Company Roundup: Seamless Technologies, Connotate, BIO-key, SilverSun, mPhase and More
Seamless Technologies: Phoenix-based Avnet, an electronic components and software distributor, has agreed to acquire substantially all the assets of Seamless Technologies, a Morristown-based IT private cloud and data center automation provider. Seamless generated revenue of about $14 million in 2012. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The North Jersey tech company was founded in 1992 and is said to have a unique set of intellectual property and software that enables faster integration and deployment of large-scale private cloud operations. Seamless has staff in California, Texas, North Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maine and in Canada and Argentina.
The company will be folded into Avnet Services, established in May 2013. Avnet has been on a buying spree, purchasing many companies to build up its services position.
The acquisition has caused a stir in the larger cloud industry. One observer — Heather Clancy for Next-Gen Partner — noted that wholesale distributors of technology and IT components are usually one step removed from the customers to whom they sell. “They sell to VARs and other IT solution providers that provide the direct touch to the consumer,” she said in an article on Zdnet.com.
This acquisition is “another indication of how traditional technology delivery models are evolving … the once black-and-white rules about who touches whom to help with enterprise IT solutions are fading into some shade of gray,” Clancy noted. The deal is expected to be closed by the end of July 2013.
Connotate: Connotate (New Brunswick), a provider of Web data monitoring and extraction solutions, has announced that Q1 2013 was a record quarter for the company in terms of sales booked.
“A key driver has been Connotate’s ability to enable businesses to rapidly expand market penetration with directory services, analytics and other innovative offerings that creatively combine Web data with other sources,” said Ryan Mulholland, president. “We are infusing market research with input from social media and continually refreshing subscription feeds that, previously, our customers were only able to update quarterly.”
The company is also beefing up its management team, bringing on Barry Graubart as vice president of product strategy. Keith Cooper, Connotate CEO, said that Graubart will help bring depth to the organization: “We have many opportunities and ideas to improve and extend our product suite, and Barry brings great experience and a keen understanding of the market opportunities in our industry. We are delighted to have him on board.” Graubart most recently served as principal of Content Matters, a consultancy focused on mobile and Web product strategy.
BIO-key: Fingerprint authentication company BIO-key (Wall) has taken a further step in its collaboration with IBM. Big Blue has validated BIO-key’s finger biometric authentication solutions for IBM Security Access Manager (ISAM) for Web. “We are enthused to receive our certification for the latest IBM security platform solution for Web applications. Any IBM customer utilizing ISAM can now add a biometric component for convenient multifactor authentication to any supported application. Considering the size of IBM’s installed base of accounts, this can represent a significant opportunity for BIO-key,” stated Mike DePasquale, BIO-key CEO.
SilverSun: SilverSun Technologies (Livingston) has said SWK Technologies,the company’s principal operating subsidiary, had signed a letter of intent to acquire VICOR Business Services, a Bethesda, Md.-based financial and business management consulting services provider with specific expertise in compliance-oriented federal contracting with U.S. government agencies.
The company said VICOR’s expertise in project management and time-based systems supporting Federal Acquisition Regulation and Cost Accounting Standards compliance for commercial firms and Office of Management and Budget circular compliance for grants management will add significant expertise to SWK’s capabilities. VICOR is also a Sage software specialist. SWK has been buying up small Sage software companies for the past year and a half.
Universal Display: Universal Display (Ewing) is ditching the stock symbol PANL and trading under a new symbol, OLED, on the Nasdaq. Universal said it had initiated the stock symbol change to align the company’s brand identity with the organic light-emitting diode (OLED) marketplace. The company is an OLED technology, material and service provider to premier display and lighting manufacturers.
mPhase: mPhase Technologies (Little Falls) has said it is broadening its focus on its Smart Surface battery technology to include the research and development of drug delivery systems. In February 2013 mPhase filed a U.S. patent application for a novel drug delivery system based on the firm’s Smart Surface technology. The new technology enables automatic dispensing of a preset dose of a drug agent or a medication. mPhase believes its research could lead to the drug delivery system, possibly creating greater shareholder value. Last week the company received the 2013 North America Frost & Sullivan Technology Innovation Award for its NanoBattery technology. Earlier this year the company won the NJTC Venture Conference award for best green company.
