Tuesday, October 3, 2006Napster Hits JapanLos Angeles-based Napster said Tuesday that it has opened up its digital music service in Japan. The new operations are a joint venture with Tower Records Japan. Napster said that Napster Japan features a capatlog of two million tracks, including local Japanese content. Napster will offer both a basic service for 1,280JPY ($10.99 U.S.) per month, along with a premium subscription for 1,980JPY ($16.99 U.S.) per month.
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QLogic Buys SilverStorm For $60MAliso Viejo-based QLogic said Tuesday that it has acquired SilverStorm Technologies, a firm that develops Infiniband products for the clustering and grid computing market, for $60M. SilverStorm develops fabric interconnects used by server makers to interconnect devices. QLogic is a provider of host bus adapters, switches, and other components for the storage area networking and data storage market. QLogic said that the acquisition of SilverStorm will e neutral to its non-GAAP earnings.
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SAIC Sets IPO TermsSan Diego-based SAIC has set terms for its offering of 75 million shares of common stock. The firm said in a regulatory filing Monday that it expects its IPO to be priced between $13 and $15 per share, which will raise about $1B for the firm. The firm also said that it plans to pay a special dividend of between $1.6B and $2.4B to its stocholders, directors, and officers prior to the offering. The dividend is expected to reduce its cash reserves by approximately $620M to $1.4B. SAIC is looking to (More info...)
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FileNet Shareholders Approve IBM MergerCosta Mesa-based FileNet said today that its shareholders have approved the company's plan to be acquired by IBM. The firm said that it currently expects the transaction to close this month. IBM announced its $1.6B acquisition of FileNet in August. FileNet is a provider of enterprise document management software.
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Interview with Jonathan Berke, Sigalert.comOur interview today is with Jonathan Berke, one of the co-founders of Sigalert.com (www.sigalert.com), a web site and service that shows traffic conditions in Southern California. If you watch any morning traffic reports on television, you've also probably seen their traffic graphics, and probably heard their products used by major radio stations such as KFWB and KNX. We thought it would be interesting to talk to Jonathan about the company and how it came about--and how a small, bootstrapped com (More info...)
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DARPA Selects Urban Challenge ParticipantsDARPA has selected eleven teams as participants for the 2007 Urban Challenge, including two Southern California teams. This round of the DARPA Grand Challenge autonomous vehicle competition will focus on teams developing fully autonomous ground vehicles conducting simulated military supply missions safely and effectively in a mock urban area. DARPA selected the eleven teams as part of its track A system, and will invest up to $1M in each of the teams. The Southern California teams include Califo (More info...)
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Demand Media Buys InfoSearch Media's AnswerBag.comLos Angeles-based Demand Media and Marina Del Rey-based InfoSearch Media said today that Demand Media has purchased the firm's AnswerBag.com web site. Infosearch Media's AnswerBag.com site provided a Yahoo Answers-style Q&A web site driven by user questions and answers. InfoSearch Media said that the terms of the deal call for Demand Media to purchase $2M in its ContentLogic products over the next two years, and will receive warrants to purchase 5 million shares of InfoSearch Media's common stoc (More info...)
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Emulex Completes Sierra Logic BuyCosta Mesa-based Emulex said last night that it has completed its acquisition of Sierra Logic, a maker of embedded bridges and routers for the Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) market. The transaction was worth $180M in cash, plus assumed debt, stock options, and employee equity incentive compensation. Emulex had announced the acquisition in early September. Emulex is a maker of storage area networking equipment.
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Veoh Adds Meisel To BoardSan Diego-based Veoh Networks, an online video sharing and distribution firm, said today that it has named Ted Meisel, former President of Yahoo! Search Marketing, to its board of directors. Meisel is also the former CEO of Overture Services. Veoh is backed by Shelter Capital and Spark Capital. Michael Eisner is also on the board of the company. Veoh competes in the crowded user-generated video space.
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Judge Denies Qualcomm MotionIrvine-based Broadcom said yesterday that a federal judge has denied San Diego-based Qualcomm's motion to enjoin the firm's 3G cellular chip business. Broadcom also said it has ramped up its legal fight against Qualcomm with a new motion for summary judgement, and an antitrust appeal. The two companies have been battling over what Broadcom says is an effort to stifle competition in the cellular chip market. Qualcomm had filed suit earlier looking for a preliminary injunction to stop Broadcom's d (More info...)
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