Tech volatility might be scaring off some investors, but according to the founders of Orange County’s newest dot-com incubator, there’s no better time to enter the market.
Rapid Ascent Inc., a for-profit technology incubator, has opened a 15,000-square-foot center at 26 Corporate Park in Irvine. The two-story building has room for a dozen incubating client companies, which will have access to a range of professional services, including technical support, network services, recruiting, strategy, finance and marketing help.
Officials with Rapid Ascent, founded in 1997 as Futurum Enterprises Inc., say their experience partnering with fast-growing tech companies gives them the right mix of know-how to help early-stage tech firms.
Michael Props of NAI Capital Commercial Real Estate handled the lease agreement on behalf of Rapid Ascent.
For more: www.rapidascent.com.
The Whole Buffalo
Irvine low-cost computer maker eMachines Inc., no stranger to forging referral deals through links on its web site or pre-installed software, is extending e-commerce “opportunities” from the screen to the keyboard.
The company has inked a deal with GetMusic, the online venture of BMG Entertainment and Universal Music Group, that will provide a button on the keyboards of new eMachine computers to take users directly to the GetMusic web site.
Though financial details aren’t being released, it’s safe to say eMachines is getting paid for the product placement and a cut of sales generated through the link.
Though the deal resembles similar arrangements common on everything from web portals to Microsoft’s opening screen, it marks the first time eMachines has tried to “monetize” its popularity through the computer hardware.
For more: www.e4me.com.
E-Money for a Changing Net
Credit cards, long the Internet’s de facto currency, are cutting off a growing part of the online community from e-commerce, at least according to a Newport Beach company that wants to replace credit-card based transactions with its own system.
Officials at eCatalystOne hope their ePaid system, which allows users to purchase prepaid cards and shop online, opens e-commerce to a range of people who don’t have credit cards or are afraid to use them online.
The company is testing the system in the Tucson, Ariz., area through an agreement with Las Llaves, an Internet company geared toward Hispanic consumers.
Although most users on the Internet have credit cards, which are required by most access providers to pay for service, free Internet accounts from the likes of NetZero and others have introduced many people to the Internet who don’t have credit, including some of the biggest spenders: teenagers.
Using the system, customers purchase cards at standard retailers using checks or cash and use those cards at participating online retailers. Officials at eCatalystOne say their system, unlike credit cards, offers anonymity and makes possible “micro-payments,” tiny purchases of 5 cents or 10 cents for things like newspapers and other Internet content.
For more: www.ecatalystone.com.
New Silicon Film CEO Enters Picture
The picture is getting a little clearer for Silicon Film Inc., the Irvine Sensors subsidiary ready to launch a device that takes digital pictures through ordinary cameras.
The company has appointed former Kodak executive Kenneth Fay as its new chief executive, replacing Robert Webber, who is taking over at Aliso Viejo Internet marketing firm MindArrow Systems. Webber, who said he always intended to step down as the company transitions from development to the operational phase, will remain on Silicon Film’s board.
Before joining Silicon Film in February as its chief operating officer, Fay was Eastman Kodak Co.’s vice president for digital and applied imaging. He joins Doug Howe, former president of Vivitar, and several other executives at Silicon Film.
Silicon Film’s technology is designed to fit into cameras much like ordinary film, but allows pictures to be loaded into computers digitally.
For more: www.siliconfilm.com.
Bits:
Viking Components Inc., Rancho Santa Margarita, has received a “Gold” certification from Computer Memory Test Labs, an industry certification company that evaluates the compatibility and manufacturing processes of memory makers. Viking is one of only three memory makers that have received the gold rating, a ranking fellow OC memory makers Kingston Technology Co. Inc., Kingmax Technology Inc., Simple Technology and SiliconTech Inc. have not achieved Irvine-based Rainbow Technologies’ subsidiary Mykotronix will provide the encryption technology used in Pitney Bowes’ newest postal metering systems under a deal announced last week. For more: www.rainbow.com NQL Solutions Inc., the Internet division of Irvine’s AlphaServe.com, has expanded its licensing agreement with Jubii, one of Europe’s largest Internet portals. The agreement will allow Jubii to use the NQL mini-programming language to automate the process of retrieving and packaging information from a variety of sources around the Internet. For more: www.nqlsolutions.com Orange-based web-site developer Sistonia Corp. has signed Newport Beach child-transportation service Kidshuttle.com as a client.
