Friday, May 5, 2006


DivX Files For IPO
San Diego-based DivX Networks has filed for an IPO, saying that it is looking to raise up to $135M in a public offering on the Nasdaq. DivX Networks reported in a filing with the SEC that it earned $2.2M on $33.0M in revenue for the year ending 2005. DivX licenses its own video compression/decompression codec used to decode video, which is licensed to manufacturers of consumer electronics and used on the Internet. The offering is being underwritten by JP Morgan, Banc of America Securities, Cowen (More info...)
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Rhevision Raises VC Funding
San Diego-based Rhevision Technology has raised a round of venture capital from EDF Ventures and In-Q-Tel, the CIA's venture capital investment arm, the company said today. Rhevision is developing tunable lens systems used for miniature cameras. The company is develping auto focus lens that works in miniature cell phone and PDA cameras. The firm said that it is looking to offer the market a 3x optical zoom lens that fits small form factor cell phones. Rhevision is a spinout of the University of (More info...)
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TelePacific Buys Mpower For $204M
Los Angeles-based TelePacific Communications, a provider of telecommunication services for businesses in California and Nevada, said today it will pay $204M to acquire Mpower Communications, a provider of residential and wholesale telecommunication services in California, Las Vegas, Nevada and Chicago, Illinois. TelePacific's largest shareholder is Investcorp, along with Clarity Partners. TelePacific's advisors were Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. and Credit Suisse. Mpower's advisors were Morgan S (More info...)
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Interview with Robert Petrossian, Siderean Software (Podcast)
Our podcast interview today is with Robert Petrossian, CEO of Siderean Software. Siderean is a venture-backed startup located in El Segundo that is tackling the corporate side of the search market. Robert talks to socalTECH's Ben Kuo about how the company fits into the search space, and how it compares with Google and other consumer search engines. Robert Petrossian: My name is Robert Petrossian, and I'm the CEO of Siderean Software. Siderean Software provides software for information access (More info...)
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Biogen Idec Buys Conforma Therapeutics
San Diego-based Conforma Therapeutics has been acquired by Biogen Idec for $150M in cash plus up to $100M in earn out. Biogen Idec said yesterday that it acquired Conforma, which is focused on the discovery and development of drugs for the treatment of cancer, to broaden the company's therapeutic opportunities in the cancer field. The transaction is expected toc lose in the second quarter. Conforma's operations and employees will be integrated into Biogen Idec's existing San Diego campus. Conf (More info...)
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Conexant, TI Settle Patent Suits
Newport Beach-based Conexant has settled a long-standing patent lawsuit with Texas Instruments, saying that it will pay $70M to Texas Instruments to settle patent lawsuits over ADSL technology and its GlobespanVirata business. Conexant acquired GlobespanVirata, and the patent lawsuit, in 2004. Conexant will make the lump-sum payment to resolve alleged past infringement on Texas Instruments' patents over ADSL and VDSL technology.
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Emulex Completes Aarohi Buy
Costa Mesa-based Emulex has completed its acquisition of Costa Mesa-based Aarohi Communications, saying this week that the transaction was worth $39M in cash, assumed debt, and assumed stock options, plus employee equity incentive compensation. Emulex had announced the acquisition of Aarohi in April, ssaying that it would use the company's intelligent storage platforms to expand its product portfolio in the area of storage virtualization and 10Gb/s data center networking. Aarohi has engineering (More info...)
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Microsoft, QUALCOMM Team On Smart Phones
San Diego-based QUALCOMM and software giant Microsoft are teaming together on smart phone technology, saying yesterday that they will port Microsoft Windows Mobile to QUALCOMM's Mobile Station Modem chipsets. The two companies said that the move will enable device manufacturers to develop Windows Mobile-powered phones using Qualcomm's chipsets. The two companies expect to begin offering support for Windows Mobile 5 on the MSM chipsets in the second half of the year. The two companies said that p (More info...)
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THQ, HBO Create Sopranos Videogame
Agoura Hills-based THQ, a maker of video games, and HBO, are going to ship a new game based on HBO's popular show The Sopranos. The companies said that the game will include voices from key members of the cast, and will support Xbox 360 and PlayStation 2 entertainment systems. James Gandolfini will lend his voice as Tony Soprano.
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Data Direct Gets Win At Goddard
Chatsworth-based Data Direct Networks is a part of a new, supercomputer installation at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, and is supplying 60TB of high performance storage for a Linux-based supercomputing cluster for studying weather and climate variability and studying astrophysical phenomena. The installation, part of an installation by Utah-based Linux Networx, is a 128-node, 3.3 TFLOPS system also running IBM's General Parallel File System (GPFS). Data Direct develops storage systems specifi (More info...)
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