Company Roundup: Silversun, IDT, Mindlance, Natcore, RCM, Micronet Enertec, Vonage

Silversun Technologies: On Nov. 14, 2013, Livingston-based Silversun Technologies reported record revenue for the third quarter of 2013 as well as for the nine months ending Sep. 30, 2013. Total revenue rose 26 percent to $4,374,951 from $3,468,354 during the quarter. However, due primarily to higher selling expenses, loss from operations totaled $62,084 down from income of operations of $119,212, the company said in a release.

The company was pleased with its results, and Mark Meller, chairman and CEO, commented, “Our third-quarter performance continued our trend of record quarterly results and positions us well to finish 2013 on very strong footing. Moreover, our robust cash position and growing backlog of new business at SWK, coupled with the increasing strength of our recurring revenue channels, all serve to bolster our confidence that we’ll exceed our revenue objective of $16 million for the year.”

The company announced in early December 2013 that it had closed on a software sale valued at more than $1 million. Although the company would not release the name of its customer, it said the transaction had involved the sale of Sage Software ERP X3 software and attendant consulting services to an international footwear manufacturer.

IDT: Newark-based telecom company IDT has announced that Howard Jonas, its founder and first CEO, is stepping down. His son Samuel “Shmuel” Jonas, the current CEO, will take his place. Howard Jonas will remain the company’s chairman.

Howard Jonas had returned to IDT to bring it back to profitability, a release said. During his recent tenure, he sold or shut down many noncore businesses and spun off several others to IDT stockholders.

Mindlance:Mindlance (Hoboken), which was recently included in the NJBIZ fastest-growing companies list, has sold off its life sciences consulting division. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. Cumberland Consulting Group, a Franklin, Tenn., technology and project management firm focused primarily on the healthcare sector, has purchased the group.

In a release, Cumberland said the Mindlance Life Sciences Consulting division provides advisory and technology implementation services to pharmaceutical companies specializing in contract and revenue management, compliance and data analytics solutions. The company serves eight of the 15 top global pharmaceutical manufacturers. 

The Mindlance Life Sciences Consulting team will operate as a separate practice within Cumberland under the Cumberland brand and will continue to be led by its former managing partner, Jeff Lee. According to a Cumberland spokesperson, the division is staying in New Jersey.

Cumberland is a portfolio company of Tailwind Capital, a private-equity firm focused on investing in growth-oriented middle-market companies. Financing for the transaction was provided by Deerpath Capital (New York) and Pinnacle Financial Partners (Nashville). Mindlance was advised by Clearsight Advisors (McLean, Va.).

Natcore: Red Bank-based solar technology firm Natcore Technology says an independent study had concluded that the company’s black silicon technology could reduce silicon solar cell production costs by up to 23.5 percent. Natcore has also introduced steps to reduce production costs and hazardous effluents from the process of creating solar cells.

Natcore scientists are working on laser processing to replace the high-temperature diffusion furnace used in solar cell production. This step should reduce energy and chemical costs, said the company. According the firm, laser “doping” of the solar cell is a better method to use to accomplish this task.

RCM Technologies: More drama took place in the RCM Technologies (Pennsauken) proxy contest, which NJTechWeekly.com reported here. RCM had offered a compromise to settle the contest, but it was rejected by Legion Group. RCM’s settlement offer suggested adding three new independent directors to the RCM board of directors, including Michael Frankel and two members of Legion Group, Roger Ballou and Christopher Kiper. The stockholders’ meeting is scheduled for Dec. 5, 2013, at 6:00 p.m., at the offices of Morgan Lewis in Philadelphia.

Micronet Enertec Technologies: Emerson-based Micronet Enertec is a developer and manufacturer that integrates and markets “globally rugged” computers, tablets and computer-based systems for the commercial mobile resource management market and the defense and aerospace industries. The company made a couple of executive appointments in late November 2013.

Shai Lustgarten is now executive vice president of business development. He comes to the company from TAT Technologies, an Israel-based supplier of electronic systems to the commercial and aerospace market.

Sandy Mayer was appointed sales and marketing manager for North America in the company’s Micronet subsidiary. He had been Mobile Device Ingenierie’s general manager for the Americas. Previously, Mayer had cofounded SigmaOne Communications, which specialized in location-based service.

Vonage: On Nov. 18, 2013, Vonage Holdings Corp. (Holmdel) said it had completed the acquisition of Vocalocity (Atlanta), a software as a service communications provider to small and medium businesses (SMBs).

The company will sell to the SMB market under the newly created Vonage Business Solutions brand, Vonage said in a release. To celebrate the completion of the merger, the company said it is offering free phones to new customers who sign up for business phone service between now and Dec. 15, 2013.

According to Vonage, during the first half of 2013, Vocalocity had revenue of $28 million and was growing, implying an annual run rate of greater than $56 million. First-half 2013 revenues were 39 percent higher than during the same period in the prior year. Vocalocity was EBITDA and free cash-flow positive during this period and ended the second quarter with 21,000 customers, according to a release.