Tech Watch

CopperGate Communications ships 5 million HomePNA chipsets worldwide.

By MATTHEW KRIEGER
Tech Watch 88 (photo credit: Courtesy)
Tech Watch 88
(photo credit: Courtesy)
In the weeks leading up to the country's annual "barbecue season," many of Israel's leading hi-tech companies have announced significant corporate developments, including acquisitions, sales and the raising of capital. CopperGate Communications, the Tel Aviv-based Everywire Home Networking Company, announced last week the shipment of 5 million HomePNA chipsets worldwide - making the company the leader in IPTV services over coax and phone wires. HomePNA is the only ITU-T home networking standard over coax and phone lines; it delivers up to 320 Mbit/s of transmission - more than any other home networking technology. There are now more than 25 certified products supporting HomePNA, more than any other coax networking technology. The company delivers the highest Quality of Service (QoS) over coax, which is why CopperGate's HomePNA chips are embedded in millions of devices deployed in the field and have connected more than 15,000 miles of coax to date. CopperGate Communications develops high-performance chipsets for broadband access and networking for high-fidelity home entertainment applications such as HD-enabled IPTV, multi-room DVRs and video on demand (VOD). CopperGate chipsets have been deployed by leading triple-play service providers representing nearly 100 million lines and have already connected over 15,000 miles of coax. Meanwhile, ECtel, a provider of Integrated Revenue Management (IRM) solutions, announced late last month that it has acquired substantially all assets of Rehovot-based Compwise, a provider of business analytic solutions for telecommunication operators, for approximately $1.3 million. According to Rosh Ha'ayin-based ECtel, the acquisition is expected to expand and strengthen ECtel's market-leading Integrated Revenue Management product suite, as well as expand its customer base. Compwise's products provide business intelligence solutions for telecommunications service providers. Their analytical approach enables operators to maximize tariff profitability, improve retention of profitable customers and detect revenue leakage. ECtel will merge Compwise's products into ECtel's leading IRM platform. Under the terms of the acquisition, ECtel will continue to provide revenue management services to Compwise's current clients, which include many telecom service providers around the world. Several companies have raised significant capital over the last few weeks, including Tel Aviv-based Prime Sense, which announced last week that it has completed a second round of funding, raising $20.4m. The round was led by Canaan Partners and included A round investors Herzliya-based Gemini Israel Funds (which also provided the seed funding) and Herzliya-based Genesis Partners. Prime Sense develops innovative technology that provides digital devices with three dimensional vision, enabling users to interact, in real time and at low cost, with consumer devices in a simple, intuitive way. A series of technological breakthroughs makes it the first company to offer an affordable 3D machine-vision solution for the consumer market. The device enables intuitive full-body interaction for gaming, gesture-based interface and background replacement for video communication/chat and self-generated content applications. Prime Sense is the leader provider of 3D sensing and understanding technology. WorkLight Inc., an Enterprise 2.0 company headquartered in Yakum, also announced late last month that it has closed a series B round of funding totaling $12m., led by Herzliya-based Pitango Venture Capital, Israel's largest VC. The company's second round of financing also represents a renewed commitment from Genesis Partners, Index Ventures and Shlomo Kramer, a world-renowned security expert and CEO of Tel Aviv-based Imperva. Proceeds from WorkLight's series B round funding will be used to further expand its presence in North America, Europe and Asia, substantiating the company's vision for the consumerized workplace. As the world of the consumer blurs with that of workplace, corporations worldwide increasingly rely on popular Internet tools, such as personalized home pages (iGoogle, Netvibes), social networks (Facebook), desktop widgets and gadgets, social book-marking, RSS and other Web 2.0 platforms and services to get things done at work. Since its inception in 2006, WorkLight has pioneered the secure use of consumer technologies as business tools, enhancing employee productivity and fostering collaboration inside and outside the organization. The company's flagship solution is a server-based software product that allows companies to leverage consumer tools such as RSS, iGoogle and Facebook behind the corporate firewall, working with internal IT controls for completely secure use by enterprise employees. Most recently the company announced Workbook, a secure Facebook overlay that enables collaboration, access to enterprise applications and knowledge-sharing using the popular social networking application. Taking a look at significant partnership developments, SURF Communication Solutions, headquartered in Yokne'am, a leading provider of multimedia embedded processing solutions, announced late last month that Matrix Telecom Pvt. Limited, an India-based company that designs, develops, manufactures and deploys telecom solutions, has selected Surf's DSP chip-level multimedia processing solution, the Surf DSP-24â„¢, for inclusion in two new products: a VoIP gateway and an IP PBX solution. Matrix's feature-rich 32-ports VFX32 VoIP gateway utilizes the Surf DSP-24 to offer IP connectivity with excellent audio quality for analog phones, legacy PBX systems and analog faxes. It is scalable for lower configurations and various FXS and FXO combinations can be achieved, which will help customers to get the lower configuration as per their need. Finally, Imperva, the leader in application data security, announced late last month that its SecureSphere Web Application Firewall has successfully satisfied all certification criteria to achieve the ICSA Labs' Web Application Firewall (WAF) Certification. This independent testing and certification program was developed to provide security managers with confidence in the products that secure vital application services from exploitation or attack.