Waterloo Tech Digest - January 11, 2010
Compiled and written by
Gary Will
In this issue:
Read the latest Waterloo tech news stories every day.
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
S P O N S O R S
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.
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.
DID ANYONE READ THIS AD? TELL US.
Twitter #mfxad
mfxad@mfxpartners.com
JUMPSTART YOUR STARTUP
Sun Startup Essentials will help your startup succeed, with unbelievably discounted hardware and services, free technical advice and training, open source development tools, and access to a network of investors and startups around the globe. Apply online in minutes, and get your company off the ground fast at the lowest cost possible. Membership is free -- see our website for details.
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
[1]---------------------------------------------------------------
Open Text plans to double its size in Waterloo
December 14, 2009
Open Text will be expanding its presence in Waterloo, creating a new 120,000 square-foot building next to its current 113,000 square-foot building at the University of Waterloo Research & Technology Park.
Once the building is finished, the company will have space for up to 1,500 employees -- about double what it now has in the city.
Construction is expected to begin in July and is targetted for completion in the summer of 2011.
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
S P O N S O R
GOWLINGS & DESIRE2LEARN
Gowlings was pleased to assist Desire2Learn Incorporated with its Canadian patent litigation and settlement/cross licensing arrangements with Blackboard Inc. 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]---------------------------------------------------------------
Desire2Learn and Blackboard settle 3-year patent dispute
December 14, 2009
Desire2Learn and its Washington, DC-based competitor, Blackboard, have settled their patent dispute. According to a joint news release, the companies have agreed to license each other's patents.
Blackboard originally filed suit against Desire2Learn three-and-a-half years ago in Texas, shortly after being awarded a U.S. patent. At first, Desire2Learn was found to have infringed on the patent (see February 2008 digest), but last July an appeals court overturned that decision and invalidated all of Blackboard's patent claims (see August 10 digest). The two companies were scheduled to battle again -- in both Canadian and American courts -- when the settlement agreement was reached.
Details were not announced. So far, all that Blackboard has said is that it will receive "an undisclosed settlement amount and future royalty."
Desire2Learn thanked its customers for standing behind the company. It also removed its blog where it had posted all the details and filings of the litigation with Blackboard over the last two years.
[3]---------------------------------------------------------------
DossierView closes two funding deals
December 15 & 22, 2009
There were two funding deals for DossierView in December. First, the company announced it had received an unspecified amount from angel investors through the Golden Triangle Angelnet. The lead investor was Benton Leong, who was part of Maplesoft's founding team and has been involved in various civic issues in Waterloo over the years.
A week later, it announced it received $750,000 from First Leaside Visions II LP -- an OCIF co-sponsored by UW with Accelerator Centre CEO Tom Corr (see below) as university advisor.
DossierView is developing next-generation Web and desktop search technology. It is led by CEO Stephen Bacso, who previously founded PixStream and ADexact, and incorporates technology developed by Andrew Wong, a distinguished professor emeritus at UW who founded the university's Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence (PAMI) Lab and was a founder of Virtek and Pattern Discovery Technologies. Bacso and Wong are also involved with healthcare information systems developer Envisage.
[4]---------------------------------------------------------------
Accelerator Centre CEO Tom Corr to lead OCE
January 7, 2010
Tom Corr will be leaving the Accelerator Centre to become CEO of Toronto-based Ontario Centres of Excellence Inc. (OCE) starting March 1.
He has been CEO of the Accelerator Centre since April 2007. As UW's associate VP of commercialization, he also ran the university's technology transfer activities through the Waterloo Commercialization Office (WatCo).
OCE manages industry-academic partnership programs across the province for the Ministry of Research and Innovation. MRI recently reorganized its innovation-supporting activities, creating the Ontario Network of Excellence (ONE), of which OCE is one of the two provincial coordinators (along with MaRS). OCE also runs the Centre for the Commercialization of Research (CCR) with support from the federal government.
Corr was asked to take the reins at OCE following the departure of Mark Romoff who announced last summer that he was leaving the organization in September.
[5]---------------------------------------------------------------
Descartes plans US$44M acquisition of Belgian competitor
December 14, 2009
Descartes has made a US$44 million offer to acquire all the shares of Belgium's Zemblaz NV, better known under its trade name, Porthus. The Descartes offer of €12.50 a share has been endorsed by Porthus' board and executive team. The shares had closed at €10.33 the day before the offer was announced.
Porthus develops supply chain management software and has 170 employees. In its 2009 fiscal year it reported earnings of €1.1 million on sales of €22.4 million (about US$33 million) -- a little less than half of Descartes' revenue. Descartes, over the first three quarters of its 2010 fiscal year, has generated 15% of its revenue in the Europe/Middle East/Africa region, and that percentage should jump sharply once this deal is done.
Descartes expects to close the acquisition by the end of March.
[6]---------------------------------------------------------------
Christie creates medical business, acquires Memphis firm
January 6, 2010
Christie has expanded into the medical imaging market through the acquisition of the assets of Memphis-based Luminetix and the creation of Christie Medical, led by George Pinho in Kitchener.
Luminetix is the creator of VeinViewer, which finds veins and projects real-time images of them on the surface of the skin. It is a spinoff of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. Five years ago, Time magazine had named VeinViewer one of the "most amazing inventions" of 2004, but the company had been struggling
According to the Memphis Daily News, Christie paid US$15 million for Luminetix and forgave an earlier US$1.5 million loan. It will continue to operate in Memphis.
[7]---------------------------------------------------------------
RIM ships 10 million BlackBerrys, repurchases 12 million shares
December 17, 2009
RIM earned US$628.4 million on sales of US$3.92 billion in the quarter ended November 28 (Q3 10). Sales were up 11% from the previous quarter and 41% from last year. Revenue was above the company's forecast of US$3.60-3.85 billion.
The company shipped a record 10.1 million devices in the quarter and added a net 4.4 million new BlackBerry subscribers, bringing the total to 36 million.
Operations generated US$1.07 billion in cash, and RIM used US$775 million to repurchase 12.3 million of the company's shares. RIM now has just under 557 million shares outstanding. It ended the quarter with US$2.41 billion in cash, down US$89.0 million from the end of Q2.
For Q4, which includes the peak Christmas season, RIM is forecasting sales of US$4.2-4.4 billion with net BlackBerry subscriber additions of 4.4-4.7 million.
[8]---------------------------------------------------------------
2009 stock recap: TurboSonic on top; Arise repeats on bottom
Following a rocky November, TurboSonic was able to recover and take the top spot on the stock performance list for 2009. MKS and Descartes weren't far behind.
Other than 2008's disastrous run on the stock market, this was the only other year in the last 11 where no company doubled its stock price, although TurboSonic came close. This is TurboSonic's second appearance at the top of the chart. It was the best performing stock of 2005 as well.
Here's how the shares of local tech companies performed in 2009:
TurboSonic [OTCBB: TSTA] +95%
--S&P TSX VENTURE INDEX +91%
MKS [TSX: MKX] +81%
Descartes [TSX: DSG] +78%
Sandvine [TSX: SVC] +59%
ATS [TSX: ATA] +50%
RIM [TSX: RIM] +43%
--S&P TSX COMPOSITE INDEX +31%
Biorem [TSXV: BRM] +18%
Open Text [TSX: OTC] +15%
Dalsa [TSX: DSA] +12%
Com Dev [TSX: CDV] +9%
===============================
RDM [TSX: RC] -5%
Arise [TSX: APV] -49%
Arise shares take the bottom spot for the second year in a row, following their top-of-the-charts performance in 2007 -- the best calendar year performance of the decade among the stocks followed here. The stock is now down 89% since the end of 2007.
Top five calendar year performances of the decade:
1. Arise (2007) --- +408%
2. RDM (2006) --- +365%
3. RIM (2003) --- +320%
4. MKS (2001) --- +306%
5. TurboSonic (2005) --- +290%
The worst calendar year performance of the decade was Gensel's 98% drop in 2001, a mark that will be hard to beat. The worst for a company that still exists was MKS' 91% collapse in 2000.
Back to 2009 ... RIM added $11.5 billion to its market value in the year, which obviously put it in top spot, since that gain is nearly five times the value of the next most valuable tech company in town (Open Text).
Year-end market capitalization
in millions, using outstanding shares
(year-over-year change in parentheses):
1. RIM ----- $39,557 (+$11,540)
2. Open Text ----- 2,408 (+490)
3. ATS ----- 653 (+267)
4. Descartes ----- 387 (+198)
5. Com Dev ----- 261 (+46)
6. Sandvine ----- 175 (+65)
7. Dalsa ----- 140 (+11)
8. MKS ----- 100 (+44)
9. Arise ----- 34 (-33)
10. RDM ----- 17 (-1)
11. TurboSonic ----- 14 (+6)
12. Biorem ----- 6 (+1)
MKS was back to a market value of $100 million at the end of the year, and overtook Arise on the list during 2009. Other companies changing places: Descartes overtook Com Dev and Sandvine hopped over Dalsa.
[9]---------------------------------------------------------------
STOCK REPORT: Descartes and ATS end year on high note
December 2009
Share of Descartes and ATS saved the best for last and hit their 2009 highs in December. Descartes shares climbed to their highest point since April 2002, while you'd have to go back to September 2008 to find the last time ATS stock was at a higher level.
No company's shares hit their low point for the year in December.
For the month of December:
Descartes [TSX: DSG] +22%
TurboSonic [OTCBB: TSTA] +19%
RIM [TSX: RIM] +17%
ATS [TSX: ATA] +11%
Dalsa [TSX: DSA] +9%
MKS [TSX: MKX] +8%
--S&P TSX VENTURE INDEX +7%
Open Text [TSX: OTC] +7%
Com Dev [TSX: CDV] +4%
--S&P TSX COMPOSITE INDEX +3%
===============================
Biorem [TSXV: BRM] -7%
Sandvine [TSX: SVC] -7%
Arise [TSX: APV] -10%
RDM [TSX: RC] -14%
Companies with core operations outside the area:
NCR [NYSE: NCR] +18%
ON Semiconductor [Nasdaq: ONNN] +14%
Ansys [Nasdaq: ANSS] +12%
Oracle [Nasdaq: ORCL] +11%
Blue Coat [Nasdaq: BCSI] +8%
Sybase [NYSE: SY] +8%
Google [Nasdaq: GOOG] +6%
McAfee [NYSE: MFE] +6%
Intel [Nasdaq: INTC] +6%
Agfa-Gevaert [Brussels: AGFA] +5%
Electronic Arts [Nasdaq: ERTS] +5%
Acorn Energy [Nasdaq: ACFN] +1%
===================================
[10]---------------------------------------------------------------
Startup Notes
Miscellaneous Tidbits
Gary Will
In this issue:
- Open Text plans to double its size in Waterloo
- Desire2Learn and Blackboard settle 3-year patent dispute
- DossierView closes two funding deals
- Accelerator Centre CEO Tom Corr to lead OCE
- Descartes plans US$44M acquisition of Belgian competitor
- Christie creates medical business, acquires Memphis firm
- RIM ships 10 million BlackBerrys, repurchases 12 million shares
- 2009 stock recap: TurboSonic on top; Arise repeats on bottom
- STOCK REPORT: Descartes and ATS end year on high note
- Startup notes from Allerta, Metranome, Snapsort, SparkMatrix, Frozen North, Kik, Semacode, Sleek Games, Tyromer, Sober Steering, T-Ray Science
- Miscellaneous tidbits from Emerge2 Digital, Energent, IMS, Google, RIM, Raytheon, CDMN, CTT, MedManager, Aimetis, Arise, Sandvine, Biorem, Maplesoft, ATS, Coreworx, exactEarth
Read the latest Waterloo tech news stories every day.
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
S P O N S O R S
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.
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.
DID ANYONE READ THIS AD? TELL US.
Twitter #mfxad
mfxad@mfxpartners.com
JUMPSTART YOUR STARTUP
Sun Startup Essentials will help your startup succeed, with unbelievably discounted hardware and services, free technical advice and training, open source development tools, and access to a network of investors and startups around the globe. Apply online in minutes, and get your company off the ground fast at the lowest cost possible. Membership is free -- see our website for details.
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
[1]---------------------------------------------------------------
Open Text plans to double its size in Waterloo
December 14, 2009
Open Text will be expanding its presence in Waterloo, creating a new 120,000 square-foot building next to its current 113,000 square-foot building at the University of Waterloo Research & Technology Park.
Once the building is finished, the company will have space for up to 1,500 employees -- about double what it now has in the city.
Construction is expected to begin in July and is targetted for completion in the summer of 2011.
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
S P O N S O R
GOWLINGS & DESIRE2LEARN
Gowlings was pleased to assist Desire2Learn Incorporated with its Canadian patent litigation and settlement/cross licensing arrangements with Blackboard Inc. 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]---------------------------------------------------------------
Desire2Learn and Blackboard settle 3-year patent dispute
December 14, 2009
Desire2Learn and its Washington, DC-based competitor, Blackboard, have settled their patent dispute. According to a joint news release, the companies have agreed to license each other's patents.
Blackboard originally filed suit against Desire2Learn three-and-a-half years ago in Texas, shortly after being awarded a U.S. patent. At first, Desire2Learn was found to have infringed on the patent (see February 2008 digest), but last July an appeals court overturned that decision and invalidated all of Blackboard's patent claims (see August 10 digest). The two companies were scheduled to battle again -- in both Canadian and American courts -- when the settlement agreement was reached.
Details were not announced. So far, all that Blackboard has said is that it will receive "an undisclosed settlement amount and future royalty."
Desire2Learn thanked its customers for standing behind the company. It also removed its blog where it had posted all the details and filings of the litigation with Blackboard over the last two years.
[3]---------------------------------------------------------------
DossierView closes two funding deals
December 15 & 22, 2009
There were two funding deals for DossierView in December. First, the company announced it had received an unspecified amount from angel investors through the Golden Triangle Angelnet. The lead investor was Benton Leong, who was part of Maplesoft's founding team and has been involved in various civic issues in Waterloo over the years.
A week later, it announced it received $750,000 from First Leaside Visions II LP -- an OCIF co-sponsored by UW with Accelerator Centre CEO Tom Corr (see below) as university advisor.
DossierView is developing next-generation Web and desktop search technology. It is led by CEO Stephen Bacso, who previously founded PixStream and ADexact, and incorporates technology developed by Andrew Wong, a distinguished professor emeritus at UW who founded the university's Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence (PAMI) Lab and was a founder of Virtek and Pattern Discovery Technologies. Bacso and Wong are also involved with healthcare information systems developer Envisage.
[4]---------------------------------------------------------------
Accelerator Centre CEO Tom Corr to lead OCE
January 7, 2010
Tom Corr will be leaving the Accelerator Centre to become CEO of Toronto-based Ontario Centres of Excellence Inc. (OCE) starting March 1.
He has been CEO of the Accelerator Centre since April 2007. As UW's associate VP of commercialization, he also ran the university's technology transfer activities through the Waterloo Commercialization Office (WatCo).
OCE manages industry-academic partnership programs across the province for the Ministry of Research and Innovation. MRI recently reorganized its innovation-supporting activities, creating the Ontario Network of Excellence (ONE), of which OCE is one of the two provincial coordinators (along with MaRS). OCE also runs the Centre for the Commercialization of Research (CCR) with support from the federal government.
Corr was asked to take the reins at OCE following the departure of Mark Romoff who announced last summer that he was leaving the organization in September.
[5]---------------------------------------------------------------
Descartes plans US$44M acquisition of Belgian competitor
December 14, 2009
Descartes has made a US$44 million offer to acquire all the shares of Belgium's Zemblaz NV, better known under its trade name, Porthus. The Descartes offer of €12.50 a share has been endorsed by Porthus' board and executive team. The shares had closed at €10.33 the day before the offer was announced.
Porthus develops supply chain management software and has 170 employees. In its 2009 fiscal year it reported earnings of €1.1 million on sales of €22.4 million (about US$33 million) -- a little less than half of Descartes' revenue. Descartes, over the first three quarters of its 2010 fiscal year, has generated 15% of its revenue in the Europe/Middle East/Africa region, and that percentage should jump sharply once this deal is done.
Descartes expects to close the acquisition by the end of March.
[6]---------------------------------------------------------------
Christie creates medical business, acquires Memphis firm
January 6, 2010
Christie has expanded into the medical imaging market through the acquisition of the assets of Memphis-based Luminetix and the creation of Christie Medical, led by George Pinho in Kitchener.
Luminetix is the creator of VeinViewer, which finds veins and projects real-time images of them on the surface of the skin. It is a spinoff of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. Five years ago, Time magazine had named VeinViewer one of the "most amazing inventions" of 2004, but the company had been struggling
According to the Memphis Daily News, Christie paid US$15 million for Luminetix and forgave an earlier US$1.5 million loan. It will continue to operate in Memphis.
[7]---------------------------------------------------------------
RIM ships 10 million BlackBerrys, repurchases 12 million shares
December 17, 2009
RIM earned US$628.4 million on sales of US$3.92 billion in the quarter ended November 28 (Q3 10). Sales were up 11% from the previous quarter and 41% from last year. Revenue was above the company's forecast of US$3.60-3.85 billion.
The company shipped a record 10.1 million devices in the quarter and added a net 4.4 million new BlackBerry subscribers, bringing the total to 36 million.
Operations generated US$1.07 billion in cash, and RIM used US$775 million to repurchase 12.3 million of the company's shares. RIM now has just under 557 million shares outstanding. It ended the quarter with US$2.41 billion in cash, down US$89.0 million from the end of Q2.
For Q4, which includes the peak Christmas season, RIM is forecasting sales of US$4.2-4.4 billion with net BlackBerry subscriber additions of 4.4-4.7 million.
[8]---------------------------------------------------------------
2009 stock recap: TurboSonic on top; Arise repeats on bottom
Following a rocky November, TurboSonic was able to recover and take the top spot on the stock performance list for 2009. MKS and Descartes weren't far behind.
Other than 2008's disastrous run on the stock market, this was the only other year in the last 11 where no company doubled its stock price, although TurboSonic came close. This is TurboSonic's second appearance at the top of the chart. It was the best performing stock of 2005 as well.
Here's how the shares of local tech companies performed in 2009:
TurboSonic [OTCBB: TSTA] +95%
--S&P TSX VENTURE INDEX +91%
MKS [TSX: MKX] +81%
Descartes [TSX: DSG] +78%
Sandvine [TSX: SVC] +59%
ATS [TSX: ATA] +50%
RIM [TSX: RIM] +43%
--S&P TSX COMPOSITE INDEX +31%
Biorem [TSXV: BRM] +18%
Open Text [TSX: OTC] +15%
Dalsa [TSX: DSA] +12%
Com Dev [TSX: CDV] +9%
===============================
RDM [TSX: RC] -5%
Arise [TSX: APV] -49%
Arise shares take the bottom spot for the second year in a row, following their top-of-the-charts performance in 2007 -- the best calendar year performance of the decade among the stocks followed here. The stock is now down 89% since the end of 2007.
Top five calendar year performances of the decade:
1. Arise (2007) --- +408%
2. RDM (2006) --- +365%
3. RIM (2003) --- +320%
4. MKS (2001) --- +306%
5. TurboSonic (2005) --- +290%
The worst calendar year performance of the decade was Gensel's 98% drop in 2001, a mark that will be hard to beat. The worst for a company that still exists was MKS' 91% collapse in 2000.
Back to 2009 ... RIM added $11.5 billion to its market value in the year, which obviously put it in top spot, since that gain is nearly five times the value of the next most valuable tech company in town (Open Text).
Year-end market capitalization
in millions, using outstanding shares
(year-over-year change in parentheses):
1. RIM ----- $39,557 (+$11,540)
2. Open Text ----- 2,408 (+490)
3. ATS ----- 653 (+267)
4. Descartes ----- 387 (+198)
5. Com Dev ----- 261 (+46)
6. Sandvine ----- 175 (+65)
7. Dalsa ----- 140 (+11)
8. MKS ----- 100 (+44)
9. Arise ----- 34 (-33)
10. RDM ----- 17 (-1)
11. TurboSonic ----- 14 (+6)
12. Biorem ----- 6 (+1)
MKS was back to a market value of $100 million at the end of the year, and overtook Arise on the list during 2009. Other companies changing places: Descartes overtook Com Dev and Sandvine hopped over Dalsa.
[9]---------------------------------------------------------------
STOCK REPORT: Descartes and ATS end year on high note
December 2009
Share of Descartes and ATS saved the best for last and hit their 2009 highs in December. Descartes shares climbed to their highest point since April 2002, while you'd have to go back to September 2008 to find the last time ATS stock was at a higher level.
No company's shares hit their low point for the year in December.
For the month of December:
Descartes [TSX: DSG] +22%
TurboSonic [OTCBB: TSTA] +19%
RIM [TSX: RIM] +17%
ATS [TSX: ATA] +11%
Dalsa [TSX: DSA] +9%
MKS [TSX: MKX] +8%
--S&P TSX VENTURE INDEX +7%
Open Text [TSX: OTC] +7%
Com Dev [TSX: CDV] +4%
--S&P TSX COMPOSITE INDEX +3%
===============================
Biorem [TSXV: BRM] -7%
Sandvine [TSX: SVC] -7%
Arise [TSX: APV] -10%
RDM [TSX: RC] -14%
Companies with core operations outside the area:
NCR [NYSE: NCR] +18%
ON Semiconductor [Nasdaq: ONNN] +14%
Ansys [Nasdaq: ANSS] +12%
Oracle [Nasdaq: ORCL] +11%
Blue Coat [Nasdaq: BCSI] +8%
Sybase [NYSE: SY] +8%
Google [Nasdaq: GOOG] +6%
McAfee [NYSE: MFE] +6%
Intel [Nasdaq: INTC] +6%
Agfa-Gevaert [Brussels: AGFA] +5%
Electronic Arts [Nasdaq: ERTS] +5%
Acorn Energy [Nasdaq: ACFN] +1%
===================================
[10]---------------------------------------------------------------
Startup Notes
- The annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) was held in Las Vegas earlier this month. Among the companies presenting their products was UW VeloCity alumnus Allerta, showing its InPulse Smartwatch for BlackBerry. YouTube video
- Metranome has launched its mobile media calendar application platform for smartphones and announced a partnership with California's RingTales to create animated Dilbert and New Yorker cartoon-a-day BlackBerry calendar applications. It expects to release versions for other mobile devices in the future.
- Snapsort launched a web service that lets users compare digital cameras. The company was founded by Alex Black (previously with Primal Fusion), Chris Reid (founder of BrightBlocks), Mark Feeney (most recently at Sandvine, previously with BrightBlocks) and Ihab Ilyas (associate professor of computer science at UW). Right now, users can compare any two cameras and the company is developing a recommendation engine. Snapsort site
- Software developer SparkMatrix, creator of a web-based property management service, and game developer Frozen North Productions have become the fourth and fifth graduates of the Accelerator Centre. Frozen North had been based in the Microsoft-sponsored Infusion Angels Innovation Centre, which is no longer operating in Waterloo. SparkMatrix was among the early tenants of the Accelerator Centre and now has an office on Frobisher Drive in Waterloo.
- Kik -- a VeloCity exhibition winner and an Accelerator Centre client -- posted this video of Ted Livingston's presentation at BlackBerry Developer Conference, where it won an impromptu $5,000 honorable mention (see previous digest). Along with its music service, which is scheduled to launch in Canada before the end of March, the company expects to launch Kik Chat this month.
- Semacode launched the free iPhone version of its 2D barcode software, available through the iTunes App Store.
- Guelph's Sleek Games has launched Running With Scissors: Pre-Season for the iPhone/iPod Touch. It is also available from the App Store.
- At the same time that it made the DossierView investment, First Leaside also invested $750,000 in Tyromer, a UW spin-off that creates a polymer product from old tires. UW and the Accelerator Centre are part owners of the company, which had previously received funding from Michelin Development.
- Another company based at the Accelerator Centre, Sober Steering Sensors, received nearly $1.5 million from the Ontario government's Innovation Demonstration Fund. The company has developed a steering wheel with sensors that can measure blood alcohol levels in the driver's hands. It plans to build a plant in the Windsor area.
- T-Ray Science, which no longer lists a Waterloo address, completed its IPO, raising $1.5 million (see September 14 digest).
Miscellaneous Tidbits
- Waterloo's Emerge2 Digital has launched TwitSweeper, a web service that will identify and delete spam accounts from users' Twitter follower lists. The service offers a free trial.
- Chris Reid -- not the Snapsort one -- is the new CEO of Energent. Reid was previously CEO of AEA's Waterloo-based CFX business, which was acquired by Ansys in 2003. He continued to work with Ansys, most recently as business development VP. Earlier in his career, Reid spent 20 years with Honeywell.
- IMS introduced XTop Mobile, which lets laptop users access the Internet through their smartphone cellular connection. It also lets users access smartphone applications on their laptop through a Bluetooth connection (sounds similar to Bayalink's Liberty). IMS is pitching the product as a replacement for Wi-Fi hotspots. The product is scheduled to launch before the end of March.
- There was apparently another financing or restructuring at IMS, as the Ontario Securities Commission reported a $20 million common share transaction on November 11. The OSC previously reported a $30 million financing on August 24.
- Google's Waterloo team was co-developer of Google Goggles, a mobile application for Android phones that lets users perform web searches with pictures instead of words.
- RIM signed deals with China Mobile and Digital China to distribute BlackBerrys in China.
- RIM also unveiled the BlackBerry Presenter, a small device that connects to a projector and lets users display PowerPoint presentations wirelessly from their BlackBerrys through a Bluetooth connection.
- One other RIM note: the company announced that it will be opening an R&D office in Raleigh, North Carolina.
- Raytheon has won a US$6.5 million contract to further develop and deploy software to manage air traffic safety over wind farms. The software has been developed at the company's Waterloo office. Wind turbines can appear to be aircraft on radar screens and the Raytheon technology can eliminate or reduce the false readings.
- Steve Currie is now in charge of marketing for the Canadian Digital Media Network. He had been at Open Text and was previously with Handshake VR and NDI.
- Canada's Technology Triangle released its Life Sciences Commercialization Model for the Waterloo Region report, prepared by an Ohio-based incubator planning firm. The report says that a life sciences incubator close to UW with wet/dry lab space could achieve full occupancy and financial sustainability within about five years with six new tenant companies accepted each year. It recommends the creation of a new not-for-profit organization to manage the facility and its services. The City of Kitchener co-commissioned the report and would like to have the incubator downtown near the UW School of Pharmacy.
- MedManager's patient portals will be evaluated at London's Lawson Health Research Institute. The portals will be used by patients of London Health Sciences Centre's cardiac rehabilitation and prostate cancer programs and the St. Joseph's Health Care diabetes clinic. The project is being supported by the Health Technology Exchange (HTX)
- Aimetis' video surveillance software was used as part of the security measures at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in November. The biennial meeting took place in Trinidad and Tobago. Attendees included Prime Minister Harper and the Queen.
- Arise has received its first $250,000 from the funding deal it announced in September with New York's Haverstock Master Fund (see October 6 digest). Haverstock paid $0.25 a share for 1 million shares. Arise expects to close a second drawdown of $200,000 this week. Arise has also extended its credit facility with Germany's Commerzbank until the end of next month.
- Sandvine has partnered with Spain's Optenet to create an Internet parental controls product that its network operator-clients can offer as an additional service to their users.
- Biorem booked four orders in November with a total value of $1.2 million. Customers came from Brazil, South Africa, Ecuador and Israel. The units are expected to be shipped by the second quarter of this year.
- Maplesoft has made its products available at no cost to companies at the Accelerator Centre.
- ATS has created Photowatt Ontario Inc., based at the company's Cambridge facility. Its solar modules and services will meet the Ontario content requirements of the provincial government's FIT program under the Green Energy Act.
- Coreworx project control software will be used by Babcock & Wilcox in the development and delivery of its new mPower nuclear reactor.
- Com Dev's exactEarth subsidiary will provide its space-based automatic identification system to the Danish Maritime Safety Administration on a paid trial basis.
posted by Gary Will at 2:44 AM
