Software

BioClinica Inc. is a bit unusual these days in the region's pharmaceutical industry. It is hiring. The company creates computer software to read and measure images, such as brain scans of tumors, and to digest the huge amounts of data related to clinical studies that drug companies sponsor. The company had 522 employees at the end of 2011 and hopes to add 55 by year's end, with most of the current job listings pegged for headquarters in Newtown, Bucks County, and its site in Audubon, Montgomery County.

Yardley software-maker Prophet 21 Inc. said yesterday it was being acquired by Activant Solutions Inc., an Austin, Texas-based business-to-business software firm, for $215 million. Prophet 21 makes e-commerce software for distributors in industries including ones dealing in fasteners, electrical, medical and plumbing. It employs about 530, two-thirds of them in Yardley. The firm is on pace to do $85 million in sales this year, Prophet 21 chief executive officer Chuck Boyle said.

GSI Commerce Inc., King of Prussia, said Wednesday it acquired VendorNet, a Boynton Beach, Fla., provider of software to manage e-commerce supply-chain solutions, such as inventory management. VendorNet's clients include the Franklin Mint, Neiman Marcus, David's Bridal, Spiegel, Nine West and Lands' End. The purchase price was not disclosed, but privately held VendorNet has 32 employees, a GSI Commerce spokeswoman said. GSI operates websites for retailers, manufacturers and other companies.

The Army National Guard has thousands of computers, terminals and printers gathering dust in warehouses nationwide because it was slow to buy the software - the "electronic brains" - needed to make the computer systems work, congressional investigators said yesterday. The computer gear, which cost $17.5 million, has sat unused for a year - and will sit sealed in crates for up to two more years - before all the software is available, investigators told the House Energy and Commerce Committee's oversight and investigations subcommittee.

Computer buffs: The Chester County Library in Exton just spent $5,000 on all sorts of software, ranging from "Word Perfect" to the ever-popular "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego. " Check it out. Literally. For the last four years, the library has operated a computer center for patrons and had an assortment of programs that could be used in the building's computer center. But two weeks ago, a lending program for software was begun. Now, software disks can be checked out a week at a time, just like books.

Acknowledging the apparent necessity for a computer system to help with everything from class scheduling to keeping alumni records, the Abington school board has delayed a decision to purchase a software system for computers they have not yet purchased. The district had suggested purchasing the software first because prices on computers are falling. After more than two hours of sometimes heated questioning of the $95,790 proposal from software company Howard Guess & Associates, the board voted 8-1 to table the issue Tuesday night.

It's beginning to look a lot like . . . the last few shopping days before Christmas. And Hanukkah has arrived. If you still haven't figured out what to get all the computer users clogging that worn-out sliver of notebook paper you call a shopping list, don't panic! There's still time to make it a jolly, holly software holiday. And if you're among the millions of new computer owners or plan to give a new machine as a family present, you'll want plenty of software at hand to satisfy the "let-me-try, let-me-try" cries that will ring in your ears.

Instem, a Conshohocken software firm, said Wednesday that it will supply software for the collection, management and maintenance of certain studies overseen by the National Institutes of Health. The value of the deal is $656,100, Instem said. The company said its Provantis software will be used by the NIH's National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences for reproductive, perinatal and developmental National Toxicology Program studies conducted predominantly at contractor laboratories around the United States.

Scala, an Exton software developer, said today it appointed Tom Nix as chief executive officer, effective Nov. 1. Nix, now a company vice president, will succeed Gerard Bucas, who is retiring after nine years as CEO. Scala provides software for digital signs used on billboards, in doctors' offices and in advertising management.    -Paul Schweizer

Drexel University's mandate that every student have a Macintosh computer is paying off in an unexpected form - cash - for 22 students and faculty members, and for the university. The 22 have earned $10,000 in royalties on educational software that they developed for use at Drexel and that is now being sold nationwide by Kinko's Copies, a national chain of photocopying stores. The money will be split between the university and the individuals, with $6,000 going to Drexel and $4,000 to be shared by the 22 software developers.

If work ever drags for Christopher Doggett and Christopher Gali at their year-old software company, Adminovate, way upstairs at 1818 Market St., they can head around the corner for late-afternoon daiquiris at one of the bars they own, the speakeasy-themed Franklin Mortgage & Investment Co. "Insurance software is boring to a lot of people. But clients love going with us to the bar after 5," says Doggett, 44, who lives with his family in a Rittenhouse Square high-rise. "It's surprising how good this bar has been for our business," says Gali, 45, who also walks to work.

iPipeline, an insurance-software maker based in Exton, is the latest suburban tech firm to add a Center City office in hopes of luring young engineers, programmers, and information-technology salespeople. The firm, which employs 390 in the Philadelphia area and its U.S. and foreign offices, and hopes to add 50 more this year, has leased a suite on the 33d floor at 1818 Market St., a 40-story building soon to be known as Beneficial Place, the new headquarters for the city's largest remaining bank.

SHILLINGTON, Pa. - The ACLU accused a Berks County school district Wednesday of blocking Internet content about gay people. The American Civil Liberties Union said Governor Mifflin School District's filtering software blocked sites that a student tried to access for research. That violates students' free-speech rights, the ACLU contends. The ACLU has sent a letter to Governor Mifflin asking that it reconfigure the software. A district spokeswoman did not return a message seeking comment.

I'm surprised when any local investment firm, except for First Round Capital , closes on a new venture capital fund. The Philadelphia area is far from the venture capital centers of Silicon Valley, New York, and Boston. But there was Osage Venture Partners , of Bala Cynwyd, on Monday announcing that it had raised $66 million for its third fund. Before you decide to ship the latest version of your business plan to Osage, it's worth knowing that the firm only invests in "early-stage enterprise software companies" in the mid-Atlantic region.

A Tredyffrin Township man has been cleared of charges that he used software to spy on his wife. While the couple were divorcing, Jay Anthony Ciccarone, 39, allegedly installed the program Web Watcher on her computer to read her e-mails. His attorney, Ellen Brotman, argued that prosecutors could not prove why Ciccarone used the software. At a pretrial proceeding last Friday, Chester County Judge James P. MacElree II dismissed charges of unlawful use of a computer, intercepting communications - both felonies - and unlawfully accessing stored communications, a misdemeanor.

J OHN NJOKU, 31, of Southwest Center City, is co-founder and chief executive of Kwelia. The start-up has developed software for property managers to price their apartments using real-time market data. Njoku, who has practiced law in New York and worked in real estate in New York and Connecticut, works with co-founder Chris Connell and "data guy" Greg Phillips from an office on Walnut Street near 17th. Q: What does Kwelia do? A: Kwelia is a data-analytics platform for residential real estate.

"We're going to build a big company," says Michael Phelan , the Chester County native whose six-year-old, Wilmington-based software firm, SevOne Inc. , has helped Comcast, Credit Suisse, Lockheed Martin, smartphone-makers, and other giants view, fix, and manage world-circling computer systems. SevOne said Tuesday that it has landed a fat $150 million investment from backers led by Boston-based Bain Capital - presidential candidate Mitt Romney's old firm - which counts Domino's Pizza , Gartner Group , and Sports Authority among its successes.

A Chinese national pleaded guilty to U.S. charges that he sold pirated software from American companies, including Agilent Technologies Inc. Xiang Li, 36, admitted Monday in federal court in Wilmington to one count each of conspiring to commit criminal copyright infringement and conspiring to commit wire fraud, according to court records. The case was handled by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations unit. "Li mistakenly thought he was safe from the long arm of HSI, hiding halfway around the world in cyberspace anonymity," ICE Director John Morton said in a statement Tuesday with U.S. Attorney Charles Oberly in Wilmington.

Liquent Inc., of Horsham, has been acquired by Parexel International Corp. for $72 million in cash. Founded in 1994, Liquent develops software that helps more than 200 biopharmaceutical and life-sciences companies manage their regulatory submissions and product registrations. It has about 300 employees at offices in the United Kingdom, Germany and India and about 100 at its Montgomery County headquarters. Parexel, of Waltham, Mass., also provides a variety of services to the life-sciences industry, including clinical-trials management, biostatistical analysis, and medical communications.