Peres and 11 Israel-related Headlines, Week of December 6, 2009
Filed under: Cleantech, Company Briefs, Environment, Information Technology, Internet Security, Mergers and Acquisitions, Uncategorized, Video
During the week of December 6, 2009, Israeli President Shimon Peres launched his own YouTube channel to encourage peaceful dialogue and announced that he will be going to the Copenhagen climate conference representing Israel. Information security company, Promisec thrived during the recession and Israel as a startup nation was looked at in a different light. For these stories and more, check below for this week’s 11 headlines.
Cleantech
1. Israeli Cleantech Heats Up
2. Peres to represent Israel at Copenhagen climate negotiations
Investments
3. BIRD to invest $4.2m. in six new projects
Information Technology
5. Harris: Pageonce shows you don’t need to be big to be global
7. How to sift through Twitter’s noise? MyTweetSense, FriendBinder give it a go
8. Cyber hacking could be a thing of the past
Miscellaneous
9. Peres gets viral, dives into social media with presidential YouTube channel
10. Home cooking
11. Fail Factors – Why Startups Die: The Israeli Illusion
World Economic Forum Names Amobee and Innovid Technology Pioneers 2010
Amobee Media Systems and Innovid have been named Technology Pioneers 2010 by the World Economic Forum. The two startups along with 24 others, including Twitter and Amiando, were identified for developing new technology that can “change and improve the way business and society operate.”
Here’s a little more about the startups:
Led by CEO Zohar Levkovitz and Gary Schofield, Amobee has developed advertising server technology for mobile operators that dynamically “inserts relevant ads into different mobile entertainment and communication channels” that users can interact with.
Founded in 2006 by Tal Chalozin and CEO Zvika Netter, Innovid provides publishers and advertisers with the ability to monetize online video by integrating brand advertising into relevant video content. Innovids technology enables advertisers “to insert 3D objects into videos post-production” that blend into the rest of the video but still attracts the user to click and interact with it.
As Technology Pioneers, Amobee and Innovid will have access to the World Economic Forum’s elite network of members and can attend the annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, among other events.
Editor’s note: This was originally posted on TechAviv.com.
Start-up Nation and 10 Israel-related Headlines, Week of November 1, 2009
Filed under: Cleantech, Company Briefs, Environment, Information Technology, Mergers and Acquisitions, SaaS, VC, Video, Web2.0, cloud computing
During the week of November 1, 2009, financial software company, Finjan was acquired by M86. The Cleantech Group ranked Israel number 5 in its list of top10 cleantech countries of 2009 and Start-up Nation, Saul Singer and Dan Senor’s analysis of Israel’s economic success, was released (headlines below video).
Cleantech
1. The top 10 cleantech countries of 2009
2. The 2010 Eilat Eilot Renewable Energy Conference Looks To Carbon-Free Energy
3. Israeli firms aim to plug world’s water leaks
Investment
4. M86 Security Buys Finjan
6. Local VCs cut investment in start-ups
Information Technology
7. How Cloud Computing Has Transformed Small Business Software (SAManage)
8. Global from Day One: MoodBase knows what the web is feeling
Miscellaneous
9. Israeli film ‘Ajami’ wins at Montpellier festival
10. JNF aims to turn Israel diamonds from rough to ready
LoFT releases LooKATOR for Android phones (Video)
Filed under: Industry pulse, New Ideas, Uncategorized, Video, virtualization
A few months ago I had the opportunity to meet Daniel Shein of IDC’s Media Innovation Lab (MiLAB) and to hear about the project he was working on then. Shein has since started LoFT with two miLAB friends and released its first project, LooKATOR, an application for Google Android phones.
LooKATOR uses Augmented Reality to enable users to find the best WiFi signals by opening the app and holding up the phone, which will show the signals around you with their relative strength and direction.
According to the site, “LooKATOR uses vector-based models that continously update as the user moves around to calculate where WiFi signals are coming from – so you’ll always know where to go for better reception.”
Shein’s team is currently working on new features for it including click-to-connect and password security, as well as a version of the app for the iPhone.
Here’s a look at the LooKATOR for Android in action.
Clarizen and Kaltura in IDC’s top 10 Innovative Applications Companies Under $100M to Watch
Filed under: IT management, Information Technology, SaaS, Uncategorized, Video, Web2.0, cloud computing, open source, virtualization
Israeli companies Kaltura and Clarizen have been included in IDC’s top 10 innovative applications companies under $100M to watch.
According to IDC chosen companies were identified based on whether they exemplified one or more of three key trends in applications today, which the company cited in January 2009 to be:
- Acceleration of software as a service (SaaS), business process outsourcing (BPO), and open source over traditional on-premise software
- New business models for software use by service providers (software-within-a-service)
- Web 2.0-like functionality moves into the enterprise (e2.0).
Clarizen is a project management software company that allows contributors to edit at the same time and for the changes to be visible immediately to anyone involved on the project. Last week it reported that it gained over 100 new customers in Q3. Clarizen is headquartered in Israel with its US headquarters in Menlo Park, California.
Kaltura, according to its site, is “the first open source video platform for online video management, creation, interaction & collaboration.” Earlier today it was listed as one of 49 hot new open source applications on Earthweb.com as a video tool. The company has an R&D center in Israel.
N-Trig and 10 Israel-related Headlines, Week of July 5, 2009
Filed under: Cleantech, Company Briefs, Data Storage, Environment, Information Technology, Video
During the week of July 5, 2009, it was announced that NASA and Israel’s Seambiotic will be researching and developing algae for use as a possible aviation fuel. Discussion continued on N-Trig’s planned 2010 IPO and the company’s latest developments and IBM Haifa researchers revealed new data-masking technology that filters sensitive data from unauthorized viewers on the fly. For these stories and more, check below for the full 10 Israel-related headlines from this past week.
Cleantech
1. How Terra Venture Partners Accelerate Clean Technology
2. Israel’s Bright Sparks Invent ‘Electric’ Road
3. Israeli company, NASA to work together on bio-fuel project
Investment
4. Israel’s N-trig: New touch technology bolsters IPO
Information Technology
6. International TechneGroup acquires software firm
8. RADVISION Receives 2008 Communications Solutions Product of the Year Award from TMC
Miscellaneous
9. ‘Degradable’ plastic bags are no such thing, claim experts
10. The oldest hotel in Tel Aviv [video]
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).
Sentrigo Enters Database Vulnerability Assessment Market
Filed under: Data Storage, IT management, Partnerships, Uncategorized, Video, data security
Sentrigo, an Israel-based database security software company, announced last week that it has become the sole distributor of Repscan by Red-Database-Security, “the only 360-degree database vulnerability assessment and security scanning software available for Oracle databases.”
The move helps Sentrigo solidify its hold on the database security market by complementing its Hedgehog database activity monitoring software with software that monitors and identifies Oracle database weaknesses and vulnerablities. In specific, Repscan can “detect insecure PL/SQL code and forensic traces; database modifications; insecure system configuration settings; and weak, shared and default passwords.”
Some main Repscan features include:
- Report-driven penetration testing
- Altered data detection (privileged and user tables)
- Forensic trace discovery from common security and hacker tools
- Automatic conversion of the weaknesses found by Repscan into protection rules and policies in the Sentrigo Hedgehog Database Security Suite
According to Sentrigo’s website, Hedgehog Enterprise
“is for organizations that require breach prevention, end-user identification, virtual patching, integration with your existing security infrastructure, IT governance and operate with enterprise-wide database deployment.”
The software also
“provides full visibility into all database activity including local privileged access, protects the database in real-time with actionable alerts and prevention capabilities, and allows enterprises to enforce security policy and comply with regulatory requirements, such as PCI DSS, Sarbanes-Oxley, SAS 70 and HIPAA.”
As an aside, Oracle is currently in talks to purchase Sun Microsystems for over $7 billion and enter the hardware market.
Cequesta treating wastewater; solving greater water problems
Back in January, I posted that the Jerusalem Business Networking Forum (which I’m active in) held in conjunction with several organizations a “Greening of Jerusalem” event. The event featured presentations from Jerusalem municipality members including environmentalist/Deputy Mayor Naomi Tsur and from 10 promising Jerusalem-based cleantech companies. One of the companies, Cequesta, which also presented to the Jerusalem Business Networking Forum (JBNF) last summer, spoke about its wasterwater management technology that it was still developing.
In a piece on Cequesta on ISRAEL21c.org last week, it mentions that Cequesta is now “open for business”. The company, a wastewater treatment solutions provider, has solutions that clean up wastewater from most types of industrial and agricultural operations, ranging from hotels to cowsheds to automotive plants.
According to the article, “Cequesta is now forging ahead in a number of environmentally friendly directions by creating complete units that can, for example, recycle 70 percent of a building’s wastewater.” It has also “developed a water treatement solution for a Toyota plant in America.”
Accompanying the article is this video of Waimann’s presentation that I took on my cell phone in January.
In addition to this event, Waimann also presented Cequesta and discussed cleantech in general last summer during another cleantech-focused event that the Jerusalem Business Networking Forum organized. These videos along with others are located on the Israel Innovation 2.0 YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/IsraelInnovation20
The future of media and technology now: Media Innovation Lab at IDC
I recently met Daniel Shein of the Media Innovation Lab (miLAB) during Jeff Pulver’s Breakfast in Tel Aviv. Shein told me about the different research going on at miLAB and the projects he is working on in specific. In this video he gives a brief overview of miLab and one of his projects.
A little more on the Media Innovation Lab, according to miLAB’s website,
“The Media Innovation Lab at IDC Herzliya (miLAB) is a research and prototyping lab that explores the future of media and technology; Through a collaborative creative process new concepts for media experiences are transformed into working prototypes.”
Several of its projects are in collaboration with other research labs around the world, including MIT’s Media Lab. Some current miLAB projects include a study on the “Media in Context”, answering “How does the context of use influence a media experience? What types of context have a stronger influence than others?”; Urban Insights, a social-computerized system that more accurately connects you to the help you need; and ARG’s, a lab experiment in which the lines between “real and virtual, true and false” are blurred.
In addition to the website, more information on miLAB and these projects is available on the miLAB channel on YouTube.
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