Roundup, Internet, deals
The Inside Story of SAIC and Network Solutions (a Tale in Two Parts), Rayspan Raises Capital, & Other San Diego BizTech News
Bruce V. Bigelow 8/3/09
It was a light week for technology stories in San Diego last week, as I took time away from Xconomy for a family road trip through the Pacific Northwest. The traffic along Interstate 5 was mild, however, in comparison to the record Internet traffic on Xconomy’s San Diego website for our two-part story about SAIC, Network Solutions, and the rise of the Web. Read on for that and the rest of last week’s news.
—Mike Daniels, a former senior executive at San Diego-based SAIC (NYSE: SAI), told me the San Diego research and engineering contractor also known as Science Applications International Corp. probably made five or six offers before it finally acquired Network Solutions of Herndon, VA, for $4.7 million in 1995. In a follow-up Q&A, SAIC founder J. Robert Beyster said that by 2000, the company had realized billions on its investment.
—San Diego’s Rayspan is using $12.5 million in Series B venture funding to advance its work on a smaller, more sensitive, and more versatile antenna for mobile devices. The technology under development at Rayspan is known as MIMO, for multiple-input-multiple-output, and it could pose a threat to rival embedded antenna technology developed by San Diego-based Ethertronics.
—Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM), the San Diego-based wireless chipmaker, and Verizon Wireless said they are forming a joint venture to encourage corporations to use Verizon’s cellular network for more than phone services. Using machine-to-machine (M2M) wireless technology, for example, public utility companies could monitor and interact with circuit breakers, transformers, and other equipment to manage the power grid more efficiently and reliably.
Bruce V. Bigelow is the editor of Xconomy San Diego. You can e-mail him at bbigelow@xconomy.com or call 858-202-0492
