ABL ONLINE JULY 5, 2007

George Chen, SoftMaster Corporation
George Chen is CEO of SoftMaster Corporation, a business process outsourcing and information technology consulting firm, which he founded in 1996. From offices in both Shanghai and Irvine, George is responsible for the company’s business development, IT strategy and operations. George's career in IT spans more than 21 years, including being a Senior Principal Consultant with Unisys Corporation; Database Manager and Senior Oracle DBA of Canon Computer Systems Group; Chief Information Officer for Image Watches, Inc.; and Senior Enterprise Information Architect for Coopers and Lybrands. In the University of California extension program, George has taught several technical classes, including Oracle database performance tuning. Born and raised in Shanghai, China, George has joined the Wednesday Orange County Round Table.

Bill Shipman, IntelliPower Inc.
Bill Shipman is Founder, President and CEO of IntelliPower Inc., which develops, manufactures and sells high-performance, low-cost, advanced technology On Line Uninterruptible Power Systems. Typical applications for these customized UPS units include computers, communications systems, workstations, industrial control, rugged military, scientific equipment, data processing, file servers, motor power sources, lighting, medical, AC generators, high temperature, Navy shipboard systems, satellite communications from Humvees, aerospace support and other government systems. Bill has more than 38 years of experience in the computer, electronics and power protection product industries, including 18 years with Honeywell, CEO of Datamedia Corp in New Jersey, and CEO of ABM Computer Systems, prior to founding IntelliPower in 1988. He has joined the Thursday Orange County Round Table.

MEMBER NEWS

Energy Innovations Completes Solar Installation at Google
EI Solutions, the systems integration arm of Energy Innovations, Inc., where Mark Henderson is a senior executive, has switched on the solar electricity system it built for Google’s Mountain View headquarters: a total capacity of 1.6 megawatts – enough to supply 1,000 average California homes; currently the largest solar installation on any corporate campus in the U.S. and one of the largest in the world. The project, which began in October 2006, was completed on schedule, on budget and utilized 9,212 solar panels.

ClinPhone Extends Global Presence
ClinPhone, where Nick Richards is a senior executive, has signed an agreement to implement its ClinPhone EDC software system with Chiltern, a U.K.-based company that conducts global clinical studies on behalf of pharmaceutical, biotechnology and device companies.

Line 6 Debuts Mobile USB Recording Interface
Line 6, Inc., where Mike Muench is CEO, is now shipping TonePort GX, the latest addition to its family of audio recording interfaces, offering professional-grade 24-bit audio recording, 96KHz sample rate support, and over 100dB signal-to-noise ratio, along with drivers supporting its fast and widely compatible USB audio connection -- all in a palm-sized unit.

Microsemi Pursuing High-Reliability Markets
Microsemi Corporation, where Jim Peterson is CEO, announced that it is aggressively pursuing applications in high-reliability aerospace/defense, commercial air and national security markets for its recently acquired PowerDsine Power-over-Ethernet midspan product line. Microsemi received its first high-reliability order for 5,000 PowerDsine single-port midspans from AirDefense, Inc., of Alpharetta, Georgia.

MyCarPage Teams with AskPatty
MyCarPage, where Michael Moskowitz is CEO, recently announced a partnership with AskPatty.com, a nationally recognized automotive website for women. Visitors to AskPatty can register their vehicle on MyCarPage for free and then MyCarPage provides automatic service reminder and recall emails, vehicle resale values, service histories, access to local gas prices, DMV information, online service appointments, sales and service specials, traffic reports, car clubs, maps, directions and more.

ORA's Newest LightTools Delivers Expanded Capabilities
Optical Research Associates, where Bob Hilbert is CEO, has released LightTools 6.0, which includes a user-defined optical properties feature that provides tremendous flexibility in creating specialty optical components. LightTools 6.0 also allows modeled elements to be immersed in one another in multiple levels -- a capability needed for modeling the embedded phosphor and epoxy covering in an encapsulated LED, for example. Meanwhile, ORA announced that Light Tec of Hyères, France is its new software distribution and support partner in Europe.

Primarion Unveils Dual-Output, DC/DC Controller
Primarion, where Ron Van Dell is CEO, has announced the addition of the dual-output, four-phase PX7542, with 100 picoseconds pulse width modulation resolution, to its Primarion Di-POL product family of fully programmable digital power conversion and power management ICs. The highly configurable PX7542 is a power conversion and power management IC for synchronous DC/DC converters in the telecom, datacom, computing and storage markets, compliant with PMBus™ 1.1 specifications.

Remote Dynamics Unveils Enhanced Website
Remote Dynamics, where Gary Hallgren is CEO, has unveiled its updated web site (www.remotedynamics.com), which provides more information about the company and its current REDIview product line. The company also unveiled its new Weblog, created to inform stakeholders about the industry, Remote Dynamics' product enhancements and insights into the company.

Transcepta Expands Data Center, Invests in Infrastructure
Transcepta LLC, where Ray Parsons and Mitch Baxter are Co-Founders, has opened a new Data Center in Phoenix, Arizona, expanding the company's capabilities to handle more transactions, provide higher throughput and enhanced reliability. The Transcepta Electronic Invoicing Community brings trading partners together where buyers and vendors can process invoices free from the constraints of paper and rigid computing systems.

ZyXEL Expands Distribution Network with Jenne
ZyXEL Communications, where Howie Chu is President, has partnered with Jenne, a leading supplier of business telephone, data, video conferencing and computer telephony products and solutions in North America, to offer its networking products to solution providers. Also, ZyXEL recently announced its Ethernet switch series, which offers end-to-end solutions for fiber deployments; and its P-660HWP all-in-one ADSL2+ gateway, which features a data rate of up to 200Mbps over the powerline to support quick transfer of high definition content.

TECHNOLOGY TRENDS

IPOs Up, M&As Down in Q207
Venture-backed IPOs saw an increase in the second quarter, while merger and acquisitions activity declined, reports Thomson Financial and the National Venture Capital Association. There was $4.27 billion raised in IPOs in Q2, more than double the amount raised in the same period last year. However, M&A activity declined compared with last year, with 67 transactions versus 95 completed a year ago. The most active sector for IPOs was Medical/Health, followed by Semiconductors and Internet companies. Locally, Los Angeles and San Diego saw a single IPO each in Q2, out of a total of 26 IPOs in the U.S. market. (socaltech.com TechNews, 7/2/07)

China to Overtake India in Offshoring by 2011
Chinese cities will overtake their Indian counterparts as top destinations for offshore global delivery by 2011, reports IDC, based on the results of the Global Delivery Index, which compares 35 cities in the Asia-Pacific region as potential offshore delivery centers based on labor and rental costs, language skills and turnover rate. Cities covered by the index include Adelaide, Bangalore, Dalian, Hanoi, and Kuala Lumpur. Although the top-ranked Chinese cities — Beijing, Shanghai and Dalian — trail their Indian counterparts in the GDI this year, they are expected to overtake the competition by 2011. IDC attributes this to China's massive investments in areas such as infrastructure development, technical skills and internet connectivity. (zdnet, 7/3/07)

Global Cell Phone Use About to Hit Record 3.25 Billion
By the end of July, global mobile phone use will for the first time pass the 3 billion mark -- equivalent to half the world's population -- as cell phone demand booms in China, India and Africa, according to a report by The Mobile World. More than 1,000 new customers are effectively signing up for mobile phones every minute around the world. (Reuters, 6/27/07)

Google Offers Money for Gadgets
Google has announced the launch of Google Gadget Ventures, a new pilot program that will help fund third-party gadget development and gadget-related businesses. Google will offer $5,000 grants for gadget developers who want to improve an existing gadget, and $100,000 seed investments for new gadget-related businesses. Applications will be restricted initially to gadget developers who have more than 250,000 pageviews per week on their gadget. (www.google.com/gadgetventures/)

FCC Opens Cable TV Door to Electronics Companies
An FCC order is now in effect that requires all major cable operators to give up the conventional cable boxes they profitably lease to subscribers. These proprietary boxes contain technology for functions such as VOD and DVR, and also house the operator's decoder that unscrambles digital, premium and HDTV channels. Cable operators will now have to provide a standard external decoder called a CableCard that plugs into equipment from any company. Retailers are already stocking CableCard-ready units that manage channels and do many other things, such as send Web videos to TVs; transmit TV programs, including recorded ones, to multiple sets in and outside the home; blend Internet data, such as sports stats or facts about a TV show character, on the screen with conventional programs; facilitate remote-control voting or interactive-shopping services; enable TV sets to play music and show photos digitally stored on a PC. (Ken Radio's Daily Tech News Clicks, 6/29/07)

UPCOMING ROUND TABLES & EVENTS

7/5 - Thursday Orange County Round Table
7/6 - 210 Corridor Round Table
7/11 - Wednesday Orange County Round Table
7/13 - West Los Angeles Round Table