Eset Expands Smartphone Security, Qualcomm’s Firethorn Offers Swagg, Proximetry Focuses on Private Wireless Networks, & More San Diego BizTech News

Is Swagg something you’d want—or not want—on your smartphone? If you don’t know, you better catch up on what Qualcomm’s Firethorn has planned for the upcoming holidays, along with the rest of last week’s tech news.

—Privately held Eset, which develops computer security and anti-virus software, released a new security product for mobile devices using the Symbian platform as well as a new version of its security software for the Windows 7 mobile platform. Eset CEO Anton Zajac told me the company, based in San Diego and Bratislava, Slovakia, has a big market share in Spain, where Symbian is the dominant mobile platform.

—Firethorn Holdings, the Atlanta-based mobile commerce company acquired by Qualcomm (NASDAQ: [[ticker:QCOM]]) three years ago, has been announcing retailer partnerships and other developments in anticipation of the upcoming holiday shopping season. With “Swagg,” the Qualcomm mobile commerce subsidiary is offering a virtual gift card for smartphones.

—Cleantech startup Fallbrook Technologies amended its IPO registration to show that it has raised another $6 million in venture capital. San Diego-based Fallbrook has been developing a continuously variable transmission for a variety of applications.

—Proximetry CEO Tracy Trent told me he founded Proximetry’s software platform technology to optimize wireless network operations in the same way that Bellcore (the telecom R&D lab now known as Telcordia Technologies) optimized telecom landline networks decades ago. San Diego-based Proximetry provides its end-to-end network management for smart grid networks and other private wireless networks.

—The Active Network of San Diego is laying out plans for an IPO. The Web-based services company provides online campground reservations and a host of other online services for recreational sports leagues, marathons, and other recreational sports enthusiasts.

—ShowUhow, a San Diego startup that provides online video instruction guides for assembling, barbecues, furniture, and other retail products, raised $3 million in venture funding from Syncom Venture Partners, an investment firm in Silver Spring, MD, that specializes in media, mobile technologies, and web-based service companies.

—On-Ramp Wireless, a San Diego startup developing low-power monitoring technology for smart grids and other industrial applications, was named to the 2011 Technology Pioneers list released by The World Economic Forum-the body behind the exclusive annual gathering in Davos, Switzerland.

—The National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship held its first meeting last week, and Xconomy had some exclusive details. The council was directed by the Obama Administration to “develop a broader strategy to spur innovation and enable entrepreneurs to develop breakthrough technologies and dynamic companies, and to create jobs all across America.”

Author: Bruce V. Bigelow

In Memoriam: Our dear friend Bruce V. Bigelow passed away on June 29, 2018. He was the editor of Xconomy San Diego from 2008 to 2018. Read more about his life and work here. Bruce Bigelow joined Xconomy from the business desk of the San Diego Union-Tribune. He was a member of the team of reporters who were awarded the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in National Reporting for uncovering bribes paid to San Diego Republican Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham in exchange for special legislation earmarks. He also shared a 2006 award for enterprise reporting from the Society of Business Editors and Writers for “In Harm’s Way,” an article about the extraordinary casualty rate among employees working in Iraq for San Diego’s Titan Corp. He has written extensively about the 2002 corporate accounting scandal at software goliath Peregrine Systems. He also was a Gerald Loeb Award finalist and National Headline Award winner for “The Toymaker,” a 14-part chronicle of a San Diego start-up company. He takes special satisfaction, though, that the series was included in the library for nonfiction narrative journalism at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. Bigelow graduated from U.C. Berkeley in 1977 with a degree in English Literature and from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1979. Before joining the Union-Tribune in 1990, he worked for the Associated Press in Los Angeles and The Kansas City Times.