Google’s Schmidt Talks Future Tech, World Connectedness at Princeton Turing Centennial

Princeton University celebrated the centennial of Alan Turing’s birth in grand style from May 10-12, 2012. Turing, known as the “father of computer science,” earned his Ph.D. in mathematics from Princeton in 1938, before there was a computer science department at the institution.

The university hosted addresses by some eight winners of the Turing Award, considered to be the “Nobel Prize of computing,” as well as lectures by many other distinguished computer scientists. The range of topics was breathtaking, from quantum computing to modern programming languages and beyond.

A centennial celebration highlight was a public address by Eric Schmidt, Princeton graduate and executive chairman of Google. While not a Google founder, Schmidt has helped grow the search giant from startup to global entity and is credited with finding a way for the company to scale its infrastructure and diversify product offerings while attempting to hold on to a culture of innovation.

Princeton Tech Meetup members gathered beforehand at the local Panera Bread to walk together to Schmidt’s talk at McCosh Hall. Tickets had been reserved earlier. The event was so popular that it was being simulcast to several overflow rooms.

At the heart of Schmidt’s lecture was the belief that technology can be used to benefit all classes of society, including the 5 billion unconnected people on this planet, most of whom live in underdeveloped areas. He called this group “the majority” and was sure that “one day they, too, will be connected.”

NJ Earnings Roundup: Synchronoss and Wayside Have Great Q4, Year

15 Feb 2012 | by Esther Surden |

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Bridgewater-based Synchronoss Technologies had a very good Q4 and a record 2011, reporting Q4 total generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) revenue of $62.3 million, an increase of 22 percent year-over-year. The company provides wireless carriers a means for their customers to activate cellphones and smartphones from home, using the cloud. While AT&T remained the firm’s largest source of revenue (52 percent and $32.5 million), Synchronoss’ business with carriers outside the AT&T relationship contributed to 48 percent of total revenue. Verizon Wireless has become a significant customer, representing 10 percent of Q4 revenue.

On a GAAP basis, Synchronoss revenues for full-year 2011 were $229.1 million, an increase of 38 percent, compared with $166.0 million the prior year. Gross profit was $122.5 million for 2011.

“We are currently processing over 700 million transactions on a daily basis,” CEO Stephen Waldis said during the company’s conference call.

In December, Synchronoss acquired the French privately held firm Miyowa, a provider of social-networking and messaging software for mobile devices. The company said Miyowa “integrates well with Synchronoss’ ConvergenceNow Plus+ strategy,” allowing the firm to incorporate the network address book into social networking. Further, the acquisition has helped Synchronoss expand to carriers outside the U.S., including Vodafone and Orange.

As with many maturing companies, Synchronoss made significant management changes during Q4. Specifically, chief operating officer Robert Garcia became president. Founder Stephen Waldis is remaining with the company as CEO and chairman. Former COO David Berry rejoined as chief innovation officer, reporting directly to Waldis. The firm said Waldis and Berry will work together with other management members to lead a major initiative focusing on further developing the Synchronoss brand and products.

Also during 2011, Synchronoss added smart mobility and social networking capability to its portfolio, Waldis said. The company plans to continue to add “tens of millions of devices” to the platform, and continue to push social networking, scale global presence and capitalize on growth opportunities with AT&T and Verizon.

Shrewsbury-based Wayside Technology Group also showed strong results for Q4 and 2011. The company said it had strengthened its position in software distribution and further developed its business model of acting as an extension of software publishers’ sales and consulting teams. President Simon Nynens said the firm got a lift from poor economic conditions. “During these challenging times, many software publishers are looking for an alternative to current distributors.”

Results for Q4 include revenue of $74.2 million, up 14 percent year-over-year, and income from operations of $3.1 million, up 29 percent year-over-year. 2011 revenue was $250.2 million, up 21 percent year-over-year. The company has declared a dividend of 16 cents.

During the conference call the company said its largest potential growth area is its Lifeboat subsidiary, while its TekXtend brand “has a real chance of breaking out this year.” Wayside continues to help prepare software publishers for the cloud, Nynens said, which entails an enormous amount of work for publishers. Wayside is also helping them on a more basic level: many publishers are struggling with renewals, and lead and deal registrations. “Our electronic inventory system has grown exponentially,” Nynens said.

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