Silicon Valley Wire

Mountain View-Based Google to Test Ultra High-Speed Internet Service

Mountain View, Calif. -- Google has unveiled plans to test an ultra high-speed Internet service that the company said is more than 100 times faster than most broadband connections currently offered by cable and telecom providers. The company said that it will launch the service in a small number of trial locations across the U.S., selling it at what it called a "competitive price" to as many as 500,000 people at the outset. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski hailed the project, saying that it would "provide an American testbed for the next generation of innovative, high-speed Internet apps, devices and services." As a first step, Google has begun soliciting information from local governments and private citizens in a bid to gauge interest. The company said that it plans to operate an open-access network giving users a choice of multiple service providers. The goal of the project, Google said, is to "experiment and learn." "Network providers are making real progress to expand and improve high-speed Internet access, but there's still more to be done," the company wrote in its blog. "We don't think we have all the answers -- but through our trial, we hope to make a meaningful contribution to the shared goal of delivering faster and better Internet for everyone."
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/think-big-with-gig-our-experimental.html 

Milpitas-Based JDSU to Pay $165 Million for Agilent Business

Milpitas, Calif. -- JDS Uniphase (JDSU), a Milpitas-based provider of communications test and measurement equipment, said on Thursday that it will pay $165 million in cash to acquire the Network Solutions communications test business of Santa Clara-based Agilent Technologies. The deal is expected to close by the end of June. The business, which had annual revenue of $162 million last fiscal year, includes Agilent's network assurance, network protocol test and drive test products. It counts around 700 employees, with operations in Colorado, the U.K., Singapore and China. "This acquisition establishes JDSU as a market leader in wireless test instruments and systems." said Tom Waechter, the president and CEO of JDSU.
http://www.agilent.com
http://www.jdsu.com
http://www.jdsu.com/news/news-releases/jdsu-to-acquire-network-solutions-test-business-from-agilent.html

Google Reportedly Buys S.F.-Based Social Search Service Aardvark

Mountain View, Calif. -- Adding to its social networking assets, Mountain View-based Google has acquired San Francisco-based social search service Aardvark for around $50 million, TechCrunch reported, citing a source briefed on the deal. The companies had been in discussions since December. Founded in 2007 as Mechanical Zoo by several ex-Google employees, Aardvark counts more than 90,000 users for its service that lets users ask questions and receive answers from members of their social network. The company said that 56% of its users had asked or answered a question, and the median active user was asking 3.1 questions amonth.
http://vark.com
http://techcrunch.com/2010/02/11/google-acquires-aardvark-for-50-million/

San Francisco-Based 1BOG Raises $5 Million from NEA

San Francisco - One Block Off the Grid (1BOG), a San Francisco-based provider of services that help people gain group discounts on residential solar energy systems, said on Thursday that it has raised $5 million in its first round of funding from New Enterprise Associates (NEA). Launched in 2008, One Block Off the Grid organizes interested homeowners into a large solar buying group to negotiate discounted rates from pre-selected installers. "Scaling 1BOG's model will create a tipping point for mass adoption of residential solar energy," said Ravi Viswanathan, a partner at NEA, 1BOG was founded at Virgance, a business incubation group in San Francisco. So far, the company has managed the installation of around 600 residential solar electric systems.
http://1bog.org /
http://www.nea.com
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/One-Block-Off-the-Grid-1BOG-prnews-4289059643.html?x=0&.v=1

San Francisco-Based Zynga Acquires Serious Business

San Francisco -- Zynga, the San Francisco-based publisher of social media games such as "Mafia Wars" and "FarmVille," said on Thursday that it will acquire Serious Business, a San Francisco-based developer of social games on Facebook. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Founded in 2008, Serious Business is backed by Lightspeed Venture Partners. The company said that its flagship game, "Friends for Sale," is played by over 6 million people a month. Zynga said that employees of Serious Business will joint Zynga at its headquarters. Zynga counts over 235 million monthly active users playing its games.
http://www.seriousbusiness.com
http://www.zynga.com
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100211005513/en/Zynga-Acquires-Social-Game-Developer-Business

MySpace CEO Owen van Natta Exits After Just Nine Months

Los Angeles -- After just nine months on the job, MySpace CEO Owen van Natta will step down, parent News Corp. announced late Wednesday. He will be replaced by new co-presidents Mike Jones and Jason Hirschorn, who along with van Natta joined MySpace in April 2009. Jones was formerly MySpace's COO, and before that founded Userplane and Tsavo media. Hirschorn, MySpace's head of product development, was previously president of Sling Media's entertainment group and chief digital officer at MTV Networks. "Owen took on an incredible challenge in working to refocus and revitalize MySpace, and the business has shown very positive signs recently as a result of his dedicated work," said Jon Miller, News Corp.'s chairman and CEO of Digital Media. "However, in talking to Owen about his priorities both personally and professionally going forward, we both agreed that it was best for him to step down at this time."
http://www.myspace.com
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100210006996/en/Owen-Van-Natta-Steps-MySpace-CEO%3B-Mike

Report: Apple, Networks in Talks on $1 TV Episode Downloads

Cupertino, Calif. -- Following months of negotiations, some TV networks have agreed to allow Cupertino-based Apple to cut the price of TV episodes sold through iTunes from $1.99 to $1, the Financial Times reported.b The price reduction would take effect when the company launches its iPad tablet computer in April, The report did not indicate which or how many networks had agreed to the pricing. Apple also is reportedly talking to the networks about a subscription-based service for TV episodes, which would bundle shows from different networks in a package costing $30 a month.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/14856f08-168e-11df-bf44-00144feab49a,Authorised=false.html?_i_location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F0%2F14856f08-168e-11df-bf44-00144feab49a.html&_i_referer=

Burlingame-Based Outsell Acquires The Gilbane Group

Burlingame, Calif. -- Outsell, a Burlingame-based research and advisory firm for the information and publishing industries, said that it has acquired The Gilbane Group, a Massachusetts-based provider of market analysis on content and information management technologies. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Founded in 1987, Gilbane provides coverage of trends in such areas as web content management, multilingual content, enterprise search, enterprise social media, publishing, XML and XBRL. It also sponsors conferences on content and information management technologies in North America and Europe, including the upcoming Gilbane San Francisco conference. With the acquisition, Outsell will now have a professional staff of 50, in addition to nearly two dozen affiliate analysts and consultants.
http://gilbane.com
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Gilbane-Group-joins-Outsell-bw-2811877631.html?x=0&.v=1

San Francisco-Based Encoding.com Raises $1.25 Million

San Francisco -- Encoding.com, a San Francisco-based provider of online video encoding services, saidon Wednesday that it has raised $1.25 million in its first round of funding, led by Metamorphic Ventures. Angel investors Patrick Condon, Fred Hamilton, Zelkova Ventures, Dave Morgan and Allen Morgan also participated. Launched in 2008, Encoding.com offers a cloud-based video encoding service for web site operators hosting user-generated and premium video. To date, the company has encoded more than 4 million videos, and encodes an average of 30,000 videos a day for customers including MTV Networks, Nokia, MySpace and Giant Realm. The company will use the funds to expand marketing, sales and brand building initiatives.
http://www.encoding.com/
http://blog.encoding.com/?p=225

SAIC Completes Deal for Sunnyvale-Based CloudShield Technologies

Sunnyvale, Calif. -- Nearly a month after first announcing the deal, Virginia-based government technology contractor Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) said that it has completed its acquisition of Sunnyvale-based CloudShield Technologies. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Founded in 2000, CloudShield is the developer of a platform that lets service providers and governments inspect, analyze and control network traffic. The platform consists of computer hardware, operating systems, application development environments and numerous applications. SAIC said that the acquisition will bolster its cybersecurity offerings. CloudShield's 115 employees will join SAIC's Intelligence and Information Solutions unit, led by Larry Cox.
http://www.cloudshield.com
http://investors.saic.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=443911