Thursday, October 21, 2010


Qlogic Names New CEO, As Desai Shifts To Executive Chairman
Aliso Viejo-based QLogic, the manufacturer of storage area networking equipment, said Thursday afternoon that long time CEO HK Desai is shifting to Executive Chairman, as part of a planned transition. QLogic said that it is naming Simon Biddiscombe as CEO as part of the move. Desai has been CEO of QLogic for 15 years. QLogic said Desai will continue on as Chairman of the company's board, and will now focus on technology and product roadmaps and relationships with strategic customers. Biddiscombe (More info...)
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Cocodot Rolls Out Printed Cards
Hollywood-based Cocodot, the online invitation card site headed by former MySpace exec Shawn Gold, has rolled out new, printed invitation cards, according to the firm's website. According to Cocodot, it has started offering printed version of the company's invitation cards, starting at $37.25 for a 25-card minimum. The new cards include free, online versions of those same cards. Cocodot is venture backed by Anthem Ventures, the Mailroom Fund, and Rincon Venture Partners. The firm has been pushin (More info...)
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Inphi Reports Q3 Results
Inphi Corp., the maker of high-speed analog semiconductors, has updated its S-1, to reflect the firm's Q3 financials, saying that it had had net income of $3.58M on total revenues of $21.8M for its quarter ended September 30, 2010. That compared with net income of $3.85M on revenues of $18.37M for the same quarter last year. Inphi--which has major operations in Westlake Village, but has its headquarters in Santa Clara--is in the midst of an IPO effort, which is being underwritten by Morgan Stanl (More info...)
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MySpace Faces Challenge From KPCB's sFund
Emphasizing the challenge that faces Los Angeles-based MySpace in taking back the initiative in the social networking industry, competing social network Facebook has seen a significant boost to its efforts to dominate social networking, as it aligned with Amazon.com, Zynga, Comcast, Liberty Media, and Allen & Company in funding a new venture fund from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Thursday. KPCB announced its new sFund, a $250M fund which will invest in entrepreneurs in the social space, spec (More info...)
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UCSB Ties With Google, Intel, Others On Terabit Networking Effort
The University of California, Santa Barbara said Wednesday that it has launched a new research center, focused on developing next generation, terabit-speed networks. UCSB said the new Terabit Optical Ethernet Center (TOEC) has partnered with Google, Verizon, Intel, Agilent Technologies and Rockwell Collins on the research effort, and will focus on developing a technology to enable 1 Terabit Ethernet over optical fiber network by 2025, and 100 Terabit Ethernet by 2020. The new center will be dire (More info...)
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VIZIO Takes Rose Bowl Sponsorship
Irvine-based VIZIO, the manufacturer of HDTVs, is taking the presenting sponsor for Rose Bowl Game through 2014, according to the Tournament of Roses, ESPN, and VIZIO today. According to the three, VIZIO will be the presenting sponsor of the game through 2014, and will be the title sponsor of the 2014 BCS National Championship Game. The game will be called the "Rose Bowl Game presented by VIZIO" and the 2014 BCS National Championship game will be known as the "2014 VIZIO BCS National Championshi (More info...)
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Minnow Medical Gets $4.7M
Laguna Hills-based Minnow Medical, a developer of treatments for peripheral vascular disease therapy, said said Wednesday that it has raised $4.7M in a combination of equity and convertible debt. According to the firm, it sold $3.2M in preferred stock, and $1.5M in convertible notes. The investment was led by Neomed Management, and also included Christopher Weil & Company, Minnow's Chairman, Olav Bergheim, and other undisclosed private investors. Minnow Medical said it is developing a technology (More info...)
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j2 Global Communications Buys Data Backup Provider
Los Angeles-based j2 Global Communications, the operator of online FAX services, announced this morning that it has acquired keepITsafe Data Solutions Ltd., a provider of cloud-based online backup services. keepITsafe Data Solutions Ltd. is based in Ireland. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, however, j2 Global said it does not expect the acquisition to be material. j2 said it will add keepITsafe's cloud-based online data backup services to its suite of fax, voice, and email service (More info...)
posted on Thursday, October 21, 2010(Full story)

Poptent Confirms $3M Funding
San Clemente-based Poptent, an online site for crowdsourced video content for advertisers, has raised $3M in a Series A investment round, it new investor has confirmed. According to Los Angeles-based MK Capital, it made the investment in Poptent, led by partner Yair Landau. As part of the funding, MK Capital said Poptent has hired Andy Jedynak as CEO. MK Capital said its other investments include Machinima, Geodelic, and Generate. Poptent uses crowdsourcing to provide advertising and other video (More info...)
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Connexity, Headed by FastClick's Dave Gross, Gets Seed Funding
Camarillo-based Connexity, a new Internet advertising firm headed by former Fastclick CEO Dave Gross, said today that it has raised a seed funding round. Amount of the round was not announced. The funding round came from Persistence Partners, which is also headed by Gross. Connexity said that it is integrating social networking and recommendation engine technology into its advertising technology. The company said it is in the midst of selecting a headquarters locations in Ventura County and hiri (More info...)
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Cogent Dodges Shareholder Lawsuit
Pasadena-based Cogent, the maker of automated fingerprint and other biometrics hardware, reported today that the Delaware Supreme Court has refused a shareholder plaintiff petition, requesting an appeal of an earlier opinion of the court denying an injunction on 3M's tender offer for Cogent's outstanding shares. Cogent had been sued by a law firm representing shareholders over its recently announced deal to be acquired by 3M, in a deal worth $943M.
posted on Thursday, October 21, 2010(Full story)