [NYSE: NCR] +8%
===================================
Ansys [Nasdaq: ANSS] -4%
Intel [Nasdaq: INTC] -5%
Oracle [Nasdaq: ORCL] -6%
Sybase [NYSE: SY] -6%
McAfee [NYSE: MFE] -7%
Electronic Arts [Nasdaq: ERTS] -8%
T-Ray Science [TSXV: THZ] -10%
Blue Coat [Nasdaq: BCSI] -14%
Google [Nasdaq: GOOG] -15%
Acorn Energy [Nasdaq: ACFN] -15%
ON Semiconductor [Nasdaq: ONNN] -18%
[10]---------------------------------------------------------------
Startup Notes
- The Husky A100 unmanned vehicle from Clearpath Robotics will be used by the Institute for Aerospace Studies at the University of Toronto to test 3D mapping algorithms to be used on the lunar surface.
- T-Ray Science is keeping its Waterloo connection and has hired Tom Walker as SVP of business development. Walker was formerly CEO of RapidLabs and was previously with Agfa/Mitra. At the same time, T-Ray announced the departure of CTO Daryoosh Saeedkia, who is part of UW's Microwave and Terahertz Photonics Integrated System Lab. Technical development at the company will be led by Abdorreza Heidari and Mohammad Esmaeili-Rad, who both received their doctoral degrees at UW.
- PostRank announced its Top Blogs of 2009 award winners, listing thousands of blogs in hundreds of categories, ranked by "social engagement" -- the level of discussion and commentary across the Web generated by blog posts.
- Tungle added Lotus Notes integration to its scheduling/calendar sharing application. It made the announcement at IBM's Lotusphere 2010 in Orlando, Fla.
Miscellaneous Tidbits
- Kitchener agribusiness software developer dbc SMARTsoftware has been acquired by Open Link Financial of Long Island, New York. dbc president Maurice Boughton will continue to manage the business, now called SMARTsoft, with Andy Joakim remaining CTO. No financial details were disclosed. Open Link, a software company founded in 1992, had filed in 2008 to raise US$200 million through an IPO but cancelled those plans last summer. It reported revenue of US$139 million in 2007 and US$90 million in the first half of 2008.
- Restaurantica, one of the sites that Geosign founder Tim Nye took with him when he founded eMedia Interactive, has been acquired by Yellow Pages Group. Restaurantica staff have joined YPG, including Lance Mohring, who had been with Geosign and eMedia since 2006. He becomes director of digital products at YPG. According to the release, Restaurantica gets 540,000 visits and over 1.7 million page views each month.
- Desire2Learn announced that it will be moving to The Tannery later this year. It will be a short move for the company, which is already based in downtown Kitchener.
- Christie won the NRC-IRAP Canadian Innovation Award for New Technology at the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters awards in Ottawa. It received the award for its Matrix StIM simulation projection system.
- Athena Software has been selected by Relationships Australia to provide web based, integrated case management software for its family counseling centers.
posted by Gary Will at 1:11 AM
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