Israel Innovation 2.0

Inside Israeli Technology

Browsing Posts published by Lisa Damast

SNI-2.JPG

During the week of August 17, 2008, news on cleantech and IT investments continued to lag as VCs and other investors try to stay afloat in the current economic climate by conserving their funds. IBM and Microsoft were back in the news for their investments in Israel earlier this year while Israeli companies turned out to be the biggest winners from Israel in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The coolest news this past week was Intel’s new technology that will allow devices to be charged wirelessly through the air. For these headlines and more (including information security and telecommunications), check out the complete list of 19 Israel-related technology headlines from the week of August 17, 2008, below.

Socio-Economic Cabinet Approves Proposal on Promoting Renewable Energy

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

Microsoft: Virtualization Party Just Getting Started

Intel Looks to Power Devices Through Air

Shunra Software Joins HP Software Marketplace Referral Program

Information Security
New Version of GlobalView Mail Reputation Available

ALDN,SFNT Jasmine Holdco Confirms Proposal to Acquire Aladdin Knowledge Systems for $13.00 Per Share in Cash

Online Encyclopedia Lists Internal Network Security Threats

Telecom/Mobile
Pinger Selects VoIP Co. Voxbone to Expand Mobile Voice Service

N-trig’s DuoSense(TM) Digitizer Embedded in Intel’s New UrbanMax Mobile Computer

Bebo Pioneer Jim Scheinman Joins MocoSpace Board of Directors

Dov Moran has high modu expectations

Israel telecoms sector revs grow 5.4 pct in 2007

Miscellaneous
Israel leads OECD in R&D

Eyeing global market, Technion makes its MBA English-only

Washington Watch: Israel brings home gold from China

U.S. entrepreneur makes aliyah seeking ‘next big invention’

Interview with VC power broker, Anat Segal


*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.

aladdin1_logoRecently, Aladdin Knowledge Systems,
an information security company specializing in authentication, software
DRM and content security, announced that West Coast Labs awarded the Aladdin eSafe with Checkmark Premium Level Anti-Spam Certification.

According to Aladdin’s website, Aladdin eSafe

protects against Web-based malware and zero-day threats through an in-line, wire-speed secure Web gateway featuring powerful anti-spyware, application level controls, and URL filtering. eSafe also controls spam and inspects SMTP and POP3 traffic though a proactive email security gateway.

West Coast Labs, an independent test facility for information security products and services, included in its report some of the highlights of the test including:

Virtual Appliance performed exceptionally well in all aspects of testing during the course of the anti-spam and URL filtering, and so the solution has been awarded the Premium Level Anti-Spam Certification. — Overall, the solution performed extremely well, achieving a 99 percent cumulative [spam] detection rate. — Thanks to the wide range of settings available, the administrator can fine-tune [eSafe] Virtual Appliance to a high degree.

Israel is a hotbed for innovative information security. Other Israeli security companies besides Aladdin include, Check Point, PineApp, Sentrigo and Commtouch, among many others.

Company Facts
Founded in 1985.

Headquarters in Petach Tikva, Israel.

Yanki Margalit, Co-Founder and CEO.

Dany Margalit, Co-Founder & Director.

Tsion Gonen, Vice President eSafe.

Products: HASP, eToken, eSafe.

Website: www.aladdin.com.

About the author: Lisa Damast currently resides in Israel. Any questions or inquiries regarding this blog can be directed to her via email at lisa (at) israelinnovation (dot) com. She can also be followed on Twitter, where she covers additional Israeli technology companies and headlines among other topics.

SNI-2.JPGDuring 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.

pineapp_logoPineApp, an e-mail and content systems security provider, announced recently that

“North Florida Women’s Care (NFWC) has utilized PineApp’s Mail-SeCure perimeter security appliance to provide the organization with secure email while eliminating a massive amount of spam attacks.”

According to the PineApp website, Mail-SeCure is an

“advanced anti-spam and email security appliance that combats evolving email-based threats such as botnets, image and MP3-based spam and sophisticated virus attacks.”

Mail-Secure, which claims to block 98.5% of spam, also provides multi anti-virus engines with multi layered anti-spam protection.

Just how prevalent is the threat of spam to companies (of any size)? Here are some numbers about spam over the past few years:

In 2005, fewer than 5 out of 100 e-mails were image spam. (CSO Online)
In 2006, 40 percent of e-mails were image spam. (CSO Online)
In December 2007, over 80 percent of emails were unsolicited. (ciol.com)
In 2007, 84 percent of companies had been affected by malware introduced via email. (ciol.com)

If your current spam protection program isn’t doing enough to protect your company and you’re looking for other solutions, you should add PineApp to your list of companies with products to consider.

Company Facts
Founded in 2002.

Headquarters in Nesher, Israel.

Hezi Erez, CEO.

Gabriel M. Mizrahi, Co-Founder and CTO.

Products: Mail-SeCure, Surf-SeCure and Secure SoHo.

Website: www.pineapp.com.

About the author: Lisa Damast currently resides in Israel. Any questions or inquiries regarding this blog can be directed to her via email at lisa (at) israelinnovation20 (dot) com. She can also be followed on Twitter, where she covers additional Israeli technology companies and headlines among other topics.

sni-2The week of August 3, 2008 was a good one for Israeli companies announcing funds raised. Israeli-Chinese social networking company, Koolanoo raised $25 million, and Confidela, software-as-a-service document security and control company that’s still in stealth mode raised $5 million in second-round funding. Water management companies, Tahal and Environmental Energy Resources Ltd. (EER) made headlines with their projects while VoIP company, JaJah made headlines with its new translation services. For Information Technology news and more, check below for the complete 17 Israeil-related technology headlines from the week of August 3, 2008.

Cleantech
Tahal obtains financing for €41m Ghana water project

UK to use Israeli waste-disposal technology

M&A and Investments
Koolanoo Group raises $25M

WAN optimization co Expand raises $10m

Confidela raises $5MM, completes second round of financing led by seasoned entrepreneur, Shlomo Kramer and Gemini Israel Funds

YouLicense.com Secures Funding From Ofer Media and Logia Group

Carl Zeiss SMT to Acquire Israeli Start-Up Pixer Technology

Telecommunications
Micronet to expand its presence in the North American Mobile Resource Management Market

Jacada Signs Material Contract with New Telecommunications Customer in North America

New Translation Services Come to MS Office and JaJah

Information Technology
Shunra Software Joins the VMware Technology Alliance Partner Program

PineApp’s Mail-SeCure Provides North Florida Women’s Care with Unparalleled Spam Blocking and Secure Email Communications

ClickSoftware Products Excel in the Preliminaries, Now Ready for Prime Time During 2008 Beijing Olympics

Crescendo Scales to Meet Web Applications’ Need for Speed

Miscellaneous
Applied Materials Promotes Gilad Almogy to Senior Vice President

From Silicon Valley to Silicon Wadi

N-trig Announces Availability of Multi-touch Gestures Software Development Kit

The week of July 27, 2008, started off with an opinion piece by NY Times columnist Thomas Friedman about T. Boone Pickens and Shai Agassi leading the energy revolution. Meanwhile, rivals in Agassi’s former field, IBM and Microsoft are moving forward with integrating their recent Israeli acquisitions and Adobe is now seeking its own Israeli technology. Of course, politically, the big news was that Israeli PM, Ehud Olmert, will be resigning in September. How this will impact peace in the region and Israel’s economy, if at all, is yet to be seen. These weren’t the only big headlines from the past week though. The full 16 Israel-related technology headlines from the week of July 27, 2008 are right below.

Cleantech
Texas to Tel Aviv

Luz II parent in Phoenix solar talks

M&A and Investments
Chief Scientist budget not cut – but dry

Multimedia file storage startup raises cash

Information Technology
Penguins in Tel Aviv? It Must Be the Annual Open-Source Convention

IBM Bulks Up Data Protection

Adobe seeks Israeli technology

Microsoft zooms into data quality

Telecommunications
iPoint in Sri Lankan Move

Cisco invests in Israeli multimedia WiFi startup

ClickSoftware Extends Major Contract for Mobile Workforce Management in Germany

Miscellaneous
My ads aren’t your ads

Metacafe pays to profit

Website allows employee recommendations for pay

Olmert to Quit After Elections in September

MADE IN IBM LABS: IBM Research Develops Technology to Aid Human Memory

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.

Project Better Place, telecommunications and speculation about the current state and future of Israel’s hi-tech industry highlight the technology news related to Israel during the week of July 20, 2008. Both the UK and some fuel companies are mulling joining the electric car company, while telecom company, Amimon announced that it will be working with major electronics corporations to establish a WHDI standard for Wireless HDTV connections. Although, news about Israel’s hi-tech industry’s “brain drain,” isn’t new, news about the impact of the strength of the Israeli Shekel vs. the U.S. dollar, the latest crisis are. Companies that created R&D centers in Israel for the benefits of an educated work force that would require less money than their U.S. and Western European equivalents are now freezing their Israeli employees’ incomes and outsourcing to Eastern European countries where it is still cheaper. For more on these stories and the rest of this week’s 23 Israel-related technology headlines, check the list below.

Cleantech
Fuel cos may join Better Place

UK may join Project Better Place

M&A and Investments
New VC fund seeks TV, movie investments

Breach Security raises $6m

Road safety technology co GreenRoad raises $3m

Agro-biotech start-up Kiima raises $8m

Summary of Israeli High-Tech Company Capital Raising Q2 / H1 2008

Information Technology
SISENSE
Upgrades its Business Intelligence Software With a New Release to
Support Analysis and Charting on top of CSV, EXCEL 2007, Access 2007
FILES; Beta Available for Free

Company Uncovered: Commtouch

Reimagining computer repair

Internet/Web 2.0
Google as a start-up?

PredictAd Leverages Israeli Partnerships for Global Growth (Israel Media Tour)

American-Israel Chamber of Commerce Announces First U.S.-Israel Web 2.0 Business Exchange: “Empowering the Connected Enterprise”

Telecommunications
Cellcom markets mobile music

Israeli co to launch cellphone-based people finder

Mobixell pioneers technology for cellphone ads

modu selected by AlwaysOn as the Top Mobile Company of AO Global 250

Electronics Heavyweights Work Together on WHDI Technology

Next-Gen Cellphones To Have Israeli Ring

Miscellaneous
Venture IPO drought worst in 30 years

Israel Turns to Outsourcing as the Shekel Soars

Israel neglects its oil fields

Infrastructures Ministry to launch alternative energy center

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.

During the week of July 13, 2008, SAP announced its plans to open an R&D center in Israel, following in the footsteps of corporations such as Microsoft, IBM and Intel. Microsoft’s purchase of data management company, Zoomix was officially announced and Magic Software signed a deal with Blat-Lapidot, a leading Salesforce.com Partner. Shopflick raised $7 million in funding while it was announced that Israeli startups, combined, raised over  $1 billion in the first half of 2008 (the highest since 2001). What happened in cleantech this past week? Not much in relation to Israeli companies. There were however other headlines. For those and the previous stories, check below for the full list of the 17 Israel-related technology headlines from the week of July 17, 2008.

M&A and Partnerships
Magic Software Signs up Blat-Lapidot – a Leading Salesforce.com Partner

Mobile location tech co Destinator bought by Intinsync

Nextlink to develop technology with Israeli partner through $1M grant

Alvarion, Ceragon and ECI in Danish WiMAX project

Microsoft Bolsters Data Management With Zoomix Purchase

Investments
Israeli start-ups raise over $1 billion

Israel to invest NIS 400m in alternative energy

Leon Recanati invests in Whitewater

Shopflick Closes $7 Million in Funding Led by Panorama Capital and Venrock

More investment for Israeli start-ups

Information Technology
SAP to open R&D center in Israel

Bill Gates, Microsoft Endorse PNMSoft Business Process Management BPM Software

Slovak Telekom Expands its Relationship with Amdocs

Tech Watch: Major US utility selects NICE Systems

Miscellaneous
The Economic Impact of Global Warming is Beginning to Show: IDE Starts Marketing Snowmakers for the Global Ski Industry

Tech budget cut, but engineers lacking

Playtech, Paramount Pictures Deal Announced


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.

During the week of July 6, 2008, news broke that Ness Technologies plans on selling its Israeli unit to SAP and there was a rumor that Google plans on buying VoIP service, Jajah. Virtualization companies Xeround and Ceedo were active, while in cleantech, environmentalists claimed that solar panel pricing is wrong. While these are some of the stories that stood out, they weren’t the only ones. Check below for the full list of the 21 Israel-related technology headlines from the week of July 6, 2008.

Cleantech
Environmentalists: Solar panel pricing wrong

Israel helps China with wave power

For most Israeli contractors, green isn’t an issue

Funding rises for clean-tech start-ups

Deals and Partnerships
Jacada Signs Material Contract with Nationwide Insurance

PicScout Teams up with Splash News to Give Bloggers Access to the Hottest, up-to-the Minute Celebrity Photos at picapp.com

InstallFree signs SaaS OEM agreement with Click Manageware

Ness Technologies set to sell Israeli unit to SAP

Google Buying Jajah?

Information Technology
Mellanox
InfiniBand Adapters Provide Leading Storage Connectivity to Galactic
Computing’s Line of VSTOR Storage Systems and Gateways

Virtualization is “Xeround” The Corner With An Extra $16 Million

VMware sets up new R&D centre in Israel

Hagemeyer Chooses Ceedo Virtualization Technology to Reduce Enterprise Costs and Streamline Day-to-Day Operations

Microsoft Going After MSN Israel Ltd.

MSN Israel employees had little warning of Microsoft moves

Miscellaneous
Israel’s global firms employ 63,000 overseas

Walla, ICQ launch new communications program

Digital photo co PhotoFree raises NIS 2.84m

Oil hits record ($145.98) above $147 on Nigeria unrest, Israel / Iran tension

Sightix Offers B2B Social Networking Search Solution [Israel Media Tour]

Meet BreadCrumbz, An Israeli Finalist of The Adroid Developer Challenge


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.

Israel’s hi-tech scene was in a bit of a lull during the week of June 29, 2008, perhaps because of July 4th in the United States. The biggest news was about Google AdWords killer, Peer39, which has a semantic search engine that brings back more accurate results and can thus display better ads. It also has the ability to differentiate between positive and negative contexts of words. After Peer39, Microsoft made headlines with two announcements. The first announcement was that it has partnered with Ben-Gurion University and the second was that MSN Israel will now be controlled fully by Microsoft and no longer jointly with Internet Gold. There was also a lot of technology investment-related news that took place. For these and the rest of the 12 technology-related headlines from the week of June 29, 2008, as well as a special bonus check below.

Technology
Microsoft and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev announce agreement

A First Look Inside Peer39 & Its Semantic Advertising Technology

Microsoft to take full charge of MSN Israel

Alvarion® Sets Off First Mobile WiMAX™ Internet Service in the U.S.

Business
Cleantech Index (CTIUS) Expands Globally, Adds 33 New Companies

Israel’s high-tech culture must rejigger, VC says

Options trade points to stronger shekel

VMware Completes Acquisition of B-hive Networks

IncrediMail and Google Sign AdSense Direct Agreement

Metalink files to raise $25m

Miscellaneous
What Determines the Price of Oil?

Destination: San Francisco. And Still NoGoBoingo

Bonus
This past Tuesday, popular Israel Web 2.0 blog, the.co.ils hosted its annual web startup competition, TWS2008. Ten Israeli Web 2.0 companies were selected by an impressive list of judges and gave brief presentations about what they do. Some of the winners included, Nuconomy, Dapper, HiveSight and WorkLight. WorkLight securely brings personalized Web 2.0 into the enterprise. Here are two video clips of part of WorkLight’s presentation:


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.