Square Feet: In Silicon Valley, Steady but Cautious Growth Returns
240483
As Silicon Valley undergoes a resurgence, companies like Google, Yahoo and Apple are again looking for space to grow.
425747
One good business can pour forth a steady stream of wealth.
20160
A leading Silicon Valley venture capitalist sees gold in alternative energy.
769733
An ambitious plan to equip Silicon Valley with wireless public broadband services is proceeding with great hopes but many challenges.The Wireless Silicon Valley project was the subject of a presentation at the MuniWireless conference in Santa Clara, Calif. on Tuesday afternoon. Expected to cost $100 million to $150 million, Wireless Silicon Valley involves developing an architecture covering 1,500 square miles. It would be used by around 40 cities in Silicon Valley, each of which has contributed $2,500 to seed the effort. While there are no officially defined boundaries, Silicon Valley is generally considered to be a span of California cities in the San Francisco Bay Area, including San Jose.The project's vision involves connecting anyone, anywhere, involving any device, said Seth Fearey, project lead for Wireless Silicon Valley and vice president of Joint Venture, Silicon Valley Network."We're going to move beyond the model of laptops connecting the Internet doing e-mail and the Web. We want to connect devices and things," Fearey said.The network would only function outdoors and provide capabilities ranging from citizen access to the Internet to provision of public services. Users would be able to maintain a connection if they linked up in Daly City, just south of San Francisco, and traveled to Gilroy 71 miles from San Francisco.Economic development is the top priority of Wireless Silicon Valley, with the idea being to connect small businesses, attract businesses, and make Silicon Valley an exciting place to be."People coming here for conventions would spend more money if they knew where to go," such as being able to find movie theaters via wireless access, said Fearey."We can use this network to help give them that information," he said.Benefits of the plan are to make a network that is much more useful and leverages economies of scale, one that deploys multiple technologies together, provides more revenue opportunities, and accommodates government staff.Challenges, however, include finding an owner/operator and operating on an unproven business model. Also, the network has a high cost to build and the needs of low-revenue areas must be balanced with those of high-revenue areas. The network also takes time to deploy."We're breaking new ground here," said Fearey. Investors want to see how the network will work and are struggling to determine how they will make moneyThe cities participating in the program are quite small, except for San Jose, Fearey said. "This is a big, big challenge," financially, he said.A request for proposal was issued, resulting in companies such as IBM and Cisco offering to provide equipment and Azulstar to operate the network. These vendors comprise the Metro Connect team that intends to provide the network infrastructure, own and operate it, and sell services. Azulstar, however, was not able to raise money to get the project moving. Now, additional operators are being sought.?The goal with the network is create lots of opportunities for the operator of the network to make money not just from consumer subscriptions and adverting but also from other services such as provision of point-to-point advertising.A variety of applications has been suggested, ranging from wireless reading of water meters to irrigation control and wireless parking meters that could have fluctuating prices based on the time of day.During an earlier panel session at the conference Tuesday, Joanne Hovis, president of Columbia Telecommunications, said that if Google acquires the 700-MHz frequencies to be auctioned off by the FCC, that could change the wireless market.Hovis noted there is much speculation about Google's plans. One audience member speculated Google could open up a wireless network for everybody.?"My personal opinion is I'm not sure Google is serious about bidding on that spectrum," Hovis said. It also would be a few years before Google could build its network, Hovis said.
10573
How investment in technology firms can help the UK recreate Silicon Valley.
540810
SAN FRANCISCO -- Internet search leader Google Inc. has added a landmark to its rapidly expanding empire -- the Silicon Valley home where co founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin rented a garage eight years ago as they set out to change the world.
485044
CAMBRIDGE -- A favorite parlor game in Greater Boston technology circles has been guessing which area company will grow up to be the next Google Inc., the Silicon Valley search provider that has become the behemoth of the Internet economy.
473106
There is growth, but it's not homemade.
83351
Science and skill unite in the growth-investing universe.
156754
Despite financial market volatility, U.S. technology companies had a strong 2007. The rising cost of energy, fears of recession, and forecasts of a slowdown in IT spending, however, point to a rocky 2008.Despite losses at the beginning of the week, the Nasdaq Composite Index, heavily weighted with technology stocks, closed Monday with a 9.8 percent gain for the year -- its biggest increase since 2003. The jump came despite fears that falling housing prices would drag down the economy and that tech companies would not be immune to cautious business and consumer spending.The housing panic caused a slump in the Nasdaq in the third quarter. But IT investors looked to the bottom line: Tech earnings stayed strong throughout the year, buoying trader confidence. In a range of technology sectors, IT bellwethers such as IBM, Google, Apple, and Oracle announced record quarters.But tumult in markets this week could be a harbinger of things to come. Tech shares on the Nasdaq slipped before and after the Jan. 1 holiday. Traders are nervous because the dust has not settled from the housing crisis, which affects consumer spending as well as the financial sector. Rising energy costs also affect both consumers and businesses, and this week the price of oil hit the $100-per-barrel mark, sparking inflation concerns.A U.S. Labor Department report on Friday said that nonfarm industry jobs rose 18,000 last month, the smallest increase in more than four years, while the unemployment rate rose to 5 percent. The Nasdaq responded, dipping by about 2.6 percent by early afternoon. Even industry stalwarts slumped, with Google trading at $668, down 16 percent from its opening, and IBM shares going for $101.76, down by 2.9 percent.Most IT analysts are predicting slower growth for technology. U.S. IT investment, for example, will increase by 4.8 percent in 2008, compared to 5.3 percent in 2007, according to Forrester Research.Coming off a strong earnings year in which hardware sales fared better than expected and consumers continued to flock to the Internet, there are bright spots, however. For example, comScore reported this week that during the Nov. 1 to Dec. 27 holiday season,&#160;U.S. consumers spent about $28 billion online, a 19 percent increase compared with the year-earlier period.Citigroup Global Markets this week said that Amazon, with good margins and attractive digital media offerings, is in a good position. It upgraded its advice on the company from &quot;hold&quot; to &quot;buy&quot; Wednesday, and shares jumped by $3.61 to close at $96.25.Similarly, on the same day, Yahoo shares rose $0.46 to close at $23.72 after ThinkEquity upgraded it to &quot;buy&quot; from &quot;accumulate.&quot;Nevertheless, fears of a downturn are casting shadows over even generally strong sectors such as Internet retail.&quot;The recession risk is one reason why we believe the outlook for U.S. Internet stocks is not as strong going into &#39;08 as it was going into &#39;07,&quot; said Citigroup in a research note.Semiconductor stocks, including Intel and AMD, also declined midweek, after Bank of America issued a report saying that large inventories combined with probable slower growth paints an unfavorable picture for the sector.With the macroeconomic scene in flux, tech investors will anxiously await the first earnings reports of the year, due later this month.
183443
NEW YORK  Big may be beautiful again. For about two years, many market analysts have been predicting the return of large, growth-oriented companies. But smaller-company shares have persistently outrun the big boys. Now, with a fog of uncertainty clouding stocks, money managers are renewing their ...
2830
Analysts expect continued growth despite a tough environment.
413141
By Paul Rogers, San Jose Mercury News, Calif.  May 31--For 44 years, Little Basin, a 534-acre redwood property in the Santa Cruz Mountains, has held a special place in Silicon Valley lore.
549530
Silicon Valley's VC community picks its favorite candidates.
51821
Why the physics of small caps lead to greater returns.
711054
By Corilyn Shropshire, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette  Sep. 2--The identities of Pittsburgh tech startups that have secured  investment dollars, both from private "angels" and venture capitalists, is  slowly trickling out.
276431
By Jonathan B. Cox, The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.  Sep. 5--Silicon Valley is so yesterday.   Today, the top place for technology companies is the Research Triangle Park region.