Irvine’s Agile360 Inc., a technology consulting company that helps companies upgrade their data centers, was bought by Concord-based rival Entisys Solutions Inc.
Terms of the deal, which closed Dec. 31, weren’t disclosed.
“The primary strategy was to focus on an organization with a similar skill set and similar values overall,” said Mike Strohl, president of Entisys. “This is a growth move for both companies.”
Agile360 and Entisys specialize in revamping companies’ outdated data centers. They offer products to help companies deal with compliance issues, such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and to help them protect data centers in case of a disaster.
Agile360, which has some 30 workers in Irvine, is set to keep its managers and sell products under its name.
“It’s done a wonderful job in building the brand and I consider that an asset,” Strohl said.
With Agile360 under its belt, Entisys expects to see roughly $30 million in yearly sales and have 60 workers, he said.
The biggest driver of growth for both companies is the rapid adoption of virtualization in storage area networks, Strohl said.
Storage virtualization uses software to “virtually” combine servers and other data storage computers into what appears to be a single source.
It helps companies sort, store and manage huge amounts of data in a smaller space.
“The penetration of virtualization is projected to see extreme growth,like about 30%,over the next three years,” Strohl said. “It’s given us significant traction in this business.”
More Space
Irvine’s InteleNet Communications Inc., which rents server space to companies, added an additional 12,000 square feet to its local data center.
The site, which now totals 55,000 square feet, is set to open March 1.
Privately held InteleNet was bought last year by Managed Data Holdings, a data center operator that’s looking to have a nationwide network.
Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.
InteleNet houses racks of servers, controls temperatures in buildings and provides round-the-clock security.
The company, which doesn’t disclose sales, targets small and midsize businesses. A big focus are those that need to store and access customer records and large graphic files, such as hospitals, banks and gaming companies, according to Bruce Bauer, director of corporate strategy.
Some local customers include Costa Mesa-based VitalStream Inc., the Anaheim Ducks and Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo.
InteleNet got its start in 1994 and has about 40 workers here.
VP Hire
Newport Beach’s Acacia Research Corp., which acquires patents and then seeks to get royalties for their use from technology and other companies, hired a semiconductor veteran as vice president.
Bradley Botsch is set to join Acacia from Phoenix-based On Semiconductor Corp., where he started a patent licensing program and managed patent enforcement.
Before that, Botsch started a licensing program as associate general counsel of Sunnyvale’s Advanced Micro Devices Inc. At Advanced Micro he directed all licensing and litigation related to controller, processor and memory chips.
Botsch did two stints at Motorola Inc. as an engineer and later as a patent attorney.
Hard at Work
Irvine startup Specific Media Inc., which made headlines last year when it scored $100 million in funding, is putting its money to work by bringing on a seasoned online advertising executive.
Specific Media, an online advertising firm that touts “behavioral targeting” technology, hired Microsoft Corp.’s David Jakubowski as senior vice president.
“At Microsoft I was an avid buyer of Specific Media and had the opportunity to experience first-hand the reach and the return on investment Specific Media delivers,” Jakubowski said. “Working with a company that has so many successes under its belt and yet so much potential for the future was too good an opportunity to pass up.”
Jakubowski’s most recent post at Microsoft involved heading up its keyword search advertising program, called AdCenter.
He helped launch New York-based Quigo Technologies Inc., a search engine marketing firm that was bought by AOL LLC for roughly $340 million last year.
Specific Media’s customers include television networks, news outlets and Fortune 500 companies.
It’s grown to be the fourth-largest online advertising company, according to rankings by ComScore Inc., a Reston, Va.-based market researcher.
Podcast Happy
2007 was a big year for podcasts, the audio and video programs designed for portable video and audio players.
More than 37 million of them were downloaded last year in the U.S., according to media pollster Edison Media Research.
In Britain, the number of people downloading podcasts rose 40% to nearly 3 million, according to Radio Joint Audience Research, a market researcher that measures radio audiences in Britain.
Here’s the top 10 podcasts for the year, culled from data from Web site Podcast.com.
Podcast.com tallies the total number of times a program has been accessed. The winners were a mix of technology and world news, sports and science.
1) World Soccer Daily Podcast; 2) CNN News Update; 3) ESPN Radio Daily Podcast; 4) Geek News Central Podcast; 5) BBC’s Best of Today; 6) NOVA Public Broadcasting Station; 7) Slate Magazine Daily Podcast; 8) 60 Minutes Podcast; 9) Face the Nation Podcast; 10) CNET News.com Daily Tech News Podcast.
