Israel Innovation 2.0

The week of November 2, 2008 was filled with conferences and awards. Deloitte announced the 50 fastest-growing high-tech companies in Israel for the year 2008 with Runcom taking the top honor and last year’s top company, Voltiare coming in second place. On Monday, at the Globes and Ernst & Young Israel Journey ’08, Amobee was named Globes “Start-up of the Year.” Companies in the Top 10 that have been covered in Israel Innovation 2.0 in the past include, Aternity, Inforgin and N-Trig. Also making headlines was SportVu, which provided the hologram technology that CNN used on Election Day in the United States and iSkoot, which raised $19 million. For the links to these stories and the rest of this week’s 14 Israel-related technology headlines, scroll down.

Cleantech
1. Electric cars of the future at the Web 2.0 Summit

Investments and the Economy
2. Downturn-Busting Venture Round For iSkoot: $19 Million

3. Pawlenty’s Israel trade trip takes shape

4. Central bank chief says Israeli economy resilient

5. Top 8 Creative Ideas For Startups To Triumph Over the Current Economic Downturn

Information Technology
6. Red Bend Software Earns MobileVillage’s Mobile Star Award

7. Runcom Technologies Ranked First Place in the Deloitte “Fast 50″ Program for Fast-Growing High-Tech Companies

8. Tufin Technologies Moves Beyond Firewall Auditing to Support Cisco Routers and Switches

9. Aternity Named To Annual Top 10 List of Most Promising Startups

10. N-trig Offers Suite of Multi-Touch Solutions for Windows 7

Miscellaneous
11. XIV head Yanai named most influential figure in high tech

12. CNN’s ‘Hologram’ Shows How Far TV Has Come

13. Agent Vi Announces Launch of Video Content Analysis for Digital Media Processors Based on DaVinci(TM) Technology

14. ANALYSIS / Obama will star in Israel’s election campaigns

Caption: Panel discussion at the Ernst and Young and Globes Israel Journey ’08, titled “Digital media – trends, developments and future outlook,” with moderator, Michael Eisenberg (far right). Panelists from right to left after Michael Eisenberg: Shmil Levy (Sequoia Capital), Tomer Ben-Kiki (Oberon Media), Guy Bauman (Pelephone Communication)Uri Shinar (aniBoom), Peter Hirshberg (Technorati).

About the author: Lisa Damast is the Membership
Manager of ebizQ.net and currently resides in Israel. Any questions or
inquiries regarding this blog or ebizQ membership services can be
directed to her via email at ldamast (at) ebizq (dot) net. She can also be followed on Twitter, where she covers additional Israeli technology companies and Israel-related headlines and topics.

*About
the Weekly Headlines image: The Star of David in the image was found on
Flickr and is used under the Creative Commons license. It was
originally uploaded by Flickr member, zeevveez. The overall Weekly Headlines image was designed by Lisa Damast.

During the week of August 10, 2008 investors and professionals from Massachusetts received attention for their interest in using their current relationships with Israeli technology companies to enter cleantech. Israeli air-conditioning company, Agam Energy Systems Ltd., announced plans to expand its operations to include developing fuel-efficience technology for car engines. Siano Mobile, a mobile TV chip maker raised $17.5 million and there was a call for more international conferences. VoIP companies, Spikko and Skuku, and several other companies also make up this week’s 14 Israel-related technology headlines. See the complete list below.

Cleantech
Mass. looks to strengthen clean-tech ties with Israel

IDE Technologies Signs Contract Worth Over 100 Million Euros to Supply a Desalination Plant to Australia

Agam to develop fuel-efficient car engines

Former Ormat VP joins solar start-up: Advanced Solar Power is developing thermosolar energy technology and has a prototype

M&A and Investments
Mobile TV Chipmaker Siano Mobile Silicon Lands $17.5 Million

Hi-tech companies raise $291 million in second quarter

Information Technology
IBM’s XIV storage lacks high-end features, analyst says

Numonyx may close California Technology Center

Haier to recruit over 100 for Israeli development center

Mon: Aladdin leads technology sector to gains

Miscellaneous
Combined Technologies From Continental and Mobileye Support the New Speed Limit Information of the New BMW 7 Series

Wanted: More International Conferences in Israel

Tired Of Mobile Phone Bills: Check Out This Israeli Start-up

Skuku – where mobile phones meets VoIP

Bonus
Also during the week of August 10, 2008, Israel Innovation 2.0 was included in Jacob Share’s JobMob blog entry featuring a visual list of Digital Eve Israel members who blog. Digital Eve Israel is a listserv for hi-tech professionals in Israel and is widely considered to be the best resource for English speakers looking for work and advice in the field. JobMob is the top blog with advice on getting a job in Israel in any field.

Related Posts
Company in Focus: Walla Communications Ltd.
Blogging platforms, Israeli professionals and the lack of Israeli company blogs
Company in Focus: XIV
Rumors of IBM being in talks to purchase Diligent Technologies Corp.

*About the Weekly Headlines image: The Star of David in the image was found on Flickr and is used under the Creative Commons license. It was originally uploaded by Flickr member, zeevveez. The overall Weekly Headlines image was designed by Lisa Damast.

This past week, wind turbine start-up, TechnoSpin announced that it raised $8 million. Leviathan Energy signed a letter of intent to provide energy for India worth $50 million and WorkLight, an Enterprise 2.0 company, announced that it raised $12 million. Not surprisingly, the Jerusalem Post website, reported that Israeli start-ups have raised the most capital in 7 years. Also, making the news was that Best Buy will be partnering with community-based, product help site, FixYa, and that Mashable.com, a blog that covers social networks, will be hosting MashBash for 800 people in Tel Aviv next month. Expected attendees will be from some of the hottest Israeli start-ups today and biggest international companies with offices in Israel. I plan on going, and so should you. For more details on this and the rest of this week’s 17 Israel-related technology headlines, check out the list
below.

Cleantech
Wind turbine start-up TechnoSpin raises $8m

Solel Solar on the Hunt for Newport Beach HQ Space

Leviathan Energy to provide clean electricity for India

M&A and Investments
Start-ups raise most capital in 7 years

BluePhoenix shares jump after 1Q results meet Street views

WorkLight Raises $12 Million

Information Technology
Application security co Applicure gets Trafalgar investment

Deloitte Consulting’s Lucian Lipinsky de
Orlov to Lead Fortisphere Webinar on Virtualization Adoption

RoofArena Launches Beta Site; Interview with Shay Sharon

Best Buy buys into tech support 2.0

IBM setting up Israeli Lab for XIV

Miscellaneous
Jeff Pulver resigns as Pulvermedia chairman

Izzy Borovich sees Israel becoming “vacation state”

MashBash Tel Aviv and Israel Media Tour

Electric Nissans Planned in U.S. by 2010

“BusinessWeek” names Israel among innovation hotspots

Social networking meets search: Sightix

About the author: Lisa Damast is the Membership
Manager of ebizQ.net and currently resides in Israel. Any questions or
inquiries regarding this blog or ebizQ membership services can be
directed to her via email at ldamast (at) ebizq (dot) net. She can also be followed on Twitter, where she covers additional Israeli technology companies and Israel-related headlines and topics.

Globes is reporting that in the next 24 hours, IBM is expected to officially announce its purchase of Diligient Technologies, an enterprise data storage and deduplication solutions provider, for an estimated $200 million. Here are some quick facts from the Globes article regarding the deal:

• Diligent Technologies is IBM’s third acquisition in Israel so far this year (after XIV in January and FilesX Ltd. last week).
• Diligent Technologies is a spinoff from EMC Israel, which still owns a 20% share in Diligent.
• Diligent was co-founded in 2002 by current CEO, Doron Kempel and data storage legend, Moshe Yanai (currently the XIV chairman and an IBM employee).

For more details, check out the Globes article and my entry on the rumor from a few weeks ago.

About the author: Lisa Damast is the Membership
Manager of ebizQ.net and currently resides in Israel. Any questions or
inquiries regarding this blog or ebizQ membership services can be
directed to her via email at ldamast (at) ebizq (dot) net. She can also be followed on Twitter, where she covers additional Israeli technology companies and Israel-related headlines and topics.

you continue to.

Globes is reporting that IBM has agreed to acquire Israeli data protections and data-recovery solutions provider, FilesX for an undisclosed sum. According to Globes,

“IBM intends that the FilesX technology will become part of the Tivoli
Storage Manager family of products, IBM’s flagship suite of data
protection and information infrastructure offerings. IBM expects that
FilesX enterprise-level continuous data protection solutions will
complement IBM’s existing file-based software – called IBM Tivoli
Continuous Data Protection for Files – which is targeted at small and
mid-sized business customers and individual PC users. With its patented
technology, FilesX helps IT staff restore data from virtually any type
of failure and from nearly any point in time. FilesX offerings may be
particularly attractive in environments where IT skills and budgets are
limited, as it is considered easy to use and offers self-managing
features.”

For those who are keeping track, if IBM goes through with this purchase, it will be the company’s second acquisition of an Israeli storage company since January (when it acquired XIV), and the third Israeli company it has been connected to in relation to acquisitions since the New Year (the second being the rumors of its in talks to acquire Diligent Technologies Corp). It will also be the first one without any connection to Moshe Yanai.

News of this acquisition comes amidst its rival, EMC, being in the news lately with its own acquisitions. However, there doesn’t seem to be any direct connection between EMC’s recent moves and IBM’s purchasing FilesX, which will “enhance its data-recovery offerings for remote offices.”

Perhaps more relevant is that this comes after FilesX announced last week “the immediate availability of support for multi-language
versions of Microsoft Windows in its Xpress Restore software product.” But, that’s enough speculation.

While IBM’s constant interest in storage is part of a general trend that the company and several others in the industry will continue to follow throughout the year, it will be interesting to see if other company’s, perhaps EMC, will follow IBM’s lead in acquiring Israeli data storage companies. What do you think? Fill out the survey to let me know. 

Company Facts

Founded in 2000.

Jimmy Garcia-Meza, President and CEO.

Ami Kleinman, VP R&D.

Products: Xpress Restore CDP, Xpress Restore DR and Xchange Restore.

Website: www.filesx.com.

About the author: Lisa Damast is the Membership
Manager of ebizQ.net and currently resides in Israel. Any questions or
inquiries regarding this blog or ebizQ membership services can be
directed to her via email at ldamast (at) ebizq (dot) net. She can also be followed on Twitter, where she covers additional Israeli technology companies and Israel-related headlines and topics.

It’s hard to believe that anything else other than IBM’s acquisition of XIV happened in the technology sector in Israel during the week of December 30, 2007, but there was plenty other news. In the past week Giza Venture Capital raised funds for cleantech investments, Allot acquired Esphion, and the Jerusalem Post printed an expose on working in high-tech in Israel. This wasn’t all that happened during the week of December 30, 2007 though, so check out these headlines and the rest of this week’s 19 Israel-related technology headlines below.

Cleantech:
Israeli expert significantly boosts efficiency of solar cells

Israel’s Environmental Energy Resources signs waste treatment deal for $30 million

Taiwan helps Giza Venture Capital raise $150 million

Nanotechnology aids large-area solar cell

Investments and M&A:
Why did IBM buy XIV?

Allot Acquires Esphion for Network and Subscriber Protection Solutions

Customized advertising co Pudding Media raises $8m

NetApp to Buy Onaro

UK – Israeli video startup 5min signs with Encyclopaedia Britannica and raises $5 million

Israel Mix:
Inside the hi-tech bubble

Education ‘overhaul’ vital to expanding hi-tech exports

A leg up

90% of Israeli youth use Internet

Miscellaneous:
A Conversation with Yossi Vardi

JPMorgan Predicts 2008 Will Be “Nothing But Net”

Israel takes a lead on information security

Trojans 2 Crimeware Exploits Web 2.0 Technologies

Last Call: BluePhoenix Solutions Jumps

High-level group from Singapore to visit Israeli research facilities

News:
Making the headlines both left and right this week have been the rumor and then announcement that International Business Machines (IBM) purchased Israeli grid storage start-up, XIV.

Background:
According to XIV’s Company Profile on its website,

“XIV was founded in 2002 by five graduates of Talpiot, Israel’s preeminent military incubator for technology leaders. The company spent three years developing Nextra’s innovative technology prior to implementing the first customer system. XIV has built an outstanding team of storage and computing talent, including veterans of IBM, EMC, and other storage giants, and world-class engineers. All bring their vast best-practice knowledge to every aspect of the company’s endeavors. XIV is led by Moshe Yanai, one of the key architects of modern data storage.”

Analysis: What the media is saying and what you actually need to know
The sale of XIV to IBM is all over the news and blogosphere. Most articles have focused on different aspects of what is generally the same four things: IBM making this move to try to get an advantage over competitor EMC, how IBM gains not just a fast-growing successful company but a highly-regarded “brain” in the field and, sometimes, the actual benefits of XIV’s product, NEXTRA.

When the acquisition had just started to spark rumors earlier this week, while speculating on the at-the-time still-in-talks IBM-XIV acquisition, Mary Jander of the Storage Networking site, Byte and Switch, took the opportunity to sum up the major storage-related deals that IBM’s competitors, EMC, Dell and Double-Take have made. She also reminded everyone of the next major deal that will shake up the storage world, which is “a potential sale of all or part of Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (HGST) by its Japanese parent.”

While competition is one reason why IBM made this deal, the company’s internal development strategy shouldn’t be overshadowed by it. According to David Needle on InternetNews, IBM made the purchase to “address the demanding storage requirements of Web 2.0 applications and digital media.” Also, as it is soon after IBM’s purchase of Cognos, it shows IBM’s “more aggressive stance on intellectual property ownership.” Of course, solidifying the company’s storage strategy and, in the process, snagging up XIV Chairman, Moshe Yanai, an ex-EMC employee and technology storage legend, is pretty much the best of both worlds for IBM.

Moshe Yinai’s claim to fame in the technology storage world is his having “designed and built EMC’s key Symmetrix [now the "DMX series"] product line.” He is a legend and as having made his name with a major IBM competitor, the media, such as eWeek, has emphasized Yinai’s “changing sides.” Though it is a great story that will be interesting to watch unfold over the next few years, Yinai’s involvement is still only as XIV’s chairman, offering the guidance. He wouldn’t be back in the fold without the five young Israelis having started the company and developed its break-through product, Nextra, which, according to Duncan Riley on the Ajax-Blog,

“is a storage system based on a grid of standard hardware components. XIV will become part of the IBM System Storage business unit of the IBM Systems and Technology Group.”

Shaun Nichols on Venunet explains that,

“XIV’s flagship Nextra platform allows multiple storage devices and applications to be managed under a single system…The company estimates that Nextra systems are responsible for managing more than four petabytes of data worldwide… Big Blue plans to use Nextra as the basis for many of its future enterprise storage offerings.”

Indeed, aside from just publicity, XIV and Nextra, should provide IBM with a strong foundation for the trend of moving the enterprise onto the Internet and dealing with Web 2.0 in the coming years. XIV will remain and fully operate in Israel. Globes estimates that XIV was sold for between $300 million to $350 million after only having $3 million put into it.

Additional Resources
CIO.com: IBM Buys Israeli Storage Startup XIV
Congratulations to Moshe Yanai. I Hope the Shorts Fit.
Wanna make a quick $300 million? Sell your startup to IBM
IBM buys into massively parallel storage
An IBM developer’s perspective on the deal
A Forrester analyst’s perspective on the acquisition
EMC’s Vice President of Technology Alliances perspective on the deal