Dudu Mimran Blog

After I read the post Google to Compete With Paypal (about the recent announcement of Google Wallet, a service that is expected to compete with eBay’s PayPal) a long time thought popped.

Does the fact that Google now offers an e-Wallet service means their users will buy-in automatically. If I am a person that goes to Google to look for something, am I in the right state of mind to start using every service they offer just because I am there?

Although Google enjoys a teriffic launching pad (instant feedback by millions of users voting with their clicks), still there is a fine line between services that fits users’ perception on Google and sometimes successfully extends their positioning in a good way. And there are those services that make you feel like “why does Gap sell milk and orange juice?” and erodes the long time built positioning. One time Eric Schmidt took pride in their innovation strategy that enables anyone to work on anything they think is important; this is truly a double edged sword.

Anyway, I don’t think that we can assume automatically that every service a company like Google adds to their portfolio will be a viable competitor to other companies with different positioning as well as different state of mind and expectations of their users.

Still, the ease of launching new web services are tempting but seem to raise important questions on the way customers are segmented, positioning extension and erosion.

And maybe a unique strategy of innovation that takes into consideration a new “ease of market access” will emerge.

Update: See BubbleGeneration on the move Google vs PayPal OK and SiliconBeat Whitman on Google Wallet.

See Koranteng’s Toli: On The Limitations Of Lotus Notes On The Web.

ASP trend counters software consolidation infoworld

The New Technorati Is Up! FeldThoughts

Stealth Start-Ups Suck ? Yeah, right. softtechvc

Microsoft and Adobe to square off? news.com

CA preps all-in-one bundles security and backup computerworld

Microsoft Merges Virtual Earth With MSN Search microsoft-watch

Microsoft’s MSN delivers local search option infoworld

Browser market share in May 2005: IE - 87.23%, Firefox - 8% - blogs.zdnet

Intel Talks Up Universal Wireless newsfactor

Wi-Fi Security Wakes Up to Reality newsfactor

Skype serves ten billion minutes radio.weblogs

Google Takes Search Mobile wirelessnewsfactor

Microsoft uses blogs to reach out to IT community searchwin2000

Is venture capital dead? No, but it’s beginning a new cycle wistechnology

Executive Moves

Aarohi Communications, a San Jose based provider provider of intelligent SAN components and software, named Bill Huber as SVP of Software & Systems Engineering. Huber was formerly CTO and VP of Engineering at StoneFly Networks.

AgileTV, a Menlo Park, CA based provider of voice-enabled search and navigation services to the cable television industry, named Bob Greiner as SVP of Sales. Greiner was formerly VP of Business Development at Kasenna Inc.

Conformative Systems, an Austin, TX based developer of high-performance computer systems, named Paul Rochester as CEO. Rochester was formerly VP & GM of the Global Professional Services Division of Sun Microsystems.

Envox Worldwide, a Westborough, MA based provider of voice solutions, named President & COO Mark D. Flanagan as CEO and Director of Corporate Marketing John Joseph as VP of Corporate Marketing.

Five9, a Pleasanton, CA based provider of hosted contact center solutions, named Cary F. Fulbright as Vice President of Marketing and George Peterson as SVP of Engineering, Technical Operations & Customer Care. Fulbright was formerly employed by salesforce.com. Peterson was formerly VP of Operations, Customer Service and Professional Services at EVault.

Habeas, a Mountain View, CA based e-mail authentication company, named Nigel Marrion as VP of Customer Service. Marrion was formerly VP at VeriSign.

IE-Engine, a Woburn, MA based provider of Benefits Lifecycle Management software, named Marc Salois as VP of Sales. Salois was formerly SVP of Sales & Marketing at Akibia.

Indicative Software, a Fort Collins, CO based IT service management software company, named Steve Kehaya as VP & GM, EMEA. Kehaya was formerly VP of Sales & Business Development for EMEA Operations at Evoke Software.

ON24, a San Francisco based webcast and multimedia communication solutions provider, named Thomas Masotto as VP of Business Development. Masotto was formerly VP of Business Development at Hipbone.

PathScale, a Mountain View, CA based developer of software and hardware solutions to accelerate the performance and efficiency of Linux clusters, named Michael McPherson as VP of Sales. McPherson was formerly Co-founder and VP of Business Development & Sales for S2io Technologies.

Sennari, a Los Angeles based provider of mobile applications, named Jonathan Leach as VP of Business Development and Sanjeev Bhalla as VP of Engineering and Operations. Leach was formerly VP of Licensing at Atari. Bhalla was formerly an Assistant VP at Comverse Network Systems.

Sequence Design, a Santa Clara, CA based chip-design software company, named Robert Sheffield as VP of Finance & Administration. Sheffield was formerly CFO of Magma Design.

Sipera Systems, a Richardson, TX based developer of comprehensive security systems for protection of session based real-time IP applications, named Seshu Madhavapeddy as President & CEO. Madhavapeddy was formerly Co-founder of Spatial Wireless,.

SnapIn Software, a Bellevue, WA based provider of self-service software for mobile phones, named Robert Lewis as President & CEO. Lewis was formerly employed by AT&T Wireless.

Spoke Software, a Palo Alto, CA based provider of a web-based service for sales professionals to identify prospects and gain access to buyers, named Jeffrey Pugh as VP of Engineering & Technology. Pugh was formerly VP of Solution Engineering at Attensity Corp.

Tacoda Systems, a New York based provider of behavioral-targeted online advertising solutions, promoted Director of Revenue Management Anne Hunter to VP of Revenue Operations, Director of Marketing David Markowitz to VP of Marketing & Product Management and VP of Customer Success Bennett Zucker to VP of Global Affiliate & Technology Sales.

Taleo, a San Francisco based provider of on demand talent management solutions, named Susan Chenoweth as VP, Worldwide Marketing. Chenoweth was formerly VP of Worldwide Marketing at Grand Central Communications.

Virtela Communications, a Denver, CO based network solutions company, named Larry Morgan as President &CEO. Morgan was formerly President of EMEA at BT Infonet.

Whale Communications, a Fort Lee, NJ based SSL VPN vendor named Roger Pilc as CEO. Pilc was formerly COO at SMARTS.

WideRay, a San Francisco based provider of an end-to-end retail and on-location solution for wireless distribution of digital media and promotional content to mobile devices, named Alan Cohen as VP of Marketing and Paul Gacek as VP of Engineering. Cohen was formerly Director of Strategy & Business Development Best Buy Co. Gacek was formerly employed by VeriFone Inc., Novell Inc. and Canon.

Mergers & Acquisitions

Macrovision acquired Zero G Software, a San Francisco based provider of software deployment and delivery solutions for multi-platform operating system environments, for an undisclosed amount.

Oracle acquired TimesTen, a Mountain View, CA provider of real-time data management software, for an undisclosed amount.

Yahoo! acquired Dialpad Communications, a Milpitas, CA based provider of Internet calling services, for an undisclosed amount.

Funding

Alfresco – Maidenhead, UK; a provider of open source enterprise content management software; $2 million; Seed Round; Accel Partners.

Anam Mobile – Dublin, Ireland; developer of messaging infrastructure products for the mobile telecoms industry; undisclosed amount; round not specified; Motorola Ventures.

Ascendent Systems – San Jose, CA; a provider of voice, mobility, and continuity solutions for enterprise and government; $5 million; Series B; ComVentures, Enterprise Partners Venture Capital.

Blue Lane Technologies – Cupertino, CA; developer of the PatchPoint System to fix server-bound traffic by emulating vendor patches inline; $13.32 million; Series B; Benchmark Capital, Matrix Partners.

Brainshark – Waltham, MA; a provider of on-demand rich-media communications solutions; $6.9 million; Series C; 3i Group, Citizens Capital, Flagship Ventures, SI Ventures, Ticonderoga Capital.

BroadWare Technologies – Cupertino, CA; a provider of distributed video surveillance; $7.2 million; round not specified; Kinetic Ventures, Cisco Systems, Dali, Hook Partners, McKenna Ventures, Sigma Partners.

Centive – Burlington, MA; a provider of incentive management software; $10 million; Recap Round; Key Venture Partners, Polaris Venture Partners, VSP Capital.

Clear Shape Technologies – Sunnyvale, CA; semiconductor design for manufacturing (DFM) software and technologies company; $5 million; Series B; Intel Capital, KT Venture Group.

Digital Railroad – New York, NY; a provider of Web-based application services for the professional photography industry; $5.2 million; Series A; Morgenthaler Ventures, Venrock Associates.

Kayote Networks – Tel Aviv, Israel; a provider of VoIP interconnectivity technology and developer of advanced IP communications services; $2 million; Series B; undisclosed investors.

Marketworks – Atlanta, GA; a provider of sales automation software and marketing services for multi-channel online selling; $7 million; round not specified; Council Ventures, Crosslink Capital.

Meru Networks – Sunnyvale, CA; a provider of enterprise VoIP mobility infrastructure; $12 million; Series C; Bluestream Ventures, Clearstone Venture Partners, NeoCarta Ventures.

NordNav Technologies – Stockholm, Sweden; a developer of software defined satellite receivers for GPS and Galileo navigation.; undisclosed amount; Series A; 3i Group, InnovationsKapital, Siemens Acceleration in Communications.

OneNeck IT Services – Scottsdale, AZ; a provider of ERP outsourcing and hosting solutions for mid-market companies; $12.8 million; round not specified; WestView Capital Partners, Comerica.

Planitax – Emeryville, CA; a provider of software and services to corporate tax departments; $5 million; Series B; Mobius Venture Capital, Access Venture Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ).

Preclick – Atlantic Highlands, NJ; a media management software company; undisclosed amount; round not specified; SJF Ventures.

Right Hemisphere – Fremont, CA; provider of enterprise graphics management software; $12 million; Series B; Sequoia Capital, Sutter Hill Ventures.

Right Media – New York, NY; a developer of advanced interactive advertising solutions; undisclosed amount; round not specified; Redpoint Ventures.

SiliconSystems – Aliso, Viejo, CA; a provider of industrial-grade solid-state storage solutions engineered exclusively for the enterprise system OEM marke; undisclosed amount; Series B; Miramar Venture Partners, Rustic Canyon Partners, Shepherd Ventures.

SOMA Networks – San Francisco, CA; provider of last-mile broadband wireless access technology delivering multi-megabit broadband access and landline-quality voice services; $35 million; round not specified; Endeavour Investments, Morgan Stanley Venture Partners, NeoCarta Ventures, Temasek Holdings.

SWsoft– Herndon, VA; a developer of server automation and virtualization software; $12.4 million; round not specified; Bessemer Venture Partners, Insight Venture Partners, Intel Capital.

Tharas Systems – Santa Clara, CA; provider of high-performance, hardware-assisted verification solutions for the development of complex integrated circuits and electronic/embedded systems used in communications, computers, graphics and networking; $5.5 million; round not specified; El Dorado Ventures, Alliance Venture Management, NeoCarta Ventures.

TimeSys – Pittsburgh, PA; a developer of a complete line of development products that support the entire embedded Linux development cycle; $6 million; round not specified; Adams Capital Management, Philips Venture Capital Fund, The Hillman Company.

Transitive – Los Gatos, CA; a provider of software that enables transportability of applications across multiple processor and operating system pairs; $25.3 million; round not specified; Accel Partners, Crescendo Ventures, Pond Venture Partners.

Unitask – Beachwood, OH; provider of software products to help organizations make the Oracle E-Business Suite easy; $2.5 million; Series A; Draper Triangle Ventures, Early Stage Partners.

VeriWave – Beaverton, OR; a provider of wireless local area network (WLAN) test solutions; undisclosed amount; Series B; Woodside Fund, TL Ventures, U.S. Venture Partners.

Volicon – Burlington, MA; a provider of technology designed to record, archive, and stream video content; undisclosed amount; Series A; Brookline Venture Partners.

Webify Solutions – Austin, TX; provider of industry-specific, service-oriented business software; $11.5 million; Series C; Constellation Ventures, Dali, Hook Partners, Global Asset Capital, The Entrepreneurs’ Fund, Trident Capital.

Whale Communications - Fort Lee, NJ; an SSL VPN vendor; $6.5 million; round not specified; Goldman Sachs Group, BRM Capital, Soros Private Equity Partners.

Wireless Brand Channel– London, UK; provider of a mobile phone based voucher, ticketing and loyalty solution; $455K; round not specified; The Capital Fund.

Contributor: Venator Partners - Venator Partners is a Boston-based executive search firm that specializes in recruiting senior-level executives in the software and communications industries.
Copyright: Copyright © 2004. Venator Partners, LLC.
Covered Categories: M&A, Start-ups, Personnel Changes

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Lotus Notes Revamped - line56

Plumtree’s Portal Strategy - line56

Aprimo Acquires DoubleClick Unit - line56.

Yahoo Taps DialPad in VoIP Technology Acquisition - crmbuyer

Cisco shells out $1m+ a worker for VPN firm - channelregister.co.uk

The boom in business intelligence - nccmembership

Yahoo and Google Targeting VOIP Technology - searchenginejournal

IBM Moves into RFID - redherring

IBM outlines role of virtualisation in its on demand strategy - computerworld

Dell: We Would License Mac OS X - betanews

Q&A: Autodesk exec on the push for product life-cycle management - computerworld

Oracle Enters Product Information Management Arena - crmbuyerl

Searching behind subscription walls - siliconbeat

Interesting perspective on Google’s acquisitions strategy and potential targets - See full post. Reading this makes you feel that there is no place today for new consumer web applications innovation unless you want to get bought by Microsoft or Google.

” Technorati - If Google is the average person’s homepage, Technorati is the homepage of the underground, tech-savvy web user. Technorati is a blog portal whose average visitor enjoys podcasts, Wikipedia, and the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Providing more cutting edge results than a normal search engine, Technorati would integrate well with Google News and/or Blogger, and could perhaps feature blogs on the Google Personalized Homepage. Technorati is somewhat similar to Bloglines, which was purchased by Ask Jeeves recently.

Buzznet - Yahoo! beat Google to the punch by acquiring Flickr, one of my candidates in the first draft of this article. Like Flickr, Buzznet is a photo hosting and sharing service that features unique tagging features. It is possible to browse by tag and see all sorts of interesting stuff. Buzznet would probably jibe with Picasa’s Hello photo posting service, perhaps include some sort of photo-Blogger, and integrate well with Orkut.

Koders - Koders is a search engine for open source code that works remarkably well. With the recent push for plugins for Google Desktop search, Koders would be an interesting addition to Google’s software initiatives. It would make sense to combine with Google Code and Google Linux Search in some way.

GuruNet (Answers.com) - Recently, Google stopped linking to definitions on Dictionary.com, and started linking to Answers.com instead. Answers features a wealth of information about different topics, and uses Wikipedia for much of it. Since Wikipedia’s non-profit status rules it out as a potential Google acquisition, Answers.com would be the next best thing. It also would help improve Google Q&A quite a bit. Interestingly, GuruNet is a publicly traded company (AMEX: GRU) with a market cap of about $100 million.

del.icio.us - This social bookmarking and tagging application could be used to improve Google search results, and perhaps integrate with Orkut in some way. Were Google to buy Buzznet as suggested above, this would work well with it.

StumbleUpon - This unique browser plugin and service would probably improve Google results and add a new level to the venerable search engine. It would probably combine with the Google Toolbar in some fashion, since the two have some similar functions.

Propel - Similar to Google Web Accelerator, Propel claims to speed up your browsing experience. The company is run by optical mouse inventor Steven T. Kirsch, who is no stranger to buyouts: his Frame Technology Corp. was purchased by Adobe, and his Infoseek was bought by Disney. This could help Google out with Web Accelerator, which it has been having trouble with.

From Left Field
Here are some companies you probably haven’t heard of, and some companies you know very well that fit in less well with the Google plan. It is not too likely that any of these will be bought by Google, but keep in mind, most of Google’s past acquisitions have been unexpected.

Audioscrobbler/Last.fm - So far, Google hasn’t made any inroads into the music industry. However, these sites together form an interesting, Google-ish service that uses algorithms reminiscent of PageRank to calculate the top artists and similar info.

TiVo - TiVo is a little too big and a little too well-known to be bought by Google. Also, Google’s experience with hardware is limited to Google Search Appliances and similar. But, TiVo would work well with Google Video. TiVo seems to fit better with Apple Computer’s media plans than it does with Google’s geek mentality, though.

Icosystem - This swarm intelligence company might be useful for radical new spidering algorithms or some new form of PageRank. It’s only peripherally Google-ish, though.

Monster - Monster is the most popular job search site. Some bloggers have tossed this idea around, touting various forms of integration with other Google services. They also mention that Yahoo! owns HotJobs. However, one wonders whether Google is interested in this market at all.

Coral - This caching service would probably be interesting and useful for Google’s own cache. However, it is run by NYU, so it’s not a commercial company, and may not be up for grabs.

The Open Directory Project - The definitive web directory has long been partnered with Google for the Google Directory. But the Google Directory hasn’t been updated in a very long time, and it still sports the old tabbed Google design, which lacks links to Froogle and Google Local. Although the ODP is owned by Netscape, Google should have sufficient cash to acquire it since the IPO.

Stayhealthy/Fitness Expert - This online health company doesn’t offer content a la WebMD, instead providing health and fitness hardware, self-test kits, and a kiosk joint-ventured with IBM. The hardware interface is web-based. As with TiVo, Google’s limited hardware experience may be a problem, and one wonders whether Google is interested in the health and fitness space.

World66 - World66 could be Google’s answer to Yahoo! Travel, with some work. Its Wiki style, however, might be too wild for Google’s liking.

My Way - This image ad and popup-free page is very Google-like. However, it’s redundant to existing Google offerings, and these days having no popups isn’t as big a deal as it was 3 years ago. It might compete with Yahoo!’s portal, though.

So there you have it, my picks for Google’s next additions, and some less likely, but nonetheless interesting, possibilities. “

AMR-Research opinion on recent move by Microsoft - Microsoft Introduces XML to the Masses.

“…For Competitors: The move to published, royalty free XML makes Microsoft less—not more, as many other analysts have asserted—vulnerable to open source competition from such sources as Open Office and Sun, with its StarOffice suite. Open source systems appeal was in the low (if not nominally free) license cost, accessibility, and ease of integration across enterprise applications. For most enterprises, these factors had to be weighed against the possible disruption of business caused by introducing a new, less refined office productivity suite to massive numbers of long-accustomed Office users. By using Open Office XML, Microsoft will effectively take accessibility and interoperability out of this equation.”

Although this holds true, this move will reveal a weak spot on Microsoft’s end, which will be the ease of migrating documents to other formats.

Today a strong lock-in holds many users to keep on using MS-Office except for reasons of product excellence and that is proprietary file formats. Opening these formats via XML will ease migration to other formats and will open up “fair” competition for other MS-Office alternatives.

Verity Acquires Search Technology Assets from 80-20 - econtentmag

TechSpin: Nokia-Avaya Effort - redherring

Sun opens 1,600 patents - redherring

HP Splits PC, Printer Units - redherring

“Since 2000, the ratio of technology companies sold vs. going public is 10:1 (1,300 m&a deals vs just 125 IPOs). “- VC_Adventure

McAfee Aims to Prevent Linux Attacks - betanews

IBM Turns to Open Source Development - betanews

Trend Micro buys IP filtering company - computerworld

Intel launches VC fund for Chinese start-ups - topix.net

Eclipse Offers Open-Source Business Intelligence Tools - informationweek

Microsoft Outlines RFID Based on .NET - betanews

HP adds compliance to OpenView - newsisfree

India storage market to grow over 150% - sify

Business Objects and TIBCO Software Partner to Help Customers Better Align Performance Management With Business Processes - blackenterprise

Can Skype Stay Solo? - redherring

BEA Unveils New Product Line - The AquaLogic line of products could mean a great alternate source of revenue for BEA, which faces stiff competition from IBM. - redherring

M&A Part III - Getting Bought vs. Selling - VC_Adventure

Apple and Nokia browser partnership revealed - infoworld

Microsoft picks Aruba for next generation WLAN - infoworld

Oracle to Buy Database Vendor, JBoss Updates Partner Program - infoworld

Found on Deep Green Crystals a link to a new blogging related statistics service - MyBlogLog. This product tracks which of the links mentioned in your posts are the most interesting. As a publisher it is another aspect of statistics that is important but is still a part of a complete blogging statistics concept. I currently use FeedBurner stats, Urchin stats, specific blog platform referrers and maybe the new MyBlogLog service for understanding what is happening in my blog.

It seems that the gap for a complete integrated solution is becoming wider.