Juniper Network's EX Series Enhances the FreeBSD Project's Infrastructure

Boulder, CO (PRWEB) March 1, 2011

The FreeBSD Foundation announced today that it has deployed Juniper Networks

Blue Spark Technologies Announces Closing of $7.5 Million Series B Funding

Westlake, OH (PRWEB) December 15, 2010

Blue Spark Technologies, Inc., the leading producer of thin, flexible, printed power source solutions, has closed a $ 7.5 million Series B investment.

Existing institutional venture investors Early Stage Partners and SunBridge Partners were joined by several private investors.

Gary R. Johnson, Blue Spark President and Chief Executive, said, The Blue Spark team is delighted to have the support of new investors and the continuing confidence of early backers, who have provided additional resources to enable Blue Spark to continue to prosper. Im pleased to report that applications enabled by printed batteries are developing rapidly as the early adopters of our battery technology transition from development to successful product introductions.

John Gannon, General Partner of SunBridge said, Since leading the Series A round in 2007 we have seen the company achieve important milestones in organizational and market development, including generating initial revenue in huge opportunities. We are very pleased to support Blue Spark in this round, which provides resources for its transition into high volumes and profitability.

Early Stage Partners, according to Managing Director Jim Petras, has focused on funding young Northeast Ohio companies through development into commercialization. Blue Spark has identified and developed outstanding market opportunities that can be served with its world class printed battery technology. Early Stage has supported Blue Spark since its founding. We are pleased with Blue Sparks progress and with the contribution that high growth companies we have supported are contributing to economic revitalization in Northeast Ohio.

Blue Spark will focus its resources on ramping manufacturing to support market successes in multiple projects and to the acceleration of new applications that require thin, printed, disposable batteries.

About Blue Spark Technologies

Blue Spark Technologies, Inc. is the leader in developing flexible, printed, green, proprietary power source solutions for battery-powered printed electronic systems. The company was founded as Thin Battery Technologies in 2002 with patented technology and technical leadership from Energizer (Eveready Battery Company). Blue Spark customers include manufacturers, product designers, and integrators across multiple industries including: interactive packaging, RFID, pharmaceutical, powered smart cards, and novelty items. Users of products powered by Blue Spark batteries enjoy increased efficiency, greater convenience and portability, improved safety, lower manufacturing and assembly costs, higher profit margins, and greater environmental responsibility. For more information, visit http://www.bluesparktechnologies.com or call +1 440 249 5400.

About SunBridge Partners

SunBridge Partners is a US-based venture capital firm pursuing a targeted, research-based approach to identifying and investing in private US technology companies pioneering innovations based on advanced technologies in computing, communications and manufacturing, including materials, semiconductors, components, equipment and software. SunBridge Partners' capacity for strategic guidance based on deep domain expertise, proven track record of assisting portfolio companies, and global network of contacts and partners providing international market insight and revenue opportunities make it a preferred and effective investment partner to the most promising of startup companies. http://www.sunbridgepartners.com

About Early Stage Partners

Early Stage Partners is an early stage venture capital fund based in Cleveland, Ohio with an office in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It is the largest and most active early stage venture firm in Ohio, with $ 99 million under management in two funds. Early Stage Partners invests primarily in promising opportunities in the life sciences, cleantech, and information technology. Since inception, Early Stage Partners has invested in over 30 high potential companies in Ohio, Michigan, and elsewhere. The company's principals have over 90 years combined experience in early stage company formation and development and significant operating experience. http://www.esplp.com.

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Related Series B Round Press Releases

33Across Closes $9 Million Series B Financing

New York, NY (PRWEB) January 5, 2011

33Across (33Across.com), the leading social targeting platform, today announced it has closed a $ 9 million Series B round of funding led by Flybridge Capital Partners with participation from Series A investors, First Round Capital and QED Investors. As part of the funding, Flybridge Capitals General Partner Jon Karlen will join the Companys Board of Directors.

In a little over two years, 33Across has become the leading social targeting platform driving results for hundreds of marketers, including Sprint, eBay, and Gilt Groupe, said Eric Wheeler, CEO and co-founder of 33Across. With the online advertising market expected to reach $ 50 billion in 2011, this round of funding provides us with the capital to grow our technology, product and sales initiatives as we continue to provide customers with the industrys highest performing solution. Jon and the Flybridge team have a deep understanding of our market and were delighted to have them as a partner.

Given the rapid growth of social media, Brand and Direct Response advertisers are increasingly interested in using social graph data to deliver higher performance media campaigns, said Jon Karlen of Flybridge Capital Partners. 33Across has established itself as the market leader in the social targeting space through a differentiated offering which is providing proven ROI to a growing list of blue chip customers. We are thrilled to partner with Eric and the 33Across team as they continue to aggressively expand in the year ahead.

About 33Across Inc.

33Across, the leading social targeting platform, has developed breakthrough technology called SocialDNA that uses social graph data to dramatically improve online marketing. The company is led by a team of executives with backgrounds in advertising, social network analysis, and machine learning with offices in New York, San Francisco, Sunnyvale, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Detroit and Atlanta. The company is dedicated to realizing the potential of social connections in making products, advertising and services more valuable to consumers. Learn more at http://www.33across.com

About Flybridge Capital Partners

Flybridge Capital Partners is an early-stage venture capital firm whose mission is to assist entrepreneurs in growing innovative, global companies. With $ 560 million under management, the firm is focused on investing in consumer, energy, healthcare and information technology markets and is led by a team with domain expertise and more than half a century of combined experience in venture capital. http://www.flybridge.com

About First Round Capital

First Round Capital is an early-stage venture capital firm. As seed-stage investors, we often provide a company's first outside capital and typically invest alongside angel investors. Our typical initial investment in a company is around $ 500,000 but we've gone both higher and lower. We're not afraid of investing in pre-revenue companies, and we understand the challenges of launching a new product. That's why we like to take an active role in the companies we invest in. First Round Capital invests nationally and has offices in San Francisco, New York and Philadelphia. http://www.firstround.com

SoftChalk to Sponsor Open Educational Resources (OER) Webinar Series

Richmond, VA, and Los Altos, CA (PRWEB) July 13, 2011

SoftChalk and the College Open Textbooks Collaborative (COT) announced today that COT Collaborative member SoftChalk will co-sponsor a series of four webinars on Open Educational Resources (OER) in July, August, September and October 2011. Additional co-sponsors include Connexions, IMS Global and MERLOT.

The first of these webinars, Defining OER: The WHAT and the WHY, will be delivered on Tuesday, July 19, at 2 pm EDT. Mitchell Levy, CEO of Happy About, will interview Cathy Casserly, CEO of Creative Commons.

Cathy notes, "The OER movement has the potential to yield much wider access to and participation in global education, but only if a critical mass of educational institutions and communities embrace openness. Our licenses, especially our Attribution license, are free and simple ways to implement the philosophy of OER using a commonly accepted standard for open."

In this webinar, Cathy will discuss what Open Educational Resources are and why the OER movement is growing so rapidly, including addressing why educators might want to use or create OER materials and how OER materials can be licensed. In addition, several OER collections will be reviewed including College Open Textbooks, Connexions, MERLOT and SoftChalk CONNECT.

Finding and Using OER: The WHERE and the WHEN, the second webinar, is scheduled for Wednesday, August 17, at 3 pm EDT with COT members MERLOT, ISKME, IMS Global and SoftChalk among the organizations presenting. Cathy Swift from MERLOT will provide an overview of the issues associated with identifying relevant standards and finding quality OERs, followed by Rob Abel from IMS Global, who will address the licensing and standards questions.

Lisa McLaughlin of ISKME will demonstrate how OER Commons can be used to find appropriate, quality content. Similar demos will be provided for using Connexions, MERLOT and SoftChalk CONNECT. In addition, Malissa Attebery, an online instructional designer at Lone Star College-Online in Texas, will show OERs in action as she demonstrates her transformation of a comprehensive WWII history eText by Henry (Jud) Sage, Professor at Northern Virginia Community College, into an engaging, interactive learning experience.

The third webinar, Creating OER: The WHO and the HOW, will be on Wednesday, September 21, at 3 pm EDT. Rob Abel from IMS Global will address questions related to how OERs are being developed, who is and who should be developing OERs, content interoperability and standards. This webinar will also include a demonstration of various authoring tools for creating OER content and a discussion of different models for developing OER materials, including models developed by the math department at the College of the Redwoods. Finally, Jacque Cain from Tacoma Community College will show how she repurposed Sherlock Holmes stories to create a full online course in Remedial English as part of a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grant.

The fourth webinar, Funding OER: Sustainability, will be in October. Still in the planning stages, this webinar will be about finding funding sources and will complete the series.

Participants can register for these free webinars by going to http://softchalk.com/learn-more/innovators.

About College Open Textbooks Collaborative

The Community College Open Textbooks Collaborative is funded by The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. This collection of 17 educational nonprofit and for-profit organizations is focused on driving awareness and adoptions of open textbooks at more than 2000 community and other two-year colleges.

http://www.collegeopentextbooks.org

About SoftChalk, LLC

SoftChalk, LLC is an award-winning provider of e-learning software for worldwide education and business institutions. Specializing in the development of intuitive, easy-to-use tools, SoftChalk products allow instructors to create powerful and professional-looking content for e-learning and smart classrooms in K-12, higher education and corporate training.

http://www.softchalk.com

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