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September 24, 2007

In This Update:

Arris Group Buying Broadband Network Solutions Provider C-COR For $730 million
REUTERS
Arris made a $730 million stock and cash deal for rival C-Cor, sparking the networking industry consolidation game back to life. Arris says it will pay $13.75 a share in cash or stock for each share of C-Cor. The offer represents a 39% premium over C-Cor’s closing price of $9.88 Friday. Both Arris and State College, Pa.-based C-Cor make networking gear for cable and satellite TV broadcasters. The deal is among the first between communications technology shops since the recent credit crunch cooled off the mergers and acquisition activity in the industry. The Arris and C-Cor deal could help revive some stalled matchmaking.
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Google in Talks With Group Over High-Speed Pacific Cable
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Google Inc. is in early discussions to join a group looking to lay a high-speed trans-Pacific undersea cable that could potentially result in the Internet company’s becoming an investor in the project, according to a person familiar with the matter. The discussions highlight the growth of Google’s infrastructure requirements as it continues an ambitious international expansion and increasingly offers data-intensive services such as online video and email, and online word processing for businesses.
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Online Brand Management Firm Visible Technologies Raises $12 Million
PAIDCOINTENT
Seattle-based Visible Technologies, which helps clients track their brand across social media, has raised $12 million in a second round of funding from Ignition Partners and advertising giant WPP Group. The company sold an equity stake to WPP for $3 million last year. The funds will be used to build out its TruView and TruCast products, which monitor search engines and social networking sites respectively.

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Myspace to Launch Ad-Supported Mobile Version
AP via YAHOO
MySpace is launching a free, advertising-supported cell phone version Monday as part of a wider bid by parent News Corp. to attract advertising for mobile Web sites. Fox Interactive Media, which oversees News Corp.’s Internet properties, said it also plans to roll out versions of FoxSports.com, the gaming site IGN, AskMen and its local TV affiliates in the coming months that will work on cell phones that can access the Internet. The company said it also plans to offer a mobile version of its Photobucket picture sharing site in coming months.
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Online Backup Startup Mozy Acquired By EMC For $76 million
TECHCRUNCH
Online storage startup Mozy, headquartered in Utah, has been acquired by EMC Corporation, a public storage company with a nearly $40 billion market cap. EMC paid $76 million for the company, according to two sources close to the deal. The company has a simple way for users to back up their computer hard drives online. Download their software (Mozy supports both Windows and Mac machines) and the backups occur slowly over time. If there is ever a problem, you can restore your hard drive from Mozy’s servers.
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Snapvine Receives $10MM Funding
ALARM:CLOCK
Seattle’s Snapvine has raised $10M in a round led by Bridgescale Partners. Snapvine had raised $2M from Draper Fisher Jurvetson, First Round Capital and Kleiner Perkins’ partner Russell Siegelman. Snapvine claims millions of users who leave voice comments, songs, or just interesting audio bits for their friends, or people they’d like to befriend, on 75 different social networks.

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Trutap Mobile Social App Raises Another $6.5 Million in Funding
MOCONEWS
Trutap, a new social media application for mobile phones, has raised another $6.5 million from The Tudor Group and angel investors. The downloadable service, which offers blog posting, multi-protocol IM, group SMS, web photo-sharing and access to existing social networks, last year raised $1.2 million angel funding and an initial $6.5 million from Boston-based Tudor.
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DoubleClick Launches Site-Side Mobile Ad Management
CLICKZ NEWS
After hinting for months that a mobile ad management product was in the works, DoubleClick has finally produced the technology. DoubleClick Mobile will integrate with DART for Publishers to provide ad trafficking and yield optimization for campaigns designed to appear on phones. Additionally, the company plans to release a mobile ad management product for advertisers sometime in 2008, according to Ari Paparo, DoubleClick’s VP of rich media and emerging technologies.
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81 Venture-Backed Companies Acquired in Q2 2007
ZD NET
Acquisitions of US venture-backed companies in Q2 2007 declined noticeably, with 81 transactions totaling $7.6 bln, compared to 98 transactions totaling $9.6 bln in Q1 2007. The median acquisition amount was $55.8 mln, which was also a noticeable decline from Q1 2007 but above the average for 2006, Fenwick & West survey says.
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Microsoft Readies “Halo 3″ for Launch
REUTERS
Microsoft Corp geared up on Monday to launch “Halo 3″, the acclaimed science-fiction video game that it hopes will widen its lead over rival Sony Corp in the battle for industry dominance. Shoppers lined up before dawn in New York, many hours before the midnight sale of “Halo 3,” the equivalent of a new “Harry Potter” book or “Star Wars” film for the $30 billion video game industry. The game, in which players try to save humanity from an army of aliens, has drawn wide praise from reviewers for its lush settings, cinematic story and breadth of features.
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