Wednesday, May 3, 2006


Interview with Leo Spiegel, Mission Ventures (Podcast)
In our podcast today, Frank Peters, a guest podcaster for socalTECH, speaks to Leo Spiegel, a venture capitalist at Mission Ventures. Leo tells the story of Sandpiper Networks, where as CEO he built a successful content delivery network, and later merged with Digital Island for $630.5M. He speaks of the transition from CEO/entrepreneur to venture capitalist. We've been featuring Frank's profiles of local high tech firms and entrepreneurs from his podcast, the Frank Peters Show.
posted on Wednesday, May 3, 2006 (More)(Full story)

Wavestream Gets $28M
San Dimas-based Wavestream, a developer of high-efficiency, solid-state power amplifiers, has raised $28M. Wavestream said yesterday that it received the funding from Oak Investment Partners, which led the round. Wavestream said that it will use the funding to expand its product line and move into new markets. Wavestream's products are used for commercial and military applications, including satellite links, radar, and directed energy.
posted on Wednesday, May 3, 2006 (More)(Full story)

Interview with Craig Hagopian, V-Enable
My interview today is with Craig Hagopian, President and COO of V-Enable (www.v-enable.com), a San Diego company developing voice driven, mobile search technology. The company provides technology that allows cell phone users to use their voice to navigate and access data. The mobile applications space has been heating up lately, and there has been a lot of attention given to the space due to a patent Google just received over voice assisted search. I spoke a bit with Craig to get his perspective (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, May 3, 2006(Full story)

DARPA Grand Challenge Takes On Urban Streets
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has announced that the agency is taking its much heralded Grand Challenge competition to the urban landscape. The DARPA Grand Challenge, which challenged teams to develop fully autonomous vehicles that could navigate a 132-mile, desert route, awarded $2M to Stanford University and their "Stanley" autonomous vehicle last year. The agency said that the next Grand Challenge will be held in November of 2007, and will require vehicles to execute a (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, May 3, 2006(Full story)

LeadPoint Hires VP
Los Angeles-based LeadPoint, which is developing an online market for buying and selling leads, has hired away an executive from Autobytel to lead its efforts in the auto category. The firm said yesterday that it has hired Stephen Lind as Vice President of Strategic Accounts, to head its upcoming automotive category. Lind was most recently Senior Vice President, Strategic Account Development at Autobytel. Lind has also served at Nissan Motor Company. Leadpoint is a venture-backed startup that (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, May 3, 2006 (More)(Full story)

Fulcrum, KeyEye Partner On 10G Ethernet
Calabasas-based Fulcrum Microsystems and KeyEye Communications, a developer of Ethernet transceivers, announced at Interop yesterday that the two are demonstrating Fulcrum's FocalPoint 24-port switch chips and KeyEye's single-chip, 10 Gigabit Ethernet Cat 6 transceivers at the show. Fulcrum began sampling its chips in February. Fulcrum has been developing switch chips that use clockless techniques for improving board and system designs, and is backed by Granite Global Ventures, New Enterprise As (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, May 3, 2006(Full story)

HireRight Announces Background Screening Software
Irvine-based HireRight has announced the availability of its software for managing the background screening of vendors and temporary employees. The firm said that its Extended Workforce Screnning Solution is designed to managing background screening for contractors and other temporary employees. The firm said that the software was developed in conjunction with firms in the technology, defense, and financial services industries, and integrates with badging and access control systems. HireRight is (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, May 3, 2006(Full story)