Volume 8, Number 17, May 1, 2003



This Week's Contents:

1) NEWS ABOUT NETPRENEUR
    1.1 The Sun Also Rises
    1.2 The World On A (Word) String
2) REGIONAL NETPRENEURS
    2.1 Providus Software Manages Risk
    2.2 Embedded Research Nets SBIR Grant
    2.3 comScore Measures Search Engines
    2.4 Round-up: Quick Hits
    ......news from Peering Business News, Panacya,

    ...........Parature, and Flight Explorer
3) FUNDING & FINANCE NEWS
    3.1 Dough Raise Me
    ......$31.5M for 1 local entrepreneur
    3.2 Life In The Food Chain
    ......SIIA Acquires The Internet Monitor
4) WHO'SWARE
    ......four calling birds, three CEOs, and a Director in a Surety

|||||||||||||||||||| 1. News About Netpreneur ||||||||||||||||||

1.1 THE SUN ALSO RISES
Boy, have we got big news. Back in the fall we announced that Morino Institute would be sunsetting its involvement with Netpreneur to focus on venture philanthropy initiatives. Well, recently, a group of local entrepreneurs who have used and benefited from the program over the years came to us with a vision for continuing the Netpreneur community as an organic, loosely structured network of volunteers. It made a lot of sense to us, and we're all for it. Following several planning and collaboration sessions, the first step in making that vision a reality came last month when the Netpreneur Exchange website was physically moved for hosting at Network Alliance, one of the startups in that group of entrepreneurs. (Don't worry, the urls remain the same, only the machines have moved.) Other transition steps have already been taken, and many still remain, but the upshot is that Netpreneur will live on, now run for entrepreneurs, by entrepreneurs. That's the wind-up, now here's the pitch: Netpreneur is now in your hands, and your help is needed. If you'd like to volunteer in any capacity-- from your time to products to services to content, or if you have questions, suggestions or open-ended expressions of support -- send a note to info@netpreneur.org. If you're an entrepreneur, you're also invited to a smallish rally we'll be having very soon to discuss plans and possibilities and to pursue action items. If you're interested in attending, let us know in that note you're sending to info@netpreneur.org (Time, date, place, and size of crowd are still TBD.) If you're not an entrepreneur, we still want to hear from you, and there will be plenty of roles for you to play. We'll keep everyone posted here and at the website. For now, get more information about the transition, current plans, and how we're operating at http://netpreneur.org/about/transition.html
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1.2 THE WORLD ON A (WORD) STRING
When opportunity knocks, you don't yell, "C'mon in, the door's open!" Globalization may not be in your business plan right now, but opportunities arise that you should be prepared for. As Sanders Partee of Ecutel told us at last week's Coffee & DoughNets, "This is my fourth software company, and every single one of them has had a reactive international component." And Matt Voorhees of Anybill recently closed an international deal after being approached by a major company over the Internet. Get yourself ready for taking on the world by checking out the transcript and video from last week's C&D, "Going Global: Sales, Partnerships & Outsourcing" where Partee and Voorhees were joined by John Malone of BizTelOne, Sundaresan Raja of Airbee Wireless, and moderator Jim LeBlanc.
http://netpreneur.org/events/archive.html


|||||||||||||||||| 2. Regional Netpreneurs ||||||||||||||||||

2.1 PROVIDUS SOFTWARE MANAGES RISK
(Rockville, MD) Spun-off from the risk management division of Lexign Corporation, a developer of business process automation software market, Providus Software Solutions is a new company specializing in enterprise regulatory and risk management software. The new company announced commercial availability of RiskResolve its enterprise application for managing SEC compliance and operational risk. The product was developed originally as a custom solution to help major financial institutions manage for the provisions of the Basel II international capital accords, which define "operational risk" as a safety and soundness concern that should be factored into a financial institution's capital requirement. RiskResolve automates the risk management process and transforms internal control and compliance processes into sustainable, business activities, rather than annual or quarterly events. Providus is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Utah-based Zions Bancorporation.
http://www.providus.com
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2.2 EMBEDDED RESEARCH NETS SBIR GRANT
(Annapolis, MD) Embedded Research Solutions (ERS), a developer of solutions for pervasive computing applications, has received a $700,000 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) phase II award from the Missile Defense Agency (MDA). The MDA targets high-risk, high-impact companies developing technologies that impact the military. The award includes a 4-to-1 matching of a $50,000 award that Embedded received in January from The Maryland Technology Development Corporation's (TEDCO) tech transfer fund. Pervasive computing refers to the growing trend of embedding microprocessors in everyday objects. The funds will enable Embedded to develop products in markets including environmental monitoring, machine health and diagnostics, physiological/performance monitoring, locating and tracking, and battle theater intelligence. For environmental monitoring, the company is working with the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory to develop a compact water quality analyzer.
http://www.embedded-zone.com
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2.3 COMSCORE MEASURES SEARCH ENGINES
(Reston, VA) Internet behavioral research firm comScore Networks launched qSearch, a new service that measures usage of online search tools by tracking consumer search queries across 25 major search engines and portals. Among results of the first report, comScore says that four major players dominate the vast majority of search activity. Google sites control the largest share of searches by global English-speaking Internet users with nearly one-third of all searches; Yahoo! leads in the US with 26% of the 790 million average weekly US searches. Yahoo!'s leadership is driven primarily by its channel offerings, such as Yahoo! Finance and Yahoo! Yellow Pages, with more than half of total searches submitted within these channels. qSearch is based on comScore's Global Network, which continuously captures the Internet activity of a cross-section of more than 1.5 million global Internet users. The company says that's a better way of measuring searches than traditional visitor counts since on average only 64% of visitors to portals and search engines conduct a search at that site in a given month.
http://www.comscore.com
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2.4 ROUND-UP: QUICK HITS

(Vienna, VA) Peering Business News, a publication that offers analysis of news and events in Internet peering, now has its own website launched by affiliated research and consulting firm Network Conceptions, also based in Vienna. Peering is the arrangement of traffic exchange between Internet service providers (ISPs).
http://www.peeringbusinessnews.com
http://www.networkconceptions.com

(Columbia, MD) Panacya released Version 2.2 of BusinessAware, its eBusiness management software that provides availability and performance analysis across an enterprise's Web application infrastructure. The new release includes modules customized for more than 20 of the most common eBbusiness infrastructure components.
http://www.panacya.com

(Reston, VA) Parature released Version 5.0 of its online customer support solution. Enhancements include a new eActivity Module that enables internal support teams to collaborate by scheduling events, assigning tasks, and coordinating meetings.
http://www.parature.com

(Arlington, VA) Flight Explorer and Stoneham, MA-based Lochard will integrate their products to launch new aviation data solutions focused on airport terminal areas, enabling customers to view, track, and operationally manage airborne traffic.
http://www.flightexplorer.com
http://www.lochard.com


|||||||||||||||||| 3. Funding & Finance News ||||||||||||||||||

3.1 DOUGH RAISE ME

$31.5 million for Sterling, VA-based NLX Corporation, a developer of military and commercial flight simulators and weapon systems trainers. The money comes from DC-based Arlington Capital Partners. NLX employs more than 600 people and develops simulation equipment and training systems for a range of military platforms including fighter jets, bomber aircraft, helicopters, transport planes, and naval vessels. The company is also one of only four companies in the world to achieve a Level D simulator qualification, the highest designation given by the FAA.
http://www.nlxcorp.com
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3.2 LIFE IN THE FOOD CHAIN

-- SIIA Acquires The Internet Monitor
(Washington, DC) The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) announced its acquisition of the assets of The Internet Monitor, publisher of the i-Tips Newsletter, internet-monitor.com and various books, including "i-Tips 2000: The Insiders' Guide to School & Library Marketing" and "The Experts' Guide to the K-12 School Market." The acquisition supports SIIA's goal of providing enhanced services to its members in the education industry. The bi-weekly i-Tips Newsletter will be published by SIIA with continuing contributions from The Internet Monitor founders, and the content will be broadened to include topics of interest to educational software publishers and content providers. New topics will likely include licensing, digital rights management, business development, recruiting, and funding, among others. Content at internet-monitor.com includes a directory of the education industry covering statistics, trends, funding data, industry magazines, mailing lists, and more. SIIA is a trade association for the software and digital content industry.
http://www.siia.net
http://www.internet-monitor.com


|||||||||||||||||| 4. Who'sWare ||||||||||||||||||

(Alexandria, VA) Comtex News Network, a real-time news aggregator and distributor, named Raymond Capece as President and CEO, replacing Charles Terry. Capece most recently was President and COO of ExactOne, and was formerly CEO of Ecoustix, President and CEO of Powersim, and COO of Liveprint.com.
http://www.comtexnews.net

(Reston, VA) Telecom services company XO Communications named Carl Grivner as CEO, succeeding Daniel Akerson, who resigned in January. Grivner was most recently COO of Global Crossing and was formerly CEO of Worldport Communications and Western Hemisphere CEO of Cable & Wireless.
http://www.xo.com

(Rockville, MD) Visual Networks, a provider of IP performance management solutions, named Lawrence Barker as President and CEO. He most recently served as President of the Software Systems Business Unit at ADC Telecommunications and was previously President of Saville Systems, acquired by ADC in 1999.
http://www.visualnetworks.com

(Fairfax, VA) Xybernaut named Steven Newman, M.D. as President. He is the company's Vice Chairman of the Board, has been its executive vice president, and was previously President and CEO of its corporate and business development subsidiary. Former President Ed Newman continues in his other positions of Chairman and CEO.
http://www.xybernaut.com

(Herndon, VA) Surety, a provider of data integrity services, named Tom McDonough to its Board of Directors. He is President and COO of Columbia, MD-based Sourcefire.
http://www.surety.com

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