free downloadable app for the iPhone. VoxOx is looking to capitalize on technology it has developed that will enable iPhone users to make low-cost long-distance calls from anywhere in the world.
—Venture investing in San Diego was basically unchanged during the first three months of 2011, compared to the same period a year ago, according to a survey from Dow Jones VentureSource. This contrasts sharply with the MoneyTree Report, which showed a 55 percent decline in the amount of capital invested in the San Diego area. Dow Jones said VC activity remained fairly stable here, with $213.9 million invested in 26 deals. Funding for local IT companies amounted to $37.6 million for eight companies, compared with $41.6 million in six companies during the first quarter of 2010.
—BMC Software, the Houston software giant, has acquired San Diego-based Coradiant, which makes software that monitors application performance, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune. No financial terms were disclosed, and a BMC spokesman declined to comment on the deal to the U-T. Coradiant CEO Brett Helm told me over the weekend, “It was a good deal for both Coradiant and BMC.” Helm, who was the CEO at IPivot when Intel acquired the San Diego area company for $500 million in 1999, said he did not stay on and Ali Hedayati, who was Coradiant’s president and COO, will run the business within BMC as their general manager. Coradiant was started in 2007 and raised $42 million in venture capital.
—VMIX, the San Diego digital video technology provider that is now focused on social media, launched a free iPad2 app called “Vidcinity” that enables users to create and broadcast video linked to specific locations. Vidcinity also enables users to find other videos tied to a particular location.
—I reported in late 2009 that San Diego Gas & Electric had chosen Pyron Solar, a local concentrating photovoltaic startup, for a local field demonstration. The system started generating electricity more than two months ago, according to a recent e-mail from Pyron spokesman David Higdon. The wattage per cell is exceeding 19 watts per cell, “which is significantly higher than our CPV competitor systems that have readings of 14 to 16 watts per cell.” Forbes recently described Pyron’s setup here.
—The “network configuration change” that knocked out Amazon Web Services for several days looked more like a business opportunity to San Diego’s Nirvanix, which provides cloud-based data storage. Nirvanix said last week it has developed technology that enables its customers to more easily transfer data from another cloud storage provider directly into Nirvanix’s cluster of enterprise-grade storage datacenters. Nirvanix says it is unnecessary with its new “Cloud Sideloader” technology for users to download their files from a provider like Amazon and Iron Mountain to an intermediate location, then re-upload them to a new cloud. Just in case anybody wants to do that.
