Bay Area Tech Wire -- Feb. 8

(Editor's Note: This is a corrected version of Bay Area Tech Wire. An earlier version included the wrong heading.) ============================================ BAY AREA TECH WIRE -- Feb. 8, 2012 ============================================ Sponsored by: Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated www.rwbaird.com/bay o San Francisco-Based Extole Lands $10 Million in Third Round o S.F.-Based TastemakerX Raises $1.8 Million in First Round   o Mountain View-Based ChemoCentry Prices IPO; Shares Rise 10% o Report: U.S. E-Commerce Spending Grew 14% in Fourth Quarter o Survey: More than a Third of IT Leaders Expect Hiring to Increase in Q1 o Briefly Noted: Dolby Laboratories, Schooner Information Technology, MobiTV _____________________________________________ > Job/Event/Marketplace Classified Listings (Full Listings Below Stories) --Cloud Connect Santa Clara - Feb. 13 to 16 --Whitepaper: The Secret to Online User Adoption --Clean Energy & Smart Grid Directory - Special Limited-Time Discount Offer --Enterprise Sales Manager --How to Develop the Framework to Strengthen Your Organization --Account Director (sales), Bay Area --Visa Inc, Emerging Technology Cloud Guru - Foster City, CA --Advertise on Bay Area Tech Wire and Reach More than 6,000 Subscribers Ad Descriptions Below Briefly Noted Section Post Job/Event/Marketplace ad: http://www.bayareatechwire.com _____________________________________________ o San Francisco-Based Extole Lands $10 Million in Third Round San Francisco -- Extole, the San Francisco-based developer of a social marketing platform used by brands and agencies, said on Wednesday it has raised $10 million in its third round of funding, led by Shasta Ventures. Previous investors Norwest Venture Partners, Redpoint Ventures and Trident Capital also participated in the round, which increased the company's total backing to $22 million. The company said it will use the new funds to fuel growth, scale operations and accelerate product and platform investments. Extole's platform powers social referral programs, promotions, testimonials and social analytics for more than 200 brands. Clients include Kate Spade New York, J. Hilburn, AAA, Shutterfly, New York Times and SkyMall. http://www.extole.com  http://extole.com/press-coverage/extole-secures-10-million-in-series-c-funding-led-by-shasta-ventures/  _____________________________________________ o S.F.-Based TastemakerX Raises $1.8 Million in First Round San Francisco -- TastemakerX, the San Francisco-based developer of a social mobile game for music fans, said on Wednesday it has raised $1.8 million in its first round of funding to officially launch the company. Investors included Guggenheim Partners, Baseline Ventures, True Ventures, AOL Ventures and Tekton Ventures, as well as Internet and music industry advisors John Battelle, Marc Geiger, Ian Rogers, Paul Bricault and Ted Rheingold. Angel investors Andrew Anker, Mich Mathews, Michael Kassan and Mike McGinley also took part. The company said it plans to release its debut TastemakerX Music mobile app as a private beta in early March. Founders Marc Ruxin and Sandro Pugliese both started their careers in the A&R department at EMI records in the early 1990s. "What music fan doesn't want to be the first to discover the next big band and get credit for it?" said Ruxin, who serves as CEO. "Like fantasy sports for music lovers, players will be able to browse portfolios of like-minded music aficionados to discover new music and see real-time news about the artists they love." http://www.tastemakerx.com  http://tastemakerx.com/press_center/press_releases _____________________________________________ o Mountain View-Based ChemoCentry Prices IPO; Shares Rise 10% Mountain View, Calif. -- Shares of Mountain View-based ChemoCentry rose 10% on their first day of trading Wednesday after the clinical-stage biopharmaceutical firm priced its initial public offering (IPO). The company is selling 4.5 million shares for $10 each -- below its expected price range of $14-$16 -- and expects to generate net proceeds of $39.4 million. Shares of ChemoCentryx are now trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol "CCXI." The company is developing oral drugs to treat autoimmune diseases, inflammatory disorders and cancer. http://www.chemocentryx.com/  http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1340652/000119312512044954/d237820ds1a.htm   _____________________________________________ o Report: U.S. E-Commerce Spending Grew 14% in Fourth Quarter Reston, Va. -- Buoyed by an especially strong holiday season, U.S. retail e-commerce spending grew to $49.7 billion during the fourth quarter, up 14% from the prior year, according to new estimates released by comScore. It marked the ninth straight quarter of year-over-year growth, including fifth straight in double digits, and capped a year in which online spending grew 13%, overall. "In the face of continuing uncertainty regarding the U.S. economy, consumers increasingly went online for their shopping needs," said Gian Fulgoni, the chairman of comScore. "Price and convenience continue to be the critical value drivers for e-commerce, and unless those conditions change we can expect to see more channel-shifting to online in 2012 and perhaps even an acceleration in the current growth trend." http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2012/2/comScore_ Reports_Q4_2011_U.S._Retail_E-Commerce_Spending  _____________________________________________ o Survey: More than a Third of IT Leaders Expect Hiring to Increase in Q1 Hanover, Md. -- More than a third of IT decision-makers expect their companies to increase their headcounts during the first quarter, according to a new survey by TEKsystems and the Inavero Institute. The survey of 1,500 IT executives, managers and directors found that 34% expect to hire temporary workers and 35% expect to add permanent employees. Respondents said that enterprise architects, cloud architects and data/master data management architects are among the most difficult positions to fill. Forty-four percent said their IT staffs can expect to receive raises in 2012. "Many organizations are simultaneously implementing major IT projects to help achieve business objectives, including mobile applications, business intelligence, virtualization and security initiatives," said Rachel Russell, director of TEKsystems. "As a result, the market for IT professionals with relevant skills is extremely tight." http://www.teksystems.com/About-TEKsystems/Press-Release-News-10356.aspx  _____________________________________________ o Briefly Noted: (San Francisco) San Francisco-based Dolby Laboratories, a developer of entertainment technology best known for high-quality audio and surround sound, said on Wednesday that its board of directors has increased the company's stock repurchase program by $100 million. Dolby now has approximately $436 million available for future repurchases.  http://investor.dolby.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=647119  (Sunnyvale, Calif.) Sunnyvale-based Schooner Information Technology, a developer of SQL database software, on Wednesday named Julie Bryce Munro as senior director of marketing and Pavan Venkatesh as director of product management and strategy. Bryce Munro and Venkatesh both join the company from Oracle, where Bryce Munro managed product marketing programs in North America for Oracle Exadata and Venkatesh was a member of the technical sales consulting team in MySQL-Oracle. http://www.schoonerinfotech.com  http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20120208005288/en/Schooner-Information-Technology-Strengthens-Leadership-Team-Strategic  (Emeryville, Calif.) Emeryville-based MobiTV, a provider of managed services that deliver television and related media content across mobile devices, on Wednesday named Paul Burmester as general manager and senior vice president for EMEA. Burmester previously held senior roles at companies in the mobile sector. http://www.mobitv.com http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mobitv-appoints-seasoned-industry-executive-to-drive-expansion-across-emea-138934279.html   =================================================== Job/Event/Marketplace Listings: =================================================== To Post in Job/Event/Marketplace: http://www.bayareatechwire.com 6000 Readers: 5 day ad: $120--10 day ad: $175--20 day ad: $300 > Cloud Connect Santa Clara - Feb. 13 to 16 Cloud Connect Santa Clara is the defining cloud conference and expo for IT professionals, developers and leading cloud providers. Thousands of cloud leaders and technology experts from top companies attend Cloud Connect to get the latest on public and private clouds, cloud security, big data, cloud economics, and evolving industry standards. Join other IT decision makers, developers and cloud providers this February 13 to 16 and learn how you can move your cloud strategy forward. Register now at http://www.CloudConnectEvent.com/SantaClara using priority code TECHWIRE to save 25% or get your free Expo Pass. ____________________________________________ > Whitepaper: The Secret to Online User Adoption Download the Whitepaper: Overcoming Halfhearted User Adoption by NavigationArts, a DC-based User Experience consultancy with NEW offices in New York, Boston, and Raleigh-Durham. Learn how to improve user adoption rates and organizational efficiencies from our experts who specialize in the design and development of websites, intranets, applications and more. Download the whitepaper at http://www.navigationarts.com ____________________________________________ > Clean Energy & Smart Grid Directory - Special Limited-Time Discount Offer Tech Wire’s directory group has just published the 2012 edition of the Clean Energy & Smart Grid Directory, which profiles nearly 1,000 of the most cutting-edge organizations in the renewable energies and smart grid sectors in the U.S. and Canada. It also provides contact info on over 4,000 of the key individuals leading these exciting organizations, as well as details on their financial backers. The Clean Energy & Smart Grid Directory is a great tool for investors, recruiters, job seekers, sales and business development pros looking for new opportunities in this burgeoning industry. The new product is currently available to Tech Wire readers for a special, limited-time discount of 20%, now through Feb. 15. For more information go to: http://www.smartenergygroup.org ____________________________________________ > Enterprise Sales Manager If you're considering a change, this may finally be your motivation. NovaStor (www.novastor.com) is searching for an Enterprise Sales Manager to take on a ground floor opportunity selling enterprise backup solutions in a market where storage growth is exponential year over year. The product has a long history of success within top reference accounts and scales well beyond competitive solutions. NovaStor is seeking a self motivated and driven individual who is capable of spearheading the introduction of this German engineered solution to a broader US market through channel initiatives (employees from competitors – Commvault, Atempo, Quest/Bakbone, NetBackup and EMC Legato are welcome). Within this trailblazing role, you will be instrumental in shaping the future of NovaStor and have unlimited earning potential. You will be part of a brilliant team of entrepreneurially driven talent and will be counted on for your creativity and direction. Picture yourself in a dream location, nestled in Agoura Hills California just minutes away from the beaches of Malibu and year round sunshine. You have the opportunity to have your voice heard, make decisions quickly, influence the success of a business, be surrounded by others with the same goal, be appreciated for the work you’re doing and be part of something BIG! NovaStor is prepared to wait for the best, but is looking to fill this role immediately and is offering a competitive package with full benefits and plenty of opportunity for future advancement. Send resumes to mike.andrews@novastor.com ____________________________________________ > Achieving Organizational Excellence: How to Develop the Framework to Strengthen Your Organization Lose weight, get in better financial shape and try to relax more are some of the most common New Year’s resolutions. But, have you ever thought about applying New Year’s resolutions to your professional life? It is the perfect time of year to look at our professional lives and assess where we could organize our priorities in order to strengthen our work relationships and practices throughout the year. It may require looking at your business internally, evaluating employees and leadership, or taking a snapshot of your current target customer. In this article, Jeff Parks and Ellen Gray provide strategies for aligning all of the priorities within your business in an effort to achieve organizational excellence. http://www.fairfaxcountyeda.org/bay-area-tech-wire  ____________________________________________ > Account Director (sales), Bay Area As an Aquent Account Director on the Hi-Tech Industry Team, you'll be working with computer hardware and software companies in the Bay Area. Your experience should come from selling professional services into hi-tech industry companies, or selling hi-tech solutions to a variety of organizations and industries. You will have closed multi-year, multi-million dollar deals involving senior level buyers and hiring managers across an enterprise. To achieve these results, you will have developed sales strategies that establish relationships with business unit managers, procurement, supplier diversity, human resources, and C-level decision makers. You will lead the RFP process, coordinating internal and external resources, when necessary, to create and negotiate a winning solution. Requirements: - 4-year degree - 5+ years selling within a niche staffing, professional services organization or outsourcing solution. Selling professional services into the hi-tech industry, or selling a hi-tech solution. Past quantifiable success in selling and expanding multiple large and mid-sized accounts. Proven track record of exceeding goals in metric driven sales cultures. View a detailed description and submit resumes online or send resumes to landrese@aquent.com ____________________________________________ > Visa Inc, Emerging Technology Cloud Guru - Foster City, CA The Cloud Computing - Open Source Software Engineer operates as an individual contributor and as part of the R&D team. The role requires hands-on software engineering expertise, complemented with a natural curiosity and solid research disciplines. Qualifications: The ideal candidate should have minimum 10 years of proven experience in the area of grid computing, large scale data mining and analytics (financial service/payments experience desirable). Must have deep hand-on expertise with Open Source programming & testing (Linux, Java, MySQL, Apache, PHP, Python, etc.). Should have good knowledge of Apache Hadoop (HDFS, MapReduce, Hive, PIG, HBase, etc.). Should be current with the latest Cloud Computing principles, and industry advancements. Must have excellent problem solving, analytical and technical troubleshooting skills, combined with solid scientific research skills, including experimentation and detailed records management. Must be self motivated with good communication skills (written and verbal), including the ability to communicate effectively with team members located remotely. Must be capable of working with minimal supervision in a team environment. Ideally Masters (MSc) level qualifications in Computer Science, Applied Mathematics. Ideally a specialization in Parallel Computing, Machine Intelligence, Artificial Intelligence. Ideally have exposure to Neural Networks and R language programming To apply please click on the link below: https://visainc.taleo.net/careersection/visa_ext_job_app/jobdetail.ftl?lang=en&job=112700&src=ML-11140   ____________________________________________ > Advertise on Bay Area Tech Wire and Reach More than 6,000 Subscribers Bay Area Tech Wire has over 6,000 subscribers who rely on it for their daily briefing of local technology news. Bay Area Tech Wire has various advertising offerings ideal for jobs listings, events, service offerings, and office space for rent. 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