Software developer receives funding

WaveSyndicate, a Providence-based software developer, has received $350,000 in seed funding from the Slater Technology Fund, a state-backed venture capital fund. The digital-media analysis and syndication company will use the investment for product development for its early-stage customers and work toward wider release by year-end. The company helps bloggers and Web-site operators attract and retain online visitors. WaveSyndicate is led by Jared Rosoff, a Brown University graduate and founder of telecom management company TAZZ Networks, and Bob Chatham, of analysis vendor Visual Sciences and principal analyst at Forrester Research. “WaveSyndicate brings together two of the most creative and capable technology entrepreneurs I’ve met, with skills and experiences that are both deep and complementary,” said Thorne Sparkman, managing director of the Slater Technology Fund.

Textron’s Cessna caught in slowdown

Textron Inc.’s Cessna business-jet unit has seen a slowdown in airplane use and orders during the U.S. financial crisis that has frozen credit markets, Cessna president Jack Pelton said. The company is calling on Textron’s financing arm to help arrange credit for customers who need to find alternative funding, Pelton said. New orders for planes to be delivered in 2011 have slowed, he said without elaborating. “It’s really hit us in the last two to three weeks,” Pelton said at the National Business Aviation Association trade show in Orlando. “We are concerned. People are looking at their personal finances and it’s just not a priority right now.” Cessna is relying on a $16-billion backlog, stretching over three years, to carry it through the “uncertainty,” Pelton said. The company, the world’s biggest business-jet maker with 10 models, has seen strong demand from international markets, including Brazil, Russia and the Middle East, he said. “We still see the business-jet market as strong and vital” beyond 2011, Pelton said, adding that the company isn’t scaling back any development or production plans.

Sen. Reed to address RIPEC meeting

U.S. Sen. Jack Reed will be the keynote speaker at the 65th annual meeting of the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council on Oct. 22 at the Providence Marriott. A senior member of the Senate Banking Committee, Reed will speak about the economic, energy and health-care challenges facing the federal government.

CVS offers rebuttal to takeover memo

Woonsocket-based CVS Caremark Corp. has sent to the board of directors of Longs Drug Stores Corp. a “strong exception” to a memorandum by a law firm retained by CtW Investment Group regarding the proposed takeover by CVS of the California-based chain and a subsequent bid by Illinois-based Walgreen Co. CVS said, “We are aware that the board of directors of Longs recently received a memorandum from a law firm retained by the CtW Investment Group, which purports to offer an ‘independent’ antitrust analysis of the regulatory timing and substantive risk posed by a potential acquisition of Longs by Walgreens. While not attempting an exhaustive rebuttal, we feel it is important to point out the basic factual inaccuracies and analytic deficiencies contained in this highly misleading memorandum, which attempts to equate the regulatory risks of a CVS/Longs combination and a Walgreens/Longs combination.” CVS asserts that there are erroneous calculationss and overgeneralization of store overlaps, false statements regarding CVS’s intention to enter the Hawaii market, inaccurate assessments of Walgreens’ antitrust concerns in Hawaii and disregard of market-share issues resulting from a Walgreens/Longs combination. CVS said it “continues to believe that its offer is a compelling, certain proposition for Longs shareholders.”

Aeronautica Windpower seeks sites

Aeronautica Windpower, in Plymouth, Mass., is working to find new homes on farms across the United States for the wind turbines being retired from the large wind farms of California. The company is betting that farmers are the perfect owners for these recycled, refurbished green-power generators as they get replaced by larger turbines. According to the company’s industry research, more than 10,000 machines that were installed during the mid-1980s and ’90s will soon be replaced by larger, more modern turbines. That’s a lot of generation capacity that would otherwise be scrapped — about the equivalent of a couple of nuclear power plants. “While big utility machines make sense on a wind farm, these ‘mid-scale,’ 65- and 100-kilowatt wind turbines are perfect for agriculture, irrigation, farms, ranches and other on-site commercial and industrial applications,” said Brian Kuhn, company vice president of marketing.

Towerstream wins innovation awards

Middletown-based Towerstream, a WiMAX service provider, has been named the winner of two Telephony Innovation Awards from Telephony Magazine at Telephony LIVE 2008, a telecommunications summit. The company was awarded “Most Innovative Broadband Wireless Service” and “Most Innovative Small Business Service.” The company’s high-speed wireless broadband is currently available in nine major U.S. markets. “Towerstream is dedicated to providing the best and most reliable wireless broadband service to businesses,” said Jeff Thompson, president and chief executive officer. “Telephony Magazine is a highly respected publication in the telecommunications industry and we are honored to receive these awards from the Telephony team.”

LIN TV appoints new executives

LIN TV Corp., a local television and digital media company headquartered in Providence, has appointed Richard Schmaeling as senior vice president, chief financial officer, and Robert Richter as senior vice president of new media. Schmaeling has more than 20 years of financial and operational experience and joins the company from Dow Jones & Co. Inc., where he was vice president of finance. Richter joined the company in 2006 as vice president of Internet where he managed online operations for top-rated stations including content and sales. Both executives will report directly to Vincent L. Sadusky, the president and chief executive officer.

General Dynamics unit demonstrates radios

Scottsdale, Ariz.-based General Dynamics C4 Systems, which has a manufacturing facility in Taunton, Mass., has demonstrated the networked-communications capabilities of its handheld, manpack and small form fit radios in recent government-run field tests. The tests have proven the radios’ interoperability, range, video transmission and networking abilities. Each of those is considered critical to the Department of Defense’s objectives of increasing connectivity among soldiers and military units. General Dynamics, the parent company of the Electric Boat shipyard in North Kingstown and Groton, Conn., will further demonstrate the radios’ capability at the Association of the United States Army Conference in Washington, D.C., this month.

ON Semiconductor announces new product

Phoenix, Ariz.-based ON Semiconductor, a global supplier of high-performance, energy-efficient silicon-based electronic products that has a research facility in East Greenwich, has announced a new circuit board space-saving unit in its line of processing automation transceivers for use in safety-critical applications such as oil refineries, chemical processing and water-treatment plants.