Tufin on the rise
Filed under: IT management, Information Technology, Software, Uncategorized, Video, data security
Tufin Technologies, which provides Security Lifecycle Management solutions, has really picked up steam since the beginning of the year. The company, which is five years old, has won three awards in recent weeks and recently attended the RSA conference (the largest infosec conference of its kind) in San Francisco, where the above video was recorded.
Last week it announced that its flagship product, SecureTrack, was named Best Enterprise Security Solution by SC Magazine UK, and received an honorable mention as the Best Security Management Solution.
According to Tufin’s Website,
“Tufin’s Security Lifecycle Management solutions automate policy management for leading firewall and networking vendors including Check Point Software, Juniper, Cisco, Fortinet, F5 and BlueCoat, resulting in more manageable, efficient and cost effective security operations. Its flagship product SecureTrack, helps security operations teams to control and manage policy changes, analyze risks, and ensure business continuity. With SecureTrack, managers easily understand the big picture and align operations with corporate and Government security standards.”
Tufin also made InformationWeek’s Startup 50 list of young companies recognized for delivering innovative, high value, enterprise ready solutions and was named best Security Lifecycle Management Solution by InfoSecurity Products Guide.
In addition to SecureTrack, the company offers SecureChange Workflow and the newly-released (at the RSA conference), Tufin Open Platform (TOP).
Celebration of Ada Lovelace Day: 6 women who have contributed to Israel’s hi-tech industry
Filed under: Cleantech, Information Technology, Software, Uncategorized, VC, Web2.0
In celebration of Ada Lovelace, the first female programmer, today is Ada Lovelace Day. To honor her contributions in science and technology and inspire others to follow her path, thousands of bloggers, including myself, have pledged to blog about specific women in science and technology or about women in science and technology in general on this day to help raise the profile of women in technology.
For this, I have decided to provide the biographies of six of the many women who are shaping Israel’s technology industry who I think are amazing. Please note that these women are far from the only ones who have contributed and/or are contributing in Israel and that there are many others just as inspiring:
Orna Berry: Orna Berry has been an active member of and contributor to Israel’s science and technology industries for three decades and has significantly helped shape Israel’s venture capital and industry landscapes. After playing the role of entrepreneur by co-founding ORNET Data Communication Technologies Ltd. in 1993 and then successfully selling it to Siemens AG in 1995, Berry joined Gemini Israel Funds as a Partner in 2000, where she has helped startups, such as Prime Sense and Aladdin Knowledge Systems Ltd., get off the ground and establish themselves.
In addition to working with companies individually as a venture capitalist, Berry has represented and still represents the Israeli venture capital community as Chairperson of the Israel Venture Association (IVA). She has also helped form government policy that positively impacted industrial research and development when she was Chief Scientist and Director of the Industrial R&D Administration of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Government of Israel from 1997 to 2000.
Bina Rezinovsky: Rezinovsky has been in the news the past week for resigning from Cisco Israel. According to Ha’aretz, during Rezinovsky’s tenure “Cisco Israel grew at a 20% annual rate and made a number of Israeli acquisitions. The local branch finished 2007 with $500 million in revenues and won most of the large communications equipment tenders in the country. Rezinovsky won Cisco Europe’s management prize in 2006.”
Ruth Alon: After working in various positions at Memorex and Unisys in the U.S., Alon founded and then headed the Internet service provider (ISP), Netvision in 1994. It has since become the largest ISP in Israel. Alon currently serves on the Advisory Board of Landmark Ventures and the Board of Directors of the “Technion – Israel Institute of Technology” and the Technion’s Executive & Academic Development Committees.
Miriam Schwab: Though probably best known for helping to popularize the content management system (CMS), WordPress in Israel and being an expert on blogging, Miriam Schwab is one of the most inspiring women on Israel’s technology scene right now for several other reasons as well.
Aside from founding and heading the successful marketing company, Illuminea, playing an important part in promoting Israel abroad and helping non-profits in Jerusalem understand social media to better thrive, Schwab is also the founder of the website BizzyWomen.com.
Founded in the summer of 2008, Bizzy Women is meant to be a one-stop site for busy women with the most useful information on topics in finance, entrepreneurship and parenting among others (disclosure: I have contributed articles to the site before).
Orli Yakuel: Orli Yakuel is a leading voice on Web 2.0 applications in Israel and abroad. She is the co-founder of Go2Web20.net, a directory of Web 2.0 applications, and editor of the Go2web20 blog, her personal blog about Web 2.0 technology.
Shari Arison: Best known for inheriting the fortune her father left from founding Carnival Cruises Lines, Shari Arison has been an active philanthropist over the years and has, most recently, taken a specific interest in clean technology and water conservation solutions. In 2006, Arison founded Miya, a company with the mission to reduce water loss and better manage urban water systems. To date, Arison has invested $100 million in Miya and impressively recruited water technology maven, Booky Oren to head the operation. The company was launched publicly in late 2008.
What woman in Israel’s tech scene do you admire? Whether someone on this list or not, share it in the comments below!
How to predict who will win American Idol using complex software
Prof. Yuval Shavitt
Not happy with the prediction software of TiVo, Google Trends or DialIdol.com? According to the website of a Fox News affiliate, Israeli researchers from Tel Aviv University (TAU) have developed software that
“uses a mathematical formula to sort music requests logged by the Gnutella peer-to-peer file-sharing network to predict the next pop star.”
The researchers came up with the geographical formula – which has had a 30-50% rate of success so far – after realizing that
“those artists who eventually made it big on the national level first had a huge number of user queries in their local region, even when they had zero queries from elsewhere in the United States.”
Record companies can find this software useful as an added measure to determine which new signings, half of whom fail, will have the most potential. Companies in other fields can apply the formula to other entertainment areas including television programs and video and animation clips – including YouTube, Metacafe, AniBoom and other similar sites.
This software was developed by Professor Yuval Shavitt and a student of his as part of the DIMES project which aims “to study the structure and topology of the Internet.”
Aladdin Knowledge Systems agrees to be acquired by Jasmine HoldCo
Filed under: Information Technology, Mergers and Acquisitions, Software, Uncategorized, data security
Israel-based Aladdin Knowledge Systems announced today that the software security company has agreed to be acquired by an investor group lead by private equity firm Vector Capital, which specializes in the technology industry, for about $160 million.
Aladdin was covered on Israel Innovation 2.0 in August 2008 after its eSafe product was awarded a Checkmark Premium Level Anti-Spam Certification by West Coast Labs, an independent test facility for information security products and services. Together, Aladdin’s products eSafe, HASP and eToken offer software DRM security, online protection and secure network access. Despite quality security software the company’s stocks never reached its potential.
Jasmine Holdco LLC, an affiliate of Vector Capital, had been in talks with Aladdin on and off since last summer before this agreement was finally reached.
22 Israel-related headlines from the week of December 28, 2008 (Gaza operation edition)
Filed under: Cleantech, Company Briefs, Environment, Industry pulse, Information Technology, Internet Security, Israeli Websites, New Ideas, Partnerships, Software, Uncategorized, VC, Web2.0, security
Much attention in the news was paid to Israel’s operation in Gaza during the week of December 28, 2009, including to online technology related to it. Different Israeli government branches, from the IDF to Israeli Consulates in the U.S., began to leverage popular social media tools, such as blogs, YouTube and Twitter, to explain the purpose of Israel’s operation and its objectives, while supporters around the world used the same mediums and others, such as Facebook, to show their support for Israel and its troops. During the week it also became clear that the conflict wouldn’t be bound to physical operations as several Israeli sites became the targets of cyberterrorism.
Despite the conflict, there was plenty of news of unrelated innovations coming from Israel. Funds were raised and contracts were signed in Israel’s IT and cleantech sectors and announcements of foreign companies opening R&D offices were made. Not all the news that wasn’t related to the conflict was good though. For all these stories and more, check out this week’s special edition of Israel-related headlines from the week of December 28, 2008 below.
Israel-Hamas Conflict (Technology side)
1. Israeli news site down, blames cyber attack
2. Muslim hackers attack Israeli websites as Gaza strikes continue
3. Israel Backed by Army of Cyber-Soldiers
4. War sickens me, but I stand with Israel (HelpUsWin*)
5. The Big War You Never Hear Much About
6. Israeli Consulate to tweet about Gaza war
Cleantech
7. Israel’s SolarEdge Raises $23M to Crush Shady Solar
8. BrightSource Energy signs contract with Siemens for solar-powered generator
Investments and deals
9. 2009: Year of the survival of the fittest
10. Bluephoenix Announces Multi-Million Dollar Modernization Contract With a Large Scandinavian Bank
11. Intrinsyc Signs Soleus Licensing Agreement With ODM for Industrial PDA and LBS Phone
12. Oy Vey! Israeli VCs Exceptionally Gloomy on 2009
Information Technology
13. HCL opens office in Israel
14. Invention: Software research assistant
15. EMC continues to move forward
Miscellaneous
16. The American Idol for blogging superstars
18. Israeli’s documentary is drawing wide acclaim
19. MyHeritage Makes Family History Research Easier With Launch Of Family Tree Builder 3
20. Crude oil rises after Israeli attacks on Gaza roil Middle East
Israel Innovation 2.0 content related to Israel-Hamas conflict
21. Direct from the streets of Gaza… and Israel. How TechCrunch UK’s post could have read regarding UGC
22. Cyberterrorism against Israeli and American sites: How to Stay Secure
Video from IDF Spokeperson’s Unit TouTube Channel (Capt. Benjamin Rutland on the ground forces entering Gaza on 3 Jan. 2009)
*HelpUsWin is an online grassroots campaign helping to ensure that international coverage of the Campaign Against Hamas is balanced. To learn more about it or how you can become involved, please check out the HelpUsWin website.
Israel chosen as one of EMC’s Centers of Excellence
Filed under: Data Storage, Industry pulse, Information Technology, Software, Uncategorized
Forget BRIC-countries. It’s the R.I.CH.I-countries. David Hill of eChannelline wrote today that EMC, an IT-supplier, recently announced that it established a Centers of Excellence program in four emerging markets, Russia, India, China and Israel. Under the program, EMC will invest locally in software development and manufacturing and gain access to the local talent pool that can help with future innovation.
Hill’s article describes how the program works using China as the example,
”How EMC taps into that talent pool to hire the proverbial “best and brightest” is illustrated in China. The country annually produces a huge population of computer science and engineering graduates, and EMC receives thousands of resumes. Through a process that includes standardized testing and multiple interviews, the company is able to winnow down to a selected number who are given job offers.
EMC is able to select the crème de la crème from a very deep talent pool, and the company states that its employee turnover is a fraction of the industry mean. Maybe that’s because EMC has figured out how to make the COE developers work together, drive productive relationships with developers around the world, and innovate based on country or regional opportunities.”
It’s intersting to note that EMC chose Israel in place of Brazil, which is an emerging market that along with China, India and Russia are known as the BRIC-countires and are the largest emerging markets. It’s not a surprising decision though considering that in the past year, EMC’s competition, IBM in specific, have acquired Israeli companies with key technology that threatens EMC’s business, especially storage.
Data storage and data security were hot topics in 2008 and are expected to continue to be in 2009 with Israel leading the way in innovation. The smartest part of this move for EMC is that instead of spending millions on purchasing companies with these technologies in the future and then converting them into R&D centers, it can now go after these future entrepreneurs before they start their own company and offer them incentives to stay (such as a good work environment). It can be assumed that EMC will get a positive ROI from the Israeli COE program in the very near future.
In addition, this news answers the question I asked after reviewing IBM’s purchase of FilesX last year.
ODM to develop mobile phone capable of delivering location-based services (LBS) using Intrinsyc software
Filed under: Information Technology, Mergers and Acquisitions, Partnerships, Software, Telecomunications, Uncategorized
Earlier this week, Intrinsyc, a mobile and embedded software solutions provider, announced that it signed a Soleus license agreement with a large Original Design Manufacturers (ODM) of computers and consumer electronics devices to use the Soleus software platform to create a handheld barcode-reading payment device, and a mobile phone capable of delivering location-based services (LBS).
According to a description of Soleus,
“Soleus is a comprehensive mobile software platform, with a telephony stack and a large applications portfolio, which enables mobile and portable device makers to develop and deploy an array of mobile devices quickly. Built on Windows Embedded CE, the flexible Soleus software platform allows numerous feature-set variations to meet the requirements to develop multiple handheld and handset designs.”
Intrinsyc’s Soleus deal comes after several announcements by the company last month and in October regarding deals for its Israel-originated Destinator software. One of the announcements was that Intrinsyc signed an agreement with an OEM to license its Destinator for touch-screen handset and another was that it released a version of the Destinator navigation product for Symbian smartphones and had a distribution agreement with SatNav Technologies for them in India.
According to a description of Destinator,
“Destinator navigation software sets new standards for driver safety, ease-of-use, rich content and user interface customization. The software delivers world-class turn-by-turn navigation with market-leading safety features for personal navigation devices (PNDs), personal digital assistants (PDAs) and smartphones, while also providing cellular, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and PC connectivity. Destinator is an ideal software solution for in-vehicle and pedestrian-oriented navigation and content browsing.”
Under the touch-screen handset agreement, Destinator software will be integrated to provide a complete navigation solution for a GPS-enabled Windows Mobile handset that is being developed for Asia and Latin America specific Asian and Latin American markets. Additionally, the devices will come pre-loaded with country-specific maps and language support.
In the SatNav deal, SatNav, a GPS technology provider, will distribute the Destinator program for Symbian smartphones. Destinator software will offer Symbian users a feature rich onboard navigation application that combines location with a series of value-added features such as text message location tagging and auto re-routing based on traffic information. The deal marks Destinator’s now being available on all the major mobile device operating systems.
Destinator software was originally developed by the Israeli company Destinator Technologies. In July 2008 the company was acquired by Intrinsyc and remains in Israel now under the Intrinsyc name.
Company Facts
Founded in 2001.
Intrinsyc Software Ltd. (Destinator division) based in Herziliyya, Israel.
Yuval Pecht, Director, PND Product Management.
Products: Destinator and Soleus.
Website: www.intrinsyc.com.
12 Israel-related technology headlines from the week of December 21, 2008
Filed under: Cleantech, Company Briefs, Industry pulse, Information Technology, Mergers and Acquisitions, Software, Uncategorized, VC, virtualization
Despite reports that thousands of IT workers in Israel will lose their jobs in the coming months, Israeli companies seemed unfazed by economic woes during the week of December 21, 2008 which saw a lot of investment and M&A activity. Several deals were also made, including Mobileye landing a $150 million contract for its on-board Driving Assistance Systems and cleantech incubators from Israel and California signing a water deal. For these stories and the rest of the 12 headlines from the past week, check below.
Cleantech
1. Clean Tech Incubators from Israel and California Sign Water Deal
2. Algae in the Air: 5 Startups Turning Algae Into Jet Fuel
Investments and M&A
3. Scopus Video Networks acquired by Harmonic for $86 million
4. Runcom Technologies Ltd. to Invest in IXI Mobile, Inc.
5. Provigent Continues to Accelerate Growth — Secures $10 Million in Fifth-Round Funding
Information Technology
6. Business Transaction Management in the News (Correlsense)
7. Nokia to sell security business to Check Point
8. Imperva Achieves Compliance with Key US and Canadian Government IT Security Standard
Miscellaneous
9. Research group IDC predicts thousands of high-tech layoffs
10. Ran Harnevo, CEO and Co-Founder of 5min.com
11. Mobileye awarded $150m contract
12. 2tweet: Broadcast Instant Media Galleries To Twitter Via Email
Israel’s fastest growing software companies in 2008
Filed under: Business Intelligence, Data Storage, Defense Technology, Industry pulse, Information Technology, Internet Security, Software, Uncategorized, data security, technology
In early November, Deloitte Brightman Almagor Zohar, a professional services firm under the interational Deloitte brand in Israel, released its annual list of Israel’s top 50 fastest growing technology companies for 2008 based on percentage revenue growth over a five-year period. Sixteen software companies ranging from security to finance to storage made the list. Below is the top 10 software companies on the list (all in the top 30) and a little more about them. Will you be using any of these companies’s technologies in 2009?
GigaSpaces Technologies
GigaSpaces Technologies was founded in 2000 and offers an alternative to traditional application-servers for Java and .Net environments. Its eXtreme Application Platform (XAP) allows businesses and developers to easily scale and improve performance at low cost while leveraging virtual environments such as clouds and grids. Its customers include DowJones, Virgin Mobile, Bank Leumi and Webster.
Commtouch Software
Founded in 1991, Commtouch develops software to protect e-mail by offering spam and Zero-Hour™ virus outbreak protection. Its anti-spam solutions feature its Recurrent Pattern Detection (RPD) technology and have been licensed by over 80 security and messaging vendors and providers including Aladdin, Check Point, Fujitsu and LG N-Sys
Red Bend software
Red Bend Software is considered to be a market leader in Mobile Software Management and Firmware Over-the-Air (FOTA) update solutions. Founded in 1999, Red Bend Software offers solutions that give phone users more control over what software components they want on their phones while also increasing the data service revenues of phone carriers. The main solutions include firmware updates, software component updates and data management.
El Far Electronics Systems 2000
Founded in 1986, El Far is the longest-established software company on the list and the lone defense company. El Far provides defense security systems offering integrated software for site management and decision making support. Its Integer software can be used for managing anything from access control systems to fire alarms to infra red sensors.
InfoGin
InfoGin was founded in 2000 by Eran Wyler after he foresaw the “need for surfing the real Internet on any mobile device.” Over the years, InfoGin has become a leader in “Web-to-mobile content adaptation, enabling mobile users to access any Web site they desire, optimized to their mobile device.” The company’s Internet Mobile Platform (IMP) technology is currently being implemented by several major companies, including Virgin Mobile (UK) and MapQuest.
Actimize
Around since 1999 and a NICE Systems Ltd. company since 2007, Actimize is a transactional risk management software company offering solutions in anti-money laundering, fraud prevention, and brokerage compliance. Its technology includes the Risk Case Manager, Visual Modeler and Analytics Server.
Modelity Technologies Inc.
Established in 2000, Modelity Technologies offers a financial modeling and portfolio analytics platform for financial institutions, such as banks and insurance companies, to stay competitive and improve their performance. Its products include Modelity/Advisor, Modelity/Funds and Modelity/Structures.
FibroLAN
Since 1996, FibroLAN has developed integrated fiber-optic broadband access systems that allow organizations in the corporate and carrier markets that are dispersed over metropolitan areas access to the Internet and their Intranets at fast speeds. Its MA and MetroStar technologies both provide the benefit of low-cost remote management. MetroStar has been used by Telstra and the Los Angeles MTA.
Discretix Technologies
Discretix was founded in 2000 and is the largest single company in the world dedicated to embedded security. Focusing on consumer electronics products that are portable, such as mobile phones and mp3 players, Discretix offers additional security solutions for them that manufacturers can’t provide due to limited resources. Its main products, CryptoCell and CryptoFlash are deployed by major manufacturers such as SonyEricsson, Motorola, Samsung and SanDisk.
Exanet
Founded in 2000, Exanet is a data storage solutions company offering enterprise companies the latest processing technology that is scalable in capacity and performance, with low cost of ownership. Its product, ExaStore 2008 holds the world record for storage performance and its customers include BBC, Stanford University, and the National Library of France.
Top 10 Israel Innovation 2.0 Blog Posts of 2008
Filed under: CRM, Cleantech, Data Storage, Environment, Industry pulse, Information Technology, Software, Uncategorized
The most read posts on Israel Innovation 2.0 in 2008 reflect the overall hot areas of technology in 2008 which included cleantech, CRM, data storage and casual gaming. They also provide a glimpse into what can be expected in these areas in 2009.
On the enterprise level, acquistions of Israeli companies by IBM in 2008 were part of growing trends in cloud computing and data storage that show little sign of slowing in 2009. Contributing to the need for cloud computing and better data storage solutions, will be the CRM and marketing automation solutions offered by companies, such as XMPie, which, resulting from everything from the economy to technological advances to the rise in listening to customers, are leading the way for easier cross-media dynamic publishing in an increasingly digital world in 2009.
In cleantech, along with the electric car and wind power continuing to gain momentum will be water technology in 2009. While Oberon Media, among other casual gaming companies, was forced to cut jobs in 2008 despite growth, given the poor economy and the history of success for inexpensive entertainment when the economy is down, the casual gaming market is expected to still thrive in 2009.
Without further ado, the top 10 Israel Innovation 2.0 blogposts of 2008 are:
2. Coming Soon: ooVoo.com video conference chatrooms
3. First online TV-PC network: RayV?
4. Coming soon: Your next game console innovated by Israeli sensor technology
5. Rumors of IBM being in talks to purchase Diligent Technologies Corp.
6. Company in Focus: Walla Communications Ltd.
8. Company in Focus: Oberon Media
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