Company to watch in 2009: WorkLight, Inc

I meant to write about WorkLight last month but got caught up with things. As what happens every few weeks though, my attention has quickly been drawn back to the company again. In Jon Brodkin’s post on Network World earlier today, he listed the “Secure Web 2.0 for Business” Enterprise 2.0 company as one of 10 startups to watch in 2009. I couldn’t agree more.

WorkLight, Inc. seemed to have a stellar year in 2008, and as Web 2.0 in the enterprise continues to grow  in 2009 despite the economic downturn, there’s no reason not to think that it won’t repeat it, and more. Since the company first showed up on my radar as one of two Israeli demonstrators at the 2007 DemoGermany conference in Munich, the company has raised an impressive round of funding, been chosen as one of the top 10 web startups in Israel’s version of the TechCrunch and Demo conferences and just last month, and partnered with NetVibes to develop secure widgets for the enterprise among other news about the company.

The company’s software is customized for specific industries and, as such, has helped simplify and accelerate the embracing and integration of Web 2.0 in the enterprise. On its website, the company explains itself and its offerings as follows: 

“WorkLight® Inc. develops server software products that help businesses reach customers, channels, employees, and partners securely in the places they frequent online, such as iGoogle, Windows Live, desktop widgets, RSS readers, Facebook, even the Apple iPhone. Through WorkLight, people effortlessly get valuable information they desire, such as account status, product availability, or updates about their latest transactions. They can then take actions, for example order products or services, respond to promotions or offers, and consult with colleagues, without having to log into a portal or corporate web site. As such, WorkLight transforms consumer interfaces into enterprise-grade business tools that directly increase revenue.”

Here is an image from the site of how its products work.

Additionally, I’ve created a timeline of some of the WorkLight news that caught my attention in 2008

Company Facts

Founded in 2006.

Based in New York and Yakum, Israel.

Shahar Kaminitz, CEO and Co-Founder.

Doron Somer, Vice President of R&D.

Products: WorkBook, WorkLight for SAP, WorkLight for Technology Companies and WorkLight for Business Services.

Competitors include: Awareness Inc. and NewsGator Technologies Inc.

Customer industries: financial services, retail banking, manufacturing, book publishing, technology and IT services and utilities

Website: myworklight.com

22 Israel-related headlines from the week of December 28, 2008 (Gaza operation edition)

Much attention in the news was paid to Israel’s operation in Gaza during the week of December 28, 2009, including to online technology related to it. Different Israeli government branches, from the IDF to Israeli Consulates in the U.S., began to leverage popular social media tools, such as blogs, YouTube and Twitter, to explain the purpose of Israel’s operation and its objectives, while supporters around the world used the same mediums and others, such as Facebook, to show their support for Israel and its troops. During the week it also became clear that the conflict wouldn’t be bound to physical operations as several Israeli sites became the targets of cyberterrorism.

Despite the conflict, there was plenty of news of unrelated innovations coming from Israel. Funds were raised and contracts were signed in Israel’s IT and cleantech sectors and announcements of foreign companies opening R&D offices were made. Not all the news that wasn’t related to the conflict was good though. For all these stories and more, check out this week’s special edition of Israel-related headlines from the week of December 28, 2008 below.

Israel-Hamas Conflict (Technology side)

1. Israeli news site down, blames cyber attack

2. Muslim hackers attack Israeli websites as Gaza strikes continue

3. Israel Backed by Army of Cyber-Soldiers

4. War sickens me, but I stand with Israel (HelpUsWin*)

5. The Big War You Never Hear Much About

6. Israeli Consulate to tweet about Gaza war

Cleantech

7. Israel’s SolarEdge Raises $23M to Crush Shady Solar

8. BrightSource Energy signs contract with Siemens for solar-powered generator

Investments and deals

9. 2009: Year of the survival of the fittest

10. Bluephoenix Announces Multi-Million Dollar Modernization Contract With a Large Scandinavian Bank

11. Intrinsyc Signs Soleus Licensing Agreement With ODM for Industrial PDA and LBS Phone
12. Oy Vey! Israeli VCs Exceptionally Gloomy on 2009

Information Technology

13. HCL opens office in Israel

14. Invention: Software research assistant

15. EMC continues to move forward

Miscellaneous

16. The American Idol for blogging superstars

17. One to Watch: Tvinci

18. Israeli’s documentary is drawing wide acclaim

19. MyHeritage Makes Family History Research Easier With Launch Of Family Tree Builder 3

20. Crude oil rises after Israeli attacks on Gaza roil Middle East

Israel Innovation 2.0 content related to Israel-Hamas conflict

21. Direct from the streets of Gaza… and Israel. How TechCrunch UK’s post could have read regarding UGC

22. Cyberterrorism against Israeli and American sites: How to Stay Secure

Video from IDF Spokeperson’s Unit TouTube Channel (Capt. Benjamin Rutland on the ground forces entering Gaza on 3 Jan. 2009)

*HelpUsWin is an online grassroots campaign helping to ensure that international coverage of the Campaign Against Hamas is balanced. To learn more about it or how you can become involved, please check out the HelpUsWin website.

Cyberterrorism against Israeli and American sites: How to Stay Secure

Since Israel began its operation in Gaza a week ago, over 300 sites have fallen victim to cyberattacks. Large Israeli company sites, such as Israel Discount Bank, Ynetnews and Israel’s largest domain registration site along with small Jewish community sites, including several religious ones in the US have been targeted. The main group behind several of these attacks, though far from the only one, is the infamous Moroccan group, TeamEvil, which also hacked some of the 750-plus Israeli websites before and during the Lebanon war in 2006.

Security analysts predict that American company websites will also be attacked in the next few weeks. For an article on the topic that appeared in SC Magazine last week, Dan Kaplan interviewed Gary Warner, director of research in computer forensics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and John Kindervag, a senior analyst with Forrester Research who both made suggestions for preventing cyberattacks:

“Warner said website operators must secure common entryways for hackers, including vulnerable programming language, forum or blog software, image programs and utilities, such as website statistic applications. In addition, they must prevent the theft of FTP credentials, which are used to access sites and load content.

John Kindervag, a senior analyst with Forrester Research, said most websites are not built with security in mind. As a result, site owners should conduct a vulnerability assessment and, if they need immediate action, install a web application firewall, which can detect anomalous behavior.”

For more on the topic and to make sure your secure, you can check out the following sites:

10 Ways to Prevent Cyberterrorism

International Cooperation Needed To Prevent Cyberterrorism

Cyber Terrorism Threat Increasing - How To Prevent A Digital 9/11

Statistics on economic impact on investments in Israeli high-tech

Lilach Weissman reported on Globes online yesterday that Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor director general Gabriel Maimon told the Knesset Economics Committee that 4,000 high-tech employees have lost their jobs since October, and that the number could reach 15,000 (out of a total of 70,000).  A day earlier, Roi Carthy posted an entry on TechCrunch that Deloitte Israel recently released its VC Indicator Survey, conducted among Israeli VCs in December that he said, spelled doom for the industry regarding  employment and funding.

While times will be tough in Israel regarding the economy this year, it doesn’t seem likely that most of those unemployed in the high-tech sector will sit by idly. Eze Vidra of VCCafe.com reported in early December 2008 that of the 270 startups founded in Israel in 2008, 40 of them were founded in a 30-day span in November and beginning of December. It seems that once laid-off and with time, several high-tech workers are able to pursue their ideas. (How many laid-off employees out of the 15,000 this will acutally benefit should be kept an eye on in 2009.) 

While venture capitalists will be more conservative in their investments, this past September a panel of angel investors at TechCrunch50 basically said that this is the time for them. Though there’s less money going around, especially coming from VCs, there’s still money out there for the right ideas. (There’s also still some investments in R&D-type activities that are being made in Israel.)

Here are some facts from Carthy’s entry and the Globes article that are particularly of interest:

• 92% of VCs surveyed believe that companies who do not lay off employees will slash salaries.
• 74% predict that at least 10% of venture backed startups will be shutdown.
• 95% foresee harsh times in the fund raising department.
• 54% expect a slowdown in seed investments.
• 87% expect a decrease in company valuations.
• According to the Globes article, every high-tech employees supports 4-6 employees in business services sectors. 
• Total cost of layoffs could reach NIS 12 billion a year. 
• High-tech industry employs 70,000 people directly, such as engineers, programmers, and R&D staff, and 300,000 people indirectly, such as subcontractors, lawyers, accountants, catering and cleaning staff.

Israel chosen as one of EMC’s Centers of Excellence

Forget BRIC-countries. It’s the R.I.CH.I-countries. David Hill of eChannelline wrote today that EMC, an IT-supplier, recently announced that it established a Centers of Excellence program in four emerging markets, Russia, India, China and Israel. Under the program, EMC will invest locally in software development and manufacturing and gain access to the local talent pool that can help with future innovation.

Hill’s article describes how the program works using China as the example,

 ”How EMC taps into that talent pool to hire the proverbial “best and brightest” is illustrated in China. The country annually produces a huge population of computer science and engineering graduates, and EMC receives thousands of resumes. Through a process that includes standardized testing and multiple interviews, the company is able to winnow down to a selected number who are given job offers.

EMC is able to select the crème de la crème from a very deep talent pool, and the company states that its employee turnover is a fraction of the industry mean. Maybe that’s because EMC has figured out how to make the COE developers work together, drive productive relationships with developers around the world, and innovate based on country or regional opportunities.” 

It’s intersting to note that EMC chose Israel in place of Brazil, which is an emerging market that along with China, India and Russia are known as the BRIC-countires and are the largest emerging markets. It’s not a surprising decision though considering that in the past year, EMC’s competition, IBM in specific, have acquired Israeli companies with key technology that threatens EMC’s business, especially storage.

Data storage and data security were hot topics in 2008 and are expected to continue to be in 2009 with Israel leading the way in innovation. The smartest part of this move for EMC is that instead of spending millions on purchasing companies with these technologies in the future and then converting them into R&D centers, it can now go after these future entrepreneurs before they start their own company and offer them incentives to stay (such as a good work environment). It can be assumed that EMC will get a positive ROI from the Israeli COE program in the very near future. 

In addition, this news answers the question I asked after reviewing IBM’s purchase of FilesX last year.

ODM to develop mobile phone capable of delivering location-based services (LBS) using Intrinsyc software

Earlier this week, Intrinsyc, a mobile and embedded software solutions provider, announced that it signed a Soleus license agreement with a large Original Design Manufacturers (ODM) of computers and consumer electronics devices to use the Soleus software platform to create a handheld barcode-reading payment device, and a mobile phone capable of delivering location-based services (LBS).

According to a description of Soleus,

“Soleus is a comprehensive mobile software platform, with a telephony stack and a large applications portfolio, which enables mobile and portable device makers to develop and deploy an array of mobile devices quickly. Built on Windows Embedded CE, the flexible Soleus software platform allows numerous feature-set variations to meet the requirements to develop multiple handheld and handset designs.”

Intrinsyc’s Soleus deal comes after several announcements by the company last month and in October regarding deals for its Israel-originated Destinator software. One of the announcements was that Intrinsyc signed an agreement with an OEM to license its Destinator  for touch-screen handset and another was that it released a version of the Destinator navigation product for Symbian smartphones and had a distribution agreement with SatNav Technologies for them in India. 

According to a description of Destinator,

“Destinator navigation software sets new standards for driver safety, ease-of-use, rich content and user interface customization. The software delivers world-class turn-by-turn navigation with market-leading safety features for personal navigation devices (PNDs), personal digital assistants (PDAs) and smartphones, while also providing cellular, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and PC connectivity. Destinator is an ideal software solution for in-vehicle and pedestrian-oriented navigation and content browsing.”

Under the touch-screen handset agreement, Destinator software will be integrated to provide a complete navigation solution for a GPS-enabled Windows Mobile handset that is being developed for Asia and Latin America specific Asian and Latin American markets. Additionally, the devices will come pre-loaded with country-specific maps and language support.

In the SatNav deal, SatNav, a GPS technology provider, will distribute the Destinator program for Symbian smartphones. Destinator software will offer Symbian users a feature rich onboard navigation application that combines location with a series of value-added features such as text message location tagging and auto re-routing based on traffic information.  The deal marks Destinator’s now being available on all the major mobile device operating systems. 

Destinator software was originally developed by the Israeli company Destinator Technologies. In July 2008 the company was acquired by Intrinsyc and remains in Israel now under the Intrinsyc name. 

Company Facts

Founded in 2001.

Intrinsyc Software Ltd. (Destinator division) based in Herziliyya, Israel.

Yuval Pecht, Director, PND Product Management.

Products: Destinator and Soleus.

Website: www.intrinsyc.com.

Direct from the streets of Gaza… and Israel. How TechCrunch UK’s post could have read regarding UGC

Official numbers aren’t out yet, but it looks like Metacafe, an Israeli user-generated content (UGC) video-sharing site focused on short film that receives over 30 million unique viewers each month, will end 2008 ranked 119 in traffic on Alexa.com. Although in the past year Metacafe introduced new features such as the Metacafe Music Channel, community-based metadate tagging monitoring and editing and personalized creativity toolkits from PlyMedia, it seems that its biggest innovation will be its services helping users get out their videos in in relation to current events, such as Israel’s current operation in Gaza.

Often compared to video-sharing sites such as YouTube and the Daily Motion for being a user-generated video content provider, Metacafe has positioned itself as the leading exclusively short-film sharing site and is the only video site that requires new content submissions to be approved by members of its community before it is posted to the site and where program creators of the most popular content get paid.

It’s the site’s relevant recent content from anywhere that’s probably going to increase hits and the amount of new program creators in the next few days or weeks though. In a politically-charged article about the “UGC photo agency” start up, Demotix, Mike Butcher of TechCrunch UK states that the Demotix is picking up traction for its user-generated pictures from what’s been happening in Gaza because it is newsworthy. If that is the case, Metacafe should also see an increase of hits, as well as embedding by other new media outlets, as it’s another broadcast channel for what’s going on in Israel and Gaza.

Along with the increased traffic, Metacafe will also face competition from Demotix, which has plans to add the ability for users to upload videos in the near future and “[shares] 50 percent of the revenue from each sale with the person who contributed the content.”

Applying  Butcher’s idea of  these sites being citizen journalism, here are examples of how Metacafe has been a news source the past few days by users on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in reaction to Israel’s operation in Gaza.

Protests to Gaza operation

Precision of Israeli attacks to avoid or reduce casualties

12 Israel-related technology headlines from the week of December 21, 2008

Despite reports that thousands of IT workers in Israel will lose their jobs in the coming months, Israeli companies seemed unfazed by economic woes during the week of December 21, 2008 which saw a lot of investment and M&A activity. Several deals were also made, including Mobileye landing a $150 million contract for its on-board Driving Assistance Systems and cleantech incubators from Israel and California signing a water deal. For these stories and the rest of the 12 headlines from the past week, check below.

Cleantech

1. Clean Tech Incubators from Israel and California Sign Water Deal

2. Algae in the Air: 5 Startups Turning Algae Into Jet Fuel

Investments and M&A

3. Scopus Video Networks acquired by Harmonic for $86 million

4. Runcom Technologies Ltd. to Invest in IXI Mobile, Inc.

5. Provigent Continues to Accelerate Growth — Secures $10 Million in Fifth-Round Funding

Information Technology

6. Business Transaction Management in the News (Correlsense)

7. Nokia to sell security business to Check Point

8. Imperva Achieves Compliance with Key US and Canadian Government IT Security Standard

Miscellaneous

9. Research group IDC predicts thousands of high-tech layoffs

10. Ran Harnevo, CEO and Co-Founder of 5min.com

11. Mobileye awarded $150m contract

12. 2tweet: Broadcast Instant Media Galleries To Twitter Via Email

Israel’s fastest growing software companies in 2008

In early November, Deloitte Brightman Almagor Zohar, a professional services firm under the interational Deloitte brand in Israel, released its annual list of Israel’s top 50 fastest growing technology companies for 2008 based on percentage revenue growth over a five-year period. Sixteen software companies ranging from security to finance to storage made the list. Below is the top 10 software companies on the list (all in the top 30) and a little more about them. Will you be using any of these companies’s technologies in 2009? 

GigaSpaces Technologies

GigaSpaces Technologies was founded in 2000 and offers an alternative to traditional application-servers for Java and .Net environments. Its eXtreme Application Platform (XAP) allows businesses and developers to easily scale and improve performance at low cost while leveraging virtual environments such as clouds and grids. Its customers include DowJones, Virgin Mobile, Bank Leumi and Webster.

Commtouch Software

Founded in 1991, Commtouch develops software to protect e-mail by offering spam and Zero-Hour™ virus outbreak protection. Its anti-spam solutions feature its Recurrent Pattern Detection (RPD) technology and have been licensed by over 80 security and messaging vendors and providers including Aladdin, Check Point, Fujitsu and LG N-Sys

Red Bend software

Red Bend Software is considered to be a market leader in Mobile Software Management and Firmware Over-the-Air (FOTA) update solutions. Founded in 1999,  Red Bend Software offers solutions that give phone users more control over what software components they want on their phones while also increasing the data service revenues of phone carriers. The main solutions include firmware updates, software component updates and data management.

El Far Electronics Systems 2000

Founded in 1986, El Far is the longest-established software company on the list and the lone defense company. El Far provides defense security systems offering integrated software for site management and decision making support. Its Integer software can be used for  managing anything from access control systems to fire alarms to infra red sensors.

InfoGin

InfoGin was founded in 2000 by Eran Wyler after he foresaw the “need for surfing the real Internet on any mobile device.” Over the years, InfoGin has become a leader in “Web-to-mobile content adaptation, enabling mobile users to access any Web site they desire, optimized to their mobile device.” The company’s Internet Mobile Platform (IMP) technology is currently being implemented by several major companies, including Virgin Mobile (UK) and MapQuest.

Actimize

Around since 1999 and a NICE Systems Ltd. company since 2007, Actimize  is a transactional risk management software company offering solutions in anti-money laundering, fraud prevention, and brokerage compliance. Its technology includes the Risk Case Manager, Visual Modeler and Analytics Server.

Modelity Technologies Inc.

Established in 2000, Modelity Technologies offers a financial modeling and portfolio analytics platform for financial institutions, such as banks and insurance companies, to stay competitive and improve their performance.  Its products include Modelity/Advisor, Modelity/Funds and Modelity/Structures. 

FibroLAN

Since 1996, FibroLAN has developed integrated fiber-optic broadband access systems that allow organizations in the corporate and carrier markets that are dispersed over metropolitan areas access to the Internet and their Intranets at fast speeds. Its MA and MetroStar technologies both provide the benefit of low-cost remote management. MetroStar has been used by Telstra and the Los Angeles MTA.

Discretix Technologies

Discretix was founded in 2000 and is the largest single company in the world dedicated to embedded security. Focusing on consumer electronics products that are portable, such as mobile phones and mp3 players, Discretix offers additional security solutions for them that manufacturers can’t provide due to limited resources. Its main products, CryptoCell and CryptoFlash are deployed by major manufacturers such as SonyEricsson, Motorola, Samsung and SanDisk.

Exanet 

Founded in 2000, Exanet is a data storage solutions company offering enterprise companies the latest processing technology that is scalable in capacity and performance, with low cost of ownership. Its product, ExaStore 2008 holds the world record for storage performance and its customers include BBC, Stanford University, and the National Library of France.  

Top 10 Israel Innovation 2.0 Blog Posts of 2008

The most read posts on Israel Innovation 2.0 in 2008 reflect the overall hot areas of technology in 2008 which included cleantech, CRM, data storage and casual gaming. They also provide a glimpse into what can be expected in these areas in 2009. 

On the enterprise level, acquistions of Israeli companies by IBM in 2008 were part of growing trends in cloud computing and data storage that show little sign of slowing in 2009. Contributing to the need for cloud computing and better data storage solutions, will be the CRM and marketing automation solutions offered by companies, such as XMPie, which, resulting from everything from the economy to technological advances to the rise in listening to customers, are leading the way for easier cross-media dynamic publishing  in an increasingly digital world in 2009. 

In cleantech, along with the electric car and wind power continuing to gain momentum will be water technology in 2009. While Oberon Media, among other casual gaming companies, was forced to cut jobs in 2008 despite growth, given the poor economy and the history of success for inexpensive entertainment when the economy is down, the casual gaming market is expected to still thrive in 2009.

Without further ado, the top 10 Israel Innovation 2.0 blogposts of 2008 are:

1. XMPie unveils new products

2. Coming Soon: ooVoo.com video conference chatrooms

3. First online TV-PC network: RayV?

4. Coming soon: Your next game console innovated by Israeli sensor technology

5. Rumors of IBM being in talks to purchase Diligent Technologies Corp.

6. Company in Focus: Walla Communications Ltd.

7. Company in Focus: XIV

8. Company in Focus: Oberon Media

9. Company in Focus: Precise

10. Water Technology and Israel: Invest now

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