Israel Innovation 2.0

During the week of March 21, 2010, a plan for Eilat to have Israel’s largest wind farm was revealed. LucidLogix raised $8 million to boost game graphics chips and Wanova’s desktop virtualization software was released. For these stories and more, see this week’s 14 Israel-related headlines below.

Cleantech
1. South Korea Looks to Collaborate With Israel on Renewable Energy

2. Experts to discuss Israel’s leadership in water resource management and conservation

3. Eilat to have Israel’s largest wind farm

Investment
4. LucidLogix raises $8M for boosting game graphics chips

5. Mentor Graphics Acquires Valor Computerized Systems, Ltd.

6. S&P affirms Israel’s A rating, outlook stable

Information Technology
7. uTest Finds 908 Bugs In Web And Mobile Apps Of Major U.S. TV Networks

8. Wanova’s desktop virtualization software now available

9. AnyClip Launches: Aggregates and Syndicates Clips from Films

10. Commtouch Goes On Attack With Outbound Spam Protection

Miscellaneous
11. CCTV to cover Israeli towns

12. A first look at the Simpsons’ upcoming visit to Israel

13. Israel Steps Up Efforts to Bring Back Expat Scientists

14. The World’s Oldest Man (lives in Israel)

During the week of January 3, 2010, Dot Hill bought storage company Cloverleaf for $12.5 million. China’s Sanhua invested in Israeli solar firm, HelioFocus and new vulnerabilities were discovered in Twitter and Google Calendar. For these stories and more, check below for this week’s 9 Israel-related headlines.

Cleantech
1. Are Energy Advances in Israel in Parallel With Those Abroad?

2. China’s Sanhua invests in Israeli solar firm

Investments
3. Dot Hill confirms storage virtualization acquisition

4. Clean tech gets big piece of venture-capital funding

Information Technology
5. 3D sensor co PrimeSense attracts Vegas attention

6. Vulnerabilities Discovered In Twitter, Google Calendar

Miscellaneous
7. Researcher: Computers in schools do not improve students’ results

8. One third of high-tech incubator companies succeeded

9. Animating the Na’vi with an Israeli swagger

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.

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.

During the week of September 20, 2009, Nefos announced that it will use Magic Software’s business and process integration suite, iBolt. Waze continued to garner attention for its user-generated mobile road map application and analysts expect the online community software market to reach $1.6 billion by 2013. For these stories and more, check this week’s 10 headlines below.

Cleantech
1. Color matters: GreenSun Energy colored solar technology

2. New boost for clean energy launched

Investment
3. The Great VC Ice Age is Thawing (for now) – Part 1 of 3

Industry Trends
4. Cloud computing gathers steam with mobile devices

5. IDC forecasts $1.6 billion online community software market by 2013

Information Technology
6. African broadband growth could lead to higher spam rates (PineApp)

7. Nefos Selects Magic Software’s Business, Process Integration Suite

8. DEMOfall: Crowdsourcing Brings New Life To Mapmaking (Waze)

9. Growing businesses urged to start dialogue through email marketing

Miscellaneous
10. China marks 17 years with Israel

During the week of September 6, 2009, IQWind was named a top 100 cleantech company and Tufin Technologies, among other security companies, found that phishing scams are increasing again with the end of summer. IBM Israel played a major role in developing SAPIR, a video and photo search technology that the company claims is better than the methods used by Google and Yahoo. For more on these stories and the rest of this week’s 11 technology headlines, see below.

Cleantech
1. Bechtel to Build Solar Plant in California

2. Israel-based SolarEdge looking for PV system partners in Taiwan

3. IQwind Ltd. Named a Global Cleantech 100Clean Technology Company

Information Technology
4. IBM, European Researchers Develop Multimedia Search Tool

5. As summer ends, phishing season is on the horizon

6. Behavioral Targeting Cozies Up To Video Ads

7. Xeround pushes database virtualisation as integration tool

8. Visual WebGui: Reaching for the top cloud

Miscellaneous
9. Did Israel’s Mossad snatch a Russian arms shipment to Iran?

10. Feeling the pinch

11. Diagnosing lung cancer through a simple exhale

During the Week of August 16, 2009, DroidSecurity was revealed to be developing consumer and enterprise security software for Android phones and netbooks. Wanova raised $13 million for its new breed of desktop virtualization software and Israeli researchers demonstrated how DNA evidence can be fabricated. For these stories and more, check below for this week’s 11 Israel-related headlines.

Cleantech
1. The Taga Hybrid Bike-Stroller Goes from Road to Whole Foods Shopping in 30s Flat

2. A Mighty Hot Wind for Solar

Investing
3. Wanova raises $13 M for a new breed of desktop virtualization software

4. Oracle Invests in Israeli Startup ComAbility

Information Technology
5. Start-up DroidSecurity tackles Google Android security

6. Bsafe Adds AIX Support to Auditing and SIEM Product

7. eSafe SmartSuite offers intelligent inspection of all inbound and outbound Web and mail traffic

Miscellaneous
8. Figures show fewer jobless, but even fewer jobs

9. DNA Evidence Can Be Fabricated, Research Says

10. Modu going touchscreen, confirmed for UK 2010

11. Real-Time Navigation a Reality with Waze

Last week Crescendo Networks announced that it raised $5 million in funding. The company, which provides software that enhances the Web application delivery process, will use the money to “further fuel sales expansion” and to move its corporate headquarters to Menlo Park in California, though engineering and some operations will remain in Tel Aviv.

Since 2002, when the company was founded, it has raised $45 million and attracted customers ranging from Forbes.com to Aeropostale to Fujitsu. As more business processes become based online and virtualization, SaaS and cloud computing matures, Crscendo Networks’s line of AppBeat products will continue to offer any size business with the necessary solutions to accelerate application delivery, cut data center costs and boost capacity for business growth.

As Peter van Oppen of Trilogy Equity Partners, one of the investors in the round, stated,

“As the IT world experiences a paradigm shift in the way applications are delivered, data centers are incorporating cloud computing, SaaS and virtualization as part of modern web application infrastructures. We believe Crescendo Networks’ application delivery solutions are perfectly poised to capitalize on these expanding market opportunities.”

Crescendo’s products include, AppBeat DC, AppBeat SC and Maestro Platform.

During the week of June 28, 2009, news surfaced that Toyota is mulling investing in Israeli hi-tech companies that can help make its cars cleaner, while it seems that clean technology investments are increasing again. Indicating that virtualization is still a hot investment, Neebula, which develops management tools for virtual computer environments and was founded earlier this year, raised $5 million. In security, Israeli researchers have created a deep zoom application for videos making idenitifcation in them easier. For these stories and more, see this week’s 12 Israel-related headlines below.

Cleantech
1. Toyota considering Israeli high-tech investments

2. No More Crying Over Spilt Milk With AfiMilk

3. Israeli researchers desalinating sewage for agricultural use

Investment
4. Clean Technology Investment Rebounds

5. Why Israeli Stocks and Currency Should Outperform Now

Information Technology
6. Israeli Experts Create Deep Zoom Tool for Videos

7. Touch in Windows 7: Just for show?

8. Cyber-security looms large for ATC

9. Virtualization co Neebula raises $5 million

Miscellaneous
10. Young Jewish leaders gather for global summit

11. Netanya aims to be Middle East’s Ibiza

12. LIFE in Israel in 1948 – Part 1

During the week of April 26, 2009, Israel celebrated its 61st annniversary while its first solar farm powering a small community was inaugurated. ETV Motors raised $12 million in funds and N-Trig announced its latest advancement in multi touch. Sadly, also during the week of April 26th, Israel’s hi-tech industry lost one of its beloved leaders and pioneers, Nahum Sharfman in tragic plane crash in Greece.  Sharfman was the founder of the security company CommTouch and the price comparison site, Shopping.com. For these stories and more, check out this week’s 12 Israel-related headlines below. 

Cleantech

1. Israel Inaugurates Unique Solar Farm

2. Solar Thermal: Which Technology Is Best?

3. ETV Motors Revs Up $12M

Investments

4. Venture capital investment in Israeli high-tech companies lowest in three years, report

5. Where did all that R&D go?

Information Technology

6. Intel bolsters cooperation with Israeli companies

7. N-Trig launching software to enable more versatile multi-touch displays

8. Start-up Axxana ties disaster recovery gear to EMC software

9. Will XP Mode Be Tough Sell For Small Businesses?

Miscellaneous

10. Israel celebrates 61st Independence Day

11. Can Israeli technology stop swine flu?

12. Plane crash kills high-tech leader