HyTrust Raises $18.5 Million for Cloud Security Automation (CSA)

HyTrust, a start-up based in Mountain View, California, raised $18.5 million in Series C funding for its Cloud Security Automation (CSA).

HyTrust said its sales are on target to quadruple in 2013. The company’s cloud security platform delivers security, control, visibility, management and compliance to virtualized environments.

The funding came from new investors Intel Capital and Fortinet, as well as recent investors VMware and In-Q-Tel. Previous investors Granite Ventures, Cisco, Trident Capital and Epic Ventures also participated in this round.

“Averting a datacenter disaster is top-of-mind for every chief information and security officer, and HyTrust provides complete visibility into what’s happening in cloud environments, with advancements that enable customers to identify and stop breaches before damage is done,” said Eric Chiu, President and Founder of HyTrust. “In the current environment, following widely publicized incidents like the NSA and Shionogi breaches, organizations are far more aware of the dangers of not having real-time visibility into datacenter operations, or the assurance that policies are automated, applied correctly and enforced. They need to know that potential threats can be contained—it’s the only way to maintain brand reputation, protect revenues and mitigate financial risk.”

http://www.hytrust.com

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Mellanox and Micron Announce 40 GigE Flash Storage for Virtualized Data Centers

Mellanox Technologies and Micron today announced a collaborative solution that combines Mellanox’s ConnectX-3 40GbE NICs with iSCSI over RDMA (iSER) and Micron’s 1.4TB P420m PCIe SSD cards. The companies said the iSER protocol enables Micron’s flash storage to serve virtual machines on a single ESXi 5.1 host with an aggregate bandwidth of 11GB/s or 527,000 IOPS using only two interconnect cards in a 3U box.

“The combined solution of Mellanox’s 40GbE NICs with iSER and Micron’s P420m PCIe SSD enables higher performance and accelerates storage applications running in virtualized environments,” said Yaron Haviv, vice president data center solutions at Mellanox Technologies. “In addition, by consolidating compute and storage traffic over a single-wire infrastructure reduces data center complexity and cost.”

The companies are demonstrating a Supermicro 6037R-TXRF server that supports 10 PCIe Gen3 x8 slots with two Mellanox 40GbE RDMA NICs and 8 Micron 1.4TB P420m PCI SSDs.

http://www.mellanox.com

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Infonetics: Carrier Router/Switch Market Roars Back in 2Q13

Globally, service provider router and switch revenue is up 27% in 2Q13 from 1Q13 to $4 billion, showing that service providers are ready to spend after holding back in the previous quarter, according to a new report from Infonetics.

"The 2nd quarter is usually up for carrier routers and switches, but this one is exceptional given the sluggishness of the past few years. Every major geographical region except Japan notched double-digit sequential growth and, more important, gained from the year-ago quarter," reports Michael Howard, principal analyst for carrier networks and co-founder of Infonetics Research.

"In Asia Pacific, carrier router and switch revenue jumped 45% from the previous quarter thanks in large part to Huawei's and ZTE's stellar performance," Howard adds. "And even recent laggard Europe/EMEA gained nicely, possibly signaling a pitch forward."

Some highlights:

• In the overall carrier router and switch market, Huawei gained 4 market share points in 2Q13, rising back into the #2 spot behind leader Cisco
• IP edge (edge routers and carrier Ethernet switches) revenue grew 30% sequentially in 2Q13, attributable in part to an uptick in the move to 100GE on routers and 100G in optical transport
• Meanwhile, core routers grew the slowest quarter-over-quarter
• Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco, Huawei and Juniper together account for about 90% of total router (edge and core) revenue in 2Q13
• Over the past 2 years (4-quarter rolling average), Huawei gained the most edge and core router market share points of any vendor, up 5.6 points.

http://www.infonetics.com

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Riverbed Appliance Combines Application+ Network Performance Mgt

Riverbed Technology introduced a single appliance with integrated application aware network performance management (aaNPM) and application performance management (APM) capabilities.

The solution, which represents a milestone in the integration of the Riverbed Cascade and OPNET product families, provides end-to-end performance management from deep dive packet and network analysis through application transactions and end user experience (EUE). The goal is to ensure consistent and reliable application performance as enterprises virtualize their data centers, consolidate branch offices, and support more mobile end users.

The new AppResponse Xpert 6000 appliance is targeted at high-performance application infrastructures. It provides the storage and high-speed analysis needed to keep up with higher speed networks and to retain packet data longer. It processes and writes to disk at up to 2x10Gbps line rates and provides 48TB of packet storage, expandable to 264TB.

Riverbed is also introducing a Shark module for AppResponse Xpert, thereby integrating application transaction analysis and deep network intelligence in a single view.

http://www.riverbed.com

• Riverbed completed its acquisition of OPNET Technologies in December 2012.

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Qualcomm to Sell its Omnitracs Logistics Business for $800M

Qualcomm agreed to sell its Omnitracs subsidiary to Vista Equity Partners for $800 million in cash.

The deal includes all of Omnitracs operations in the United States, Canada and Latin America, including Sylectus and FleetRisk Advisors, which were acquired by Omnitracs in 2011.

“In the late 1980’s, Qualcomm pioneered the use of commercial vehicle telematics with the introduction of the first mobile information system for transportation and logistics. As one of Qualcomm’s earliest businesses, Omintracs has maintained a leadership position within the industry for 25 years. Today, the opportunity for fleet management and telematics is evolving rapidly, and we believe Omnitracs is well positioned to continue its leadership position as a stand-alone entity,” said Derek Aberle, executive vice president and group president, Qualcomm Incorporated. “Vista’s long-term investment focus and experience helping software, data and technology-enabled businesses drive growth and leadership positions is a great fit for the Omnitracs business and management team. We look forward to witnessing their continued success together.”

“We are long-term investors in enterprise software, data and technology-enabled businesses that are committed to being leaders in their fields,” said Robert Smith, chief executive officer and founder of Vista Equity Partners. “We are impressed with the compelling value proposition Omnitracs’ products and services offer their customers. We look forward to working with them and helping them to reach their full potential.”

http://www.qualcomm.com

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CyrusOne to Build Massive Houston Data Center for Oil/Gas Industry

CyrusOne, which operates 25 carrier neutral data centers, announced plans to build a third data center at its Houston West campus, which is Beltway 8 in Houston’s Energy Corridor.

The new facility will be a research and development center of excellence for oil and gas industry and will enlarge the CyrusOne campus to more than 1 million square feet of data center space and 200,000 square feet of Class A office space. Total power capacity will be around 100 megawatts.

“CyrusOne’s Houston West campus is well known as the largest data center campus for seismic exploration computing in the oil and gas industry,” explained Kevin Timmons, chief technology officer at CyrusOne. “By continuing to apply our Massively Modular design/build approach and high-density compute expertise, the new facility will allow us to serve the growing number of oil and gas customers who are demanding best-in-class mission-critical infrastructure. The 200,000 square feet of Class A office building will enable us to expand the ecosystem for facilitating research and development of geophysical exploration data by providing office space for employees of the world’s leading oil and gas companies as well as academicians from the leading universities that are all involved in conducting petrochemical analytical research."

CyrusOne also operates a National Internet Exchange (National IX), which connects a dozen CyrusOne facilities in five metropolitan markets (Dallas, Houston, Austin, San Antonio and Phoenix.)

http://www.cyrusone.com

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Swinerton to Build Wholesale Data Center in Las Vegas

Swinerton Builders was awarded a contract by Telecom Real Estate Services (TRES) to build a large data center in Las Vegas for the wholesale market.

The Tier III TRES Block Data Center project involves the conversion of an existing warehouse on a 5-acre parcel.  Large customers can construct their own data center space within a fully managed building with all the backup facilities.  Four blocks of 1200 kW of critical power are available in Phase 1 with total capacity of 1125 racks.

The modular design allows for a high degree of flexibility for potential tenants, and the utilization of custom direct indirect air handlers allow for a low Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) and a corresponding reduction in operating costs.

http://www.swinerton.com/

http://www.blockdatacenter.com/

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IBM Opens Third Data Center in Peru

IBM opened a new data center at the Technology Campus of La Molina, Peru.

IBM said its US$8 million data center has the highest availability offered in Peru. It is the third IBM facility in the country, complementing an existing data center at the Technology Campus of La Molina and another in the district of San Isidro in Lima.

IBM now has nine IT Services Centers in Brazil, Mexico, Costa Rica, Chile, Colombia, Peru and Uruguay, which provide 24/7 services. Globally, IBM has more than 400 data centers.

"IBM has heavily invested in strengthening its processes, tools, analytic capabilities and skills, which are key to ensure excellence in the delivery of IT services to our customers,” said Rodolfo Armellini, IBM Peru Global Technology Services Manager.
The opening of the new data center is part of IBM's commitment to Peru, where IBM has continuously operated for more than 81 years. In the past 10 years, the company has invested US$38 million in Peru – including this new data center."

http://www.ibm.com/smartcloud

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Netsocket Appoints Fletcher Hamilton as CEO

Netsocket named Fletcher Hamilton as its new president and CEO, replacing John White, who for the last 2 years led the company’s transformation into a key and innovative technology provider within the SDN market space.

Fletcher Hamilton joined Netsocket last year from Acme Packet, where he was vice president of enterprise and government sales and a founding member of the enterprise sales team.

Netsocket has also appointed Tricia Hosek as chief operating officer. She joined Netsocket in early 2012 following a series of high growth and profitability achievements spanning early stage start-ups through multi-billion dollar operations, most recently with Enfora as chief operating officer and Tekelec as President/GM of the Switching Solutions group.

http://www.netsocket.com

In July, Netsocket, a start-up based in Plano, Texas, unveiled its flagship Netsocket Virtual Network (NVN) product suite for bringing SDN-based orchestration and automation capabilities to enterprise infrastructure based commodity x86 servers.

Netsocket has developed a three-tier SDN architecture for interoperability and integration with legacy routed networks as well as higher level management systems such as Microsoft System Center.  The NetSocketdesign uses a vFlow controller with routing, firewall, and VPN capabilities built-in.

The Netsocket Virtual Network (NVN) product suite consists of software for x86 virtual server platforms.  Key components include:

• vFlowController -- an SDN controller with intrinsic vRouter, vTunnel and vFirewall components.
• vNetCommander -- a centralized management system for NVN that handles automated installation, provisioning and orchestration of the network.
• vNetOptimizer -- a next generation virtualized version of Netsocket’s Cloud Experience Manager service assurance product, and will provide for real-time network service analytics, automation and optimization of the network.

http://www.virtualnetwork.com
http://www.netsocket.com

• In April, Netsocket raised $9.2 million in Series B funding for expansion of it network assurance expertise into SDN. The funding round was led by new investor Venture Investors, with participation by existing investors Sevin Rosen Funds, Silver Creek Ventures and Trail Blazer Capital.
• Netsocket was founded in 2007.  Its team includes key players from Chiaro Networks, a Richardson, Texas-based start-up that developed a high-capacity core router for the service provider market.

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Acting FCC Chair Calls for Industry Policy on Device Unlocking

Mignon Clyburn, acting Chairwoman of the FCC, is urging mobile operators to adopt consumer-friendly cell phone unlocking policies. In a statement, she writes that months of meetings with carriers and trade association has yet to result in an industry-standard policy for unlocked devices. Her statement says a voluntary approach is still possible but implies new regulations might also be pursued.

Mignon Clyburn, acting Chairwoman of the FCC:

"I support policies that enable consumers to lawfully unlock their mobile telephones, so they can seamlessly move from one carrier to another. While wireless carriers should be able to enforce their valid customer contracts, the unlocking provisions need to be grounded in common sense and practical application. Consumers, who satisfy the reasonable terms of their contracts, should not be subject to civil and criminal penalties if they want to take their device to a new carrier."

"Months ago, the Commission began meeting with carriers and representative trade associations to reach an industry standard policy for unlocking cell phones. As the 114,000 people that signed on to the White House petition earlier this year demonstrate, this issue is too important to consumers for us to not find a solution and I firmly believe a voluntary approach that promotes 
competition and consumer choice is still possible."

"Some providers have already adopted consumer-friendly cellphone unlocking policies, and I applaud them. The FCC, industry, and other stakeholders should continue to work towards an industry-wide cellphone unlocking solution that best serves the public interest. Therefore, I've directed the FCC staff to redouble our efforts with partners across the administration and industry to explore all of our available options for a quick resolution."

http://www.fcc.gov/document/chairwoman-clyburn-importance-cellphone-unlocking

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Huawei Secures $1.5 Billion Loan

Huawei has secured a US$1.5 billion equivalent 5-year term loan and revolving credit facilities.

The dual-currency vacilities comprise a US$750 million equivalent term loan, and a US$750 million equivalent revolving credit facility, which are available in both USD and EUR with the EUR tranche capped at EUR300 million.

Huawei said the funds will be used for the general corporate purposes of the company and / or to refinance the existing indebtedness of the company.

"Huawei continuously strives to create diverse financing channels to maintain our financial flexibility, and this Facility will boost our efforts to accelerate business development and build on our global presence so that we can continue to create value for our customers around the world," said Ms. Cathy Meng, Chief Financial Officer of Huawei, "This is the largest amount of overseas loan and credit facilities Huawei has raised to date. We are pleased by the strong support received from leading international banks as this highlights the trust and confidence that the financial community has in Huawei’s sustainable growth and globalization strategy."

http://www.huawei.com

In July, Huawei reported unaudited revenues of CNY 113.8 billion for the first half of 2013, an increase of 10.8% over the same period in 2012. Huawei expects to generate a net profit margin of 7-8% in 2013.

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Digital Realty to Host Open Internet Exchanges

Digital Realty Trust, which owns 122 data center properties in cities around the world, plans to establish Digital Open Internet Exchanges to expedite the carrier-neutral exchange of traffic.  Specifically, the company will provide the necessary data center infrastructure to support member-governed Internet exchanges, a model that has proven successful across Europe.

Digital Realty plans to operate as an endorsed data center partner with the governing bodies and endorsed IXPs (internet exchange providers) of Internet exchanges in each of the major exchange locations in North America, Europe and the Asia Pacific region. The initial rollout for Digital Open Internet Exchange will take place in the New York metro area and Northern Virginia, followed by deployment in several other U.S. markets.

http://youtu.be/NTGUGjRuE0E

“Digital Open Internet Exchange is a game-changer for the entire IP and networking community, and for our customers,” said Michael Foust, Chief Executive Officer at Digital Realty. “By creating a truly open Internet exchange environment, we are supporting the community’s desire for neutral exchanges that are more efficient and cost-effective than those available today.

“We understand that the costs and limitations associated with connecting to the existing Internet exchanges in the U.S., as well as peer-to-peer interconnecting, are simply too high.” said John Sarkis, Vice President of Connectivity and Carrier Operations at Digital Realty. “This initiative establishes the optimal exchange environment, making it possible for Internet service providers (ISPs), content delivery networks (CDNs) and content producers to interconnect with their peers as well as to other exchanges from our data centers at a significantly lower cost than they pay today, while also improving the quality of service they can provide to customers. By empowering the community to take control of the way it operates the exchanges, we will enable organizations within business ecosystems—like-minded and vertical industries—to connect with each other in and across all of Digital Realty’s 120-plus global locations.”

http://www.digitalrealty.com

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JDSU Sees Huge Opportunity in Mobile Location Insight Services

By monetizing a range of "Location Insight Services" (LIS) mobile operators could unlock a market opportunity worth $11 billion by 2016, according to research compiled by STL Partners and released by JDSU.

Location Insight Services would leverage aggregated and anonymous "trend" information collected from connected consumers’ mobile location data.

The study draws a distinction between LIS and Location Based Services (LBS) for individual subscribers, a market that is estimated to reach $12.7 billion by 2014, according to Juniper Research. So far, mobile operators have struggled to monetized LBS, as most of the revenues have gone to over-the-top (OTT) content players.

The STL Partners research shows that, by contrast, the Location Insight Services segment offers operators a new opportunity to monetize their location data. Mobile operators have the opportunity to aggregate huge volumes of anonymous location data over time and delivering value either directly to businesses, or via partners such as retail planners and advertising agencies.

The research highlights how organizations in industries such as retail, transport, and advertising could benefit hugely from unique LIS that only mobile operators can provide, once anonymous location data has been collated and analysed. For example, mobile analytics could provide valuable insight on the people passing through a given shopping area over time.

"The findings of this report mark a step change in the perceived value of location data and the way in which operators use it,” said Shirin Dehghan, former Arieso CEO, and now head of the location intelligence business unit since its acquisition by JDSU. “For some time, OTT players have led the way in using real-time location data to provide location-centric services to consumers, such as special offers or vouchers. LIS puts the power back in operators’ hands allowing them to monetize the value of their unique asset, mass location intelligence, creating new revenue streams in times where traditional business models remain under extreme pressure."

http://www.telco2research.com/articles/WP_telco2-making-money-from-location-insights
http://www.arieso.com/insights
http://www.jdsu.com

Earlier this year, JDSU acquired Arieso, a developer of location-aware software for mobile network operators, for $85 million in cash.

Arieso, which was based in Newbury, United Kingdom, developed a multi-vendor, location-aware network monitoring and optimization solution that delivers intelligence for more effective network performance engineering.  It also supplied an automated network planning technology that searches all possible configurations to deliver optimum network designs. Arieso said its proprietary algorithms provide highly rich and targeted data from mobile connection events to give mobile operators visibility into service level activity and usage patterns. Arieso’s bookings for calendar 2012 were approximately $27 million.

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South Africa's Neotel Launches LTE Fixed Wireless Broadband

South Africa's Neotel announced that its flagship broadband service NeoBroadband, is now also available over its new LTE network.

NeoBroadband powered by LTE is a fixed wireless solution designed for Small and Medium businesses (SMB) as well as large Enterprises. The solution uses a fixed installation to connect business offices via Neotel’s LTE network, which operates in the uncluttered 1800 MHz band spectrum.

The initial release of the NeoBroadband over LTE is focused in Gauteng and offers download speeds of 2 Mbps, 5Mbps and 10 Mbps on an unshaped, uncapped package ranging from R999 to R2899 per month. 

Sunil Joshi, MD & CEO of Neotel said “The NeoBroadband powered by LTE brings business grade high speed LTE for the small and medium sized as well as large businesses. Neotel is using its LTE network to deliver efficient, stable, low contention, unshaped and uncapped internet to its business and retail customers as well as for last mile requirements. By using fixed wireless deployment Neotel can optimise the number of connections to each tower thereby delivering better speeds, consistent user experience and minimal disruptions."

http://www.neotel.co.za/

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Mavenir Enables RCS in Multi-Tenant NFV Environment

Mavenir Systems announced the first commercial deployment of virtualized Rich Communication Services (RCS-e) in a multi-tenant Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) environment.

Mavenir confirmed that its previously announced Virtualized IMS platform is being used by Tier-1 operators in Europe.  The operators are currently rolling out Mavenir's NFV technology as part of their VoLTE /RCS rollouts. The commercial deployment of RCS-e services in a virtualized, multi-tenant environment was launched in 2013 to serve subscribers across multiple countries.

Mavenir cited significant CAPEX reductions for IMS-based RCS deployments when utilizing multi-tenancy on a centrally deployed common platform. Mob

"We are seeing increased pressure on mobile operators to reduce the cost and complexity of network service deployment creating a market for disruptive transformation with more efficient NFV based networks,” said Pardeep Kohli, President and CEO, Mavenir Systems.  "Many of our customers are already seeing the agility and the benefits of Virtualized IMS in their live networks, not just in lab trials."

http://www.mavenir.com/virtualized-rcs-based-on-nfv.htm

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Second Round of FCC's Connect America Funding Taps $385 Million

The second round of funding from the FCC's Connect America Fund will provide broadband access to an estimated 600,000 homes and small businesses.

The FCC announced that Service Providers in 44 states and Puerto Rico requested over $385 million from the Fund.  These funds are to be matched with hundreds of millions of their own dollars.  Deployment must be completed within three years.

The FCC estimates that about 15 million U.S. residents, mostly rural, currently lack access to broadband and the opportunities it
provides.

"Broadband is no longer a luxury but is essential in today's society to finding a job, getting an education, receiving quality health care, and staying connected with family and community," said Acting FCC Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn. "This second round of support from the Connect America Fund will leverage private investment and connect hundreds of thousands of rural consumers and businesses to the robust broadband that other communities have long taken for granted. I'm delighted that requests for support in this round have exceeded our expectations, putting us that much closer to the day when all Americans have access to broadband."

http://www.fcc.gov

• In July 2012, the first phase of the FCC's "Connect America Fund" kicked off with about $115 million in public funding being allocated to bring broadband to nearly 400,000 residents and small business owners in 37 states.Many projects are now receiving funding and are expected to begin immediately/ All projects must be completed within three years.The FCC estimates that nearly 19 million residents currently lack access to broadband. 

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Cox Business Partners with ViaWest for Colocation, Cloud

Cox Business announced a strategic partnership with ViaWest covering colocation and cloud services  in Las Vegas, Phoenix and Southern California markets.

Cox Business will provide secure fiber network connectivity matched with ViaWest's colocation and cloud infrastructure solutions.

Earlier this year, ViaWest opened its 110,000 square foot data center in Las Vegas which earned the colocation industry's first Tier IV design certification in North America.  ViaWest plans to open its 90,000 square foot enterprise-class, multi-tenant data center facility in Phoenix early in 2014 with Cox Enterprises as its anchor tenant.

"Our Cox Business customers have a growing need for scalable IT infrastructure solutions that enable them to access mission critical data anytime and anywhere," said Mark Bowser, executive vice president and chief financial officer, Cox Communications.  "By partnering with ViaWest, we have an enhanced product offering that now includes a full suite of secure cloud and colocation solutions to meet the infrastructure needs of our customers."

http://www.viawest.com/
http://www.cox.com

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Proximion Cites Growth in 40G/100G ULH Dispersion Compensation

Proximion, a privately-held company that supplies optical modules and sub-systems based on Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) technology, reported record sales growth for the six-month period ended June 30 2013, up 78 percent compared to the same period 2012.

Proximion attributed the growth to a large extent to its recently launched DCM-HDC product for ULH 40G and 100G coherent systems.

Tobias Persson, Vice President of Marketing & Sales stated: “We are very pleased with the successful market acceptance of our coherent DCM portfolio but the numbers also reflect the strong demand for new coherent systems, as reported by many industrial analysts.”

http://www.proximion.com/News/Archive/Proximion_reports_record_sales_growth_for_first_half_2013

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Goldman Sachs Invests $40 Million in SugarCRM

SugarCRM, which offers an open-platform web-based customer relationship management service, announced a $40 million equity investment by Goldman Sachs & Co.

SugarCRM will use the investment to expand its global reach.  The company also announced the appointment of Antoine Munfa, a vice president at Goldman Sachs, to its Board of Directors. Piper Jaffray & Co. served as SugarCRM’s financial adviser during the funding transaction.

“SugarCRM’s market momentum is being fueled by the global demand for more affordable, next-generation CRM systems designed for the individual user. Because we remain laser focused on bringing innovative solutions to the individual contributor first, while delivering superior value for our customers, we are driving increased interest in CRM in the enterprise market,” said Larry Augustin, CEO of SugarCRM. “The company’s consecutive quarter-over-quarter growth, our expanding roster of more than 6,500 customer organizations, and today’s funding all serve as proof that our strategy serves a key market need. This funding surpasses all the investments we have received to date, and we will use this capital to expand our global reach, drive channel growth, and continue our product development.”

http://www.sugarcrm.com/

• SugarCRM is headquartered in Cupertino, California with European headquarters in Munich, Germany and Asia Pacific headquarters in Sydney, Australia.

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Marvell Sees Strength in Storage and Mobile

Marvell posted quarterly revenue of $807 million, up 10% sequentially but down 1% year-over-year.  GAAP net income was $62 million with GAAP EPS of $0.12.

"Our results in the second quarter were at the high-end of our guidance mainly due to better demand and share gains in our storage end market and strong double digit growth in our mobile and wireless end markets," said Dr. Sehat Sutardja, Marvell's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "Many of our customers are introducing new devices using our innovative solutions, which should drive continued success across all of our end markets. We expect growth to be driven by increased traction in areas such as mobile handsets, tablets, connectivity, smart home devices and SSDs."

Marvell's financial outlook for the current quarter predicts revenue in the range of $850 to $890 million.

http://www.marvell.com

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