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ABL TECHNOLOGY ONLINE  
FEBRUARY 25, 2010
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ATEN Broadens Government Reach with New TAA-Compliant Products
ATEN Technology, where Sampson Yang is CEO, has announced a full line of KVM and connectivity products that meet the country of origin requirements of the Trade Agreements Act (TAA) of 1979, which requires that all products must originate within the U.S. or in an approved country. In August 2009, Taiwan was designated as an approved country and now ATEN can offer more than 125 TAA-compliant products to its partners, which helps ATEN customers and resellers do business with federal agencies.

Berkus Blogs About Test Marketing & Competitive Analysis
Dave Berkus, President of Berkus Technology Ventures, has recently blogged on some of the necessary preparations for a product launch. "What I Learned from Losing a Million…Market Knowledge Comes FIRST" starts with the admonition: "Know your market and competition or don’t spend a dime on anything else." And in "New Idea or Product? Don’t Rest Until You Test!" Dave says: "I would be very, very nervous without testing the product in the market as early as possible, ready to make changes and enhancements before committing to production and release."

Delphi Display Systems Moving to New Facility
Delphi Display Systems, where Ken Neeld is CEO, is expanding and moving to a new state-of-the-art facility, effective March 1, 2010. The new address will be: 3160 Pullman Street, Costa Mesa, CA 92626.

Line 6 Offers Free Software Update for POD X3 Products
Line 6, where Mike Muench is CEO, has released of POD X3 V2.0, a free software update that delivers 12 additional, fully adjustable effect models to all POD X3 products, including a number of tremolos, shifters, phasers, a delay and an inspiring vocoder. Each effect model is based on a sought-after stompbox or piece of classic rack gear.  Meanwhile, Line 6 announced that CustomTone.com, the growing community of musicians who share Line 6 presets, just deployed its 20 millionth download, averaging about 86,000 downloads a day, or one download every second.

Microsemi Expands Joint Development of Whole Body Imaging Systems
Microsemi Corporation, where Jim Peterson is CEO, and Brijot Imaging Systems are expanding and accelerating their joint development program to meet increased demand for Brijot's noninvasive whole body imagers deployed in airports and other public facilities. The announcement follows Brijot's recent orders for Microsemi's SecureWave millimeter wavesecurity products. Microsemi's Ka to W-band subsystems and related products are designed into active and passive systems which can detect both metallic and non-metallic items.  Also, Microsemi has extended its family of DC-to-DC controllers and switching regulators with the introduction of a synchronous buck switching regulator in a compact multi-chip module with built-in power functionality. The NX9415 is designed for step-down DC-to-DC converter applications in LCD TVs, set-top boxes, DSL modems, netbooks, telecom, networking and other point-of-load DC-to-DC applications.

Mitratech Hosts Interact 2010; Partners to Deliver Legal Education
Mitratech, where Afshin Behnia is CEO, has announced its Interact 2010 conference, May 16-19, 2010, in Miami, FL, which provides practical strategies to optimize business practices, implement and improve risk and cost management strategies, and boost performance for legal and compliance departments.  Meanwhile, Mitratech and InsideCounsel’s SuperConference have announced a 2010 alliance to promote peer-driven education for corporate legal and compliance professionals.

Sprint 4G Benefits Healthcare Software Provider
Sprint Nextel, where Matt Carter is President of the 4G Division, announced that its 4G technology is succeeding for a Philadelphia-based software provider that began experimenting with Sprint 3G/4G USB Modem U300 mobile broadband cards last year. Kayentis, which serves the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry, has seen increased e-mail and data exchange speeds. Sprint 4G will be valuable in healthcare and where data-rich information, such as vital facts, X-rays and medical records, must be rapidly exchanged during emergencies. The new technology can also accelerate the approval of clinical trials for pharmaceutical products.

Tanner EDA Teams with Sound Design Technologies on Process Design Kits
Tanner EDA, where Greg Lebsack is President, a division of Tanner Research, where John Tanner is CEO, and Sound Design Technologies are collaborating to develop process design kits for analog/mixed-signal designers using Tanner EDA’s HiPer Silicon software. This collaboration gives Tanner EDA customers access to SDT’s innovative SiPArray integrated passives technology and SDT customers access to Tanner’s A/MS tools for a complete IC design solution.

Wispry Obtains Key Patent for MEMS Variable Capacitors & Actuation Components
WiSpry Inc., where Russ Garcia is CEO, has been granted a patent for its Micro-Electro-Mechanical System Variable Capacitors and Actuation Components, and Related Methods. This fundamental patent enables mobile handset designers and manufacturers to design and optimize handset performance dynamically for the first time, which will result in less dropped calls, increased talk time and better battery life.

UPCOMING ROUND TABLES & EVENTS

3/24 - Developing an Effective Board Workshop, Costa Mesa: This interactive discussion program will address the Purposes, Types and Key Drivers for Getting Value from a Board, including Shareholder, Advisory and Special Purpose Boards

Voters Believe Tech Industry is at Core of California's Recovery
California voters have tremendous optimism and pride in the state's role as a leader in technology and innovation, believing this important sector of the economy presents a potential solution to the state's economic and fiscal challenges, according to a new poll released by CALinnovates.org. Specifically the survey found: *79% are proud of California's history of being a leader in innovation; 89% in Silicon Valley. *66% believe that policymakers should focus on finding ways to boost the tech sector in California to help the economy. *65% believe California is the nation's leader in technology and innovation. *96% believe technology and innovation are an important part of California's economy. *However, 80% believe that California is on the wrong track. And, by a 52% to 27% margin, voters believe that state policymakers are not making technology and innovation enough of a priority. *42% believe that there are too many government regulations of technology companies in California, against 15% who believe there are too few, and 19% who believe there is the right amount. (bizsandiego.com, 2/22/10)

Intel Plans $3.5B Fund to Invest in U.S. Tech Companies
Intel Corp. has announced that it will create an alliance with leading venture capital firms to invest $3.5 billion in U.S. technology companies over the next two years. Twenty-four venture capital companies have joined Intel in its "Invest in America Alliance" to fund clean technology, information technology and biotechnology companies to drive economic growth and job creation in the U.S. Intel CEO Paul Otellini also announced that 17 technology companies have agreed to boost college graduate hiring in 2010. (CNNMoney.com, 2/23/10)
     Meanwhile, valuations of venture capital investments in start-up companies improved markedly in the second half of 2009, showing that the trajectory for deals was positive, according to a new survey from law firm Fenwick & West that analyzed the terms of venture financings for 335 companies headquartered in Silicon Valley that raised money in 2009. The survey found that “up” rounds – in which the price per share at which a company sells its stock rose from a previous financing – exceeded “down” rounds 44% to 33%, with 23% flat, in the second half of 2009. In contrast, in the first half of 2009, down rounds exceeded up rounds 47% to 28%, with 25% flat. The improvement was particularly evident in the fourth quarter when up rounds in venture capital deals exceeded down rounds 48% to 29%, with 23% flat. That was better than the Q309, when up rounds exceeded down rounds 41% to 36%, with 23% flat. It was the second consecutive quarter that up rounds outstripped down rounds, notes the survey.
     In terms of which sectors fared best, venture capital investments in software appeared to do well in 2009 as measured by the ratio of up rounds vs. down rounds and how much the average valuations increased. Surprisingly, life sciences and clean technology investments – touted as strong sectors – didn’t improve as much as expected in 2009’s second half. (Wall Street Journal blogs, 2/12/10)

FCC to Propose Higher Broadband Speeds
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said recently that the agency will propose a minimum Internet speed for American households of 100 megabits per second to 100 million households, a speed that’s significantly higher than what many households receive. Genachowski did not provide details on the timelime of the “100 Squared Initiative,” or how the FCC would encourage private sector providers to reach the minimum speeds, but the plan is expected to be proposed in the National Broadband Plan report to Congress next month. (Reuters, 2/16/10)
     Meanwhile, the FCC and Comcast are awaiting a court ruling on whether the FCC can enforce its network-neutrality principles. The cable giant argues that only legislation, not regulation, can mandate such rules. If the FCC loses that case, it might move to try to reclassify Internet access under Title II jurisdiction, which would subject broadband companies to common carrier rules, much as the telephone industry is regulated. This would give the FCC greater authority to regulate the industry. The major Internet companies (except Comcast) this week sent a letter to the FCC, arguing that such a move "would be a profound mistake with harmful and lasting consequences for consumers and our economy...."The proposed regulatory about-face would be untenable as a legal matter, and, at a minimum, would plunge the industry into years of litigation and regulatory chaos." (DailyFinance.com, 2/23/10)

Demand Grows for Mobile Financial Services
The “Mobile Money Study” by Data Innovation found that 68.7% of U.S. smartphone users had accessed banking or other financial services on their mobile phone in the past three months. The top activity was checking account balances, followed by looking for posted transactions. Nearly three in 10 smartphone users paid bills via mobile, and many used nonbanking financial services, such as paying credit card bills (more than 50%). More than 65% of smartphone users said their mobile browser was their primary vehicle for mobile banking, compared with less than one-fifth who preferred mobile apps. Earlier data from comScore also found browsers more popular than apps, but with a much smaller lead (44.1% versus 40.6%). A majority of respondents also said they would be interested in the possibility of a “mobile wallet,” which would allow users to swipe mobile phones like credit or debit cards and would store data such as loyalty cards and coupons. Another 25% were unsure about the idea. (eMarketer.com, 2/16/10)

Intel Reports Sophisticated Cyberattack
The world's largest computer chip company, Intel Corp. says that it was the target of a "sophisticated" attack last month at about the same time that Google's servers were hit. Intel said it didn’t think that the hackers were successful in accessing any of its data. Thirty-three companies now say they were targeted by hackers at about the same time Google was. The source of the attacks has not been identified, although it’s widely believed to have originated in China. There has been a great deal of speculation that the next "war" waged on the U.S. will be an electronic one. Countries or rogue groups that would like to access government secrets or cripple the Internet will use an ever-increasingly complex series of hacks to accomplish their goals. This is part of a cat-and-mouse game with American online security experts that will likely go on indefinitely. (DailyFinance.com, 2/24/10)

Older Users Take to Net as Younger Ones Pioneer New Territory
With 71% of Americans using the Internet at least monthly in 2010, U.S. Internet users now closely resemble the general population. Over the next five years, that trend will continue. Overall, the number of monthly Internet users in the U.S. will rise to 250.7 million in 2014, up from 221 million in 2010, forecasts eMarketer. More than 50% of new users will be ages 45+. Among younger groups, the Internet is nearly ubiquitous, and most who are able to access it already do so, leaving limited potential for penetration growth. eMarketer does expect significant increases in usage among children ages 3 to 11, as technology becomes a part of consumers’ lives at increasingly younger ages.
     Currently, 12- to 24-year-olds represent a major bloc of users at 51.7 million, or 23.4% of the total. By 2014, though, their share will wane to 21.3%, even as their numbers increase to 53.5 million. Meanwhile, those ages 45+ will grow from 35% to 38.3% of total users to more closely align with their relative share in the overall population.
     Younger groups have already entered a new phase of always-on Internet use, where the Web never leaves their side and is accessible 24/7 through their phone or other devices. Those 34 and under will continue to be the heaviest, most engaged and most voracious consumers of content online. (eMarketer.com, 2/17/10)