Microsoft buys Ramat Gan's Kidaro

Kidaro is a leading provider of desktop virtualization solutions for enterprises.

By MATTHEW KRIEGER
Tech Watch 88 (photo credit: Courtesy)
Tech Watch 88
(photo credit: Courtesy)
THE DREAM of every Israeli company has yet again come true. The appetite for Israeli companies and their technology by leading global technology companies is still on the rise. Over the past couple of months, there has been a revival of deals. Microsoft announced late last week that it has acquired Ramat Gan-based Kidaro, a leading provider of desktop virtualization solutions for enterprises. In combining Kidaro's virtualization technology with its suite of desktop management tools, known as the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack for Software Assurance, Microsoft will enable IT professionals to optimize their desktop infrastructure by providing management capabilities for virtual PCs, streamlining deployments and easing application compatibility issues. Adding Kidaro's desktop virtualization capabilities to the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack suite will provide Microsoft Software Assurance customers who have purchased the add-on subscription with the enhanced ability to accelerate Windows Vista migrations, drive business continuity, minimize the tension between IT control and user flexibility and reduce IT investment in desktop image management. Kidaro technologies will be incorporated into future updates of the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack for Software Assurance. CARVING ITSELF a larger piece of the web search pie, another of the world's largest companies, Yahoo! Inc, announced last week that it opened a new research lab in Haifa. The lab is the company's first one in the region. The Yahoo! Research Israel Lab will be led by Ronny Lempel, a information organization and retrieval expert, who will report directly to Ricardo Baeza-Yates, vice president of Yahoo! Research. The Yahoo! Research Israel Lab, which began operations last week, will focus on turning complex technology problems into simple solutions to change the game in web search. Lempel earlier worked at the Information Retrieval Group at IBM's Haifa Research Lab, focusing on research and development for enterprise search systems. KEEPING THE focus on large international players, Korea-based Jiransoft, announced last week that it has licensed Netanya-basedCommtouch Software's Anti-Spam for integration into its SpamSniper software product line. Jiransoft solutions are currently sold in Korea, Japan, and throughout Asia. The SpamSniper solution is available in three versions, for enterprises, service providers, and consumers. Commtouch Software Ltd. is dedicated to protecting and preserving the integrity of the world's most important communications tool - e-mail. Commtouch has over 17 years of experience developing messaging software and is a global developer and provider of proprietary anti-spam, Zero-Hour virus protection and Reputation Service solutions. Using core technologies including RPD (Recurrent Pattern Detection(TM)), the Commtouch Detection Center analyzes billions of email messages per week to identify new spam and malware outbreaks within minutes of their introduction into the Internet.MID-SIZE SERVICE organizations now have access to full-featured, quickly deployed and affordable field service optimization software thanks to a new channel partner program unveiled by Boston and Tel Aviv-headquarted ClickSoftware Technologies Ltd. at last week's Microsoft Convergence 2008 show. The ClickSoftware Channel Partner Program will be the exclusive channel for selling ClickSoftware for Installation, Maintenance and Repair Services (ClickIMRS) software, which enables mid-size service organizations to use best-in-class service optimization tools. ClickIMRS is a cost-effective offering incorporating schedule optimization, mobility, reporting and a work order management module to help mid-size companies with 50-500 field resources increase their customers' satisfaction and loyalty whilst sustaining growth and profitability. According to an Aberdeen Group survey, mid-sized organizations said online optimization, driving directions and analysis were the capabilities they needed most with their existing scheduling operations. Having recently been awarded Microsoft's Gold Certified Partner Status, ClickSoftware will work with key Microsoft Dynamics AX (ERP) and Microsoft Dynamics CRM solution resellers to provide ClickIMRS to prospective customers. ClickIMRS integrates with the Dynamics ERP and CRM solutions to help organizations respond more quickly to customer requests, and connect their business in real time with their mobile workforce. TURNING TO the local biomed sector, Petah Tikva-based Orthocrat Ltd., a leading provider of orthopedic pre-operative digital templating software, launched its unique Orthoweb on-line service at the annual meeting of the American Association of Orthopedic Surgeons (AAOS) earlier this month in San Francisco. Orthoweb allows orthopedic surgeons from private clinics, who often have little or no access to existing hospital PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication Systems), easy access to their patients' files through its highly-secure Internet service that stores pre-operative data and images needed during surgery. Orthoweb will also include an automated system for surgeons to request and book operating rooms by simply e-mailing a patient's file to a hospital, rather than undertaking the time-consuming process of faxing or mailing pre-operative data and images. Orthocrat was founded in 2003 by Zeev Glozman, an entrepreneur, and Dr. Doron Noman, the Deputy Director of the Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology from the Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, Israel. FINALLY BUT not least, Energtek Inc., a world leader in ANG (Adsorbed Natural Gas) technology, announced late last week the nomination of Eliezer (Moodi) Sandberg as chairman of the Board of Directors, together with the nomination of its Chief Executive Officer Lev Zaidenberg, as a member of the board. Sandberg has previously served in government positions including former National Infrastructures minister (Energy, Water & Natural Resources) and former Science and Technology minister. Sandberg also founded and chaired the Israeli Parliament Subcommittee on Hi-Tech. Additionally, he served as chairman of the Israel-Vietnam Friendship Union, chairman of the Israel-Brazil Friendship Union, as well as founder and chairman of the Israel-Africa Friendship Union. Furthermore Sandberg was political advisor to the Science and Technology Committee of the Council of Europe and currently serves as the head of the National Science and Technology Council of Kazakhstan. Energtek Inc. provides proprietary hi-tech natural gas storage and supply solutions to fleets of motor vehicles, and commercial consumers. Absorbed Natural Gas (ANG) technology enables cost-effective, low-pressure storage of natural gas, by maximizing the quantities of gas stored in a tank.