Verizon Wireless (Basking Ridge) has formed the 4G Venture Forum for Connected Cars and is encouraging developers to enter the telematics space. The industry group hopes to accelerate the pace of innovation in the automotive/4G LTE ecosystem, the company said. Automotive companies BMW, Honda, Hyundai, Kia and Toyota are participating. MIT professor Sanjay Sarma is also joining the forum, to “provide members a link to track important advancements in related academic research,” Verizon said.
Telematics is a growing field that integrates telecommunications and information into vehicles to provide functionality to drivers and passengers, Verizon said. The forum’s goals: discover ways to increase the value of services, ranging from embedded cloud-connected solutions to mobile applications; help define features and explore safety systems; and encourage third-party developers.
Verizon Wireless has announced its “game-changing” Share Everything plans, which allow users to bundle up to 10 Verizon wireless devices into one data plan. The company is also throwing in mobile hot spot service. The plans are available June 28, 2012, and all come with unlimited text and talk. Debate rages on about whether this will be good for consumers. Some will probably be better off under the old plans, people say, while others will benefit from the new pricing configurations.
Vidyo, the Hackensack-based startup with a disruptive software-based telepresense video conferencing product, has announced a major integration of its system into Microsoft Lync. Companies who choose to integrate VidyoGateway into their Lync servers will be able to offer videoconferencing on smart devices like iPads and smartphones. Vidyo claims this will cost companies far less than other solutions. Probably the biggest consequence of this integration is Vidyo’s move into the enterprise marketplace, which will put the company on the desktops of workers who use Lync with Microsoft Office programs.
In another move aimed at industry, Vidyo has announced its integration into the Barco platform. Barco (Belgium) is a global tech company that designs and develops high- definition visualization solutions, including video walls. The company prides itself on having “the best” display and presentation technologies and gears its products to the control rooms at telecom companies and emergency operations centers, for example.
The major operating subsidiary of Livingston-based SilverSun Technologies has purchased assets of Westchester, N.Y.–based Micro-Point, a reseller of Sage (U.K.) Software products. SilverSun CEO Mark Meller said the deal is expected to contribute more than $600,000 annually to the company’s revenue. He added, “While we are pleased to acquire the Sage customers of Micro-Point, the greater value to us in this transaction is it allows us to greatly expand our hosted service offerings.” This is a business area SilverSun has said it is working to build into a major profit center for the company. SilverSun added that this is the third acquisition it has made in 2012.
Xceedium (Herndon, Va.), the provider of Zero Trust privileged identity and access management solutions that has moved its headquarters from N.J. to Va. but kept its R & D people here, has closed a $12 million Series B financing extension led by existing investor ArrowPath Venture Partners (Redwood Shores, Calif.). The funds will be used to fuel continued company growth and expansion, with specific emphasis on Xceedium’s new cloud-based initiatives. As part of this aggressive growth strategy, the company has also announced the launch of Xsuite Cloud, a comprehensive privileged identity- and access-management platform designed to provide additional protection for organizations taking advantage of Amazon Web Services in conjunction with existing data-center infrastructure.
Innovation Garden, the Princeton, N.J.-based part accelerator, part incubator business development lab, has announced its first sponsored company and a seed-stage investment in brand-engagement social media company Wasabi 3D (co-located at Innovation Garden in Princeton). The company creates unique venue-based, large-scale, three-dimensional artwork that stimulates brand engagement across physical/experiential landscapes, then leverages social media tools to grow and measure audience impact.
