Financial services security software firm Perimeter Internetworking Corp. has hired a dozen engineers to establish a research-and-development center at 60 State Street in Boston, the Milford, Conn., company is expected to announce Tuesday.
Perimeter, which does business as Perimeter E-Security, plans to hire eight more in the next 18 to 24 months, said Chief Marketing Officer Kurt Heinemann.
“We’re making it our headquarters for many of our developers, and the core location for what we’re doing in engineering and development,” Heinemann said.
To make the move, Perimeter cut some offshore engineering resources based in India, Heinemann said. The company employs about 300, globally.
Heinemann declined to discuss revenue numbers, but said Perimeter is seeing growth in encrypted e-mail, vulnerability scanning and firewall intrusion defense — especially where regulation requires reporting and backup related to those services.
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Daugherty Chevrolet on Fulton Avenue in Sacramento is closing its doors today and is expected to open next week as Kuni Chevrolet.
Kuni is the longtime owner of Hubacher Cadillac and Roseville Volkswagen.
Check this site later for more information.
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For the fourth-straight week, gas price averages remained relatively flat, although different areas saw different price movement, according to the Automobile Club of Southern California’s Weekend Gas Watch.
According to the Auto Club, the average price of self-serve regular gasoline in the Los Angeles-Long Beach area is $3.113 per gallon, which is eight-tenths of a cent less than last week, six cents higher than last month, and 24 cents higher than last year.
On the Central Coast, the average price is $3.185, up one-tenth of a cent from last week, six cents higher than a month ago, and 23 cents above last year.
In the Inland Empire, the average per gallon price is $3 payday loan online.096, which is nine-tenths of a cent lower than last week, five cents higher than last month, and 23 cents more than last year.
"While the broader U.S. economic picture remains muddled, the past week showed a large crude oil inventory draw down which some analysts see as a hopeful sign for the economy. We’ll have to see if gas prices are affected in the coming weeks," Auto Club Spokesperson Jeffrey Spring said in a statement.
The Office of Thrift Supervision and U.S. Small Business Administration are among sponsors of two upcoming information-sharing sessions for small business owners and lenders.
The sessions, scheduled for July 14, will be held at BlueCross BlueShield building at 257 West Genesee Street in downtown Buffalo.
The first is for lenders and will run from 8:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Participants will learn how to enhance small business lending, risk mitigation, alternate sourcing of business financing and about government programs. The second session starts at 1:00 p.m. and is geared toward small business owners. Among the topics it will cover are accessing credit, government-sponsored programs and tax issues. Lenders will be on hand to work with small business owners.
“We want to focus on best practices that financial institutions have in terms of lending to small businesses that typically do not qualify for banks’ regular small business programs,” said Office of Thrift Supervision spokesman Francis Baffour payday loans guaranteed no fax.
Other sponsors include New York State Banking Department, Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
“What we are trying to do is encourage institutions to become SBA guaranteed lenders,” Baffour said.
For more information, visit the Office of Thrift Supervision Web site at http://www.ots.treas.gov/index.cfm?p=InteragencySmallBusinessLendingForumWorkshop.
A diverse musical line-up featuring some familiar acts along new ones dot Buffalo Place’s annual Thursday at the Square and Buffalo Place Rocks the Harbor concerts.
The 18-show line-up was announced Thursday evening.
Among the highlights: a July 15 show featuring Umphrey’s McGee and G. Love & Special Sauce’s only summer show on July 22.
Favorites like Robert Randolph and the Family Band, Los Lobos and the Fabulous Thunderbirds are also slated to appear at Thursday at the Square shows.The Buffalo Place Rocks the Harbor concerts include a two-night stand by moe. and a rare appearance by jazz great Herbie Hancock.
The Thursday at the Square shows, which are held in Lafayette Square, are free. They begin on June 10 and run for 10 weeks through Aug. 12.
Buffalo Place Rocks the Harbor concerts are held along the Central Wharf area in the Canal Side footprint of downtown Buffalo. Those concerts have $10 advance fee and $20 at the door.
M&T Bank is the presenting sponsor.
Concerts at both venues begin at 5 p.m.
Buffalo Place has been presenting the concerts for 24 summer seasons as means to help attract visitors to downtown Buffalo. It is estimated the concerts have an estimated $4 million economic impact including more than $3 million that stays in the downtown Buffalo core.
“Besides the economic impact, the other value these shows have is by the number of people they bring to downtown,” said Anthony Colucci III, Buffalo Place Inc. president. “We hope the bars and restaurants do benefit.”
The Thursday at the Square line-up is:
• June 10: Alejandro Escovedo and the Sensitive Boys with special guest Tift Merritt
• June 17: Ingrid Michaelson
• June 24: Martin Sexton and Ryan Montbleau Band with Civil Twilight
• July 1: Ed Kowalczyk of Live
• July 8: Ozomatli with Rebelution
• July 15: Umphrey’s McGee with Tea Leaf Green
• July 22: G. Love & Special Sauce with Rogue Wave
• July 29: Robert Randolph & the Family Band
• Aug. 5: Los Lobos
A dubious distinction was reached during the first three months of 2010: More than 10% of all mortgage borrowers are now behind on their payments.
The delinquency rate hit a record of 10.06% in the first quarter, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. The seasonally adjusted rate accounts for all mortgages on properties that have up to four units and that are at least one payment late.
The rate has been inching steadily toward this record, having ticked up almost a full point since a year go.
The report contained a sliver of good news, however. The non-seasonally adjusted delinquency rate dropped almost one point to 9.38% between the fourth quarter 2009 and first quarter 2010.
So while the seasonally adjusted number saw growth during that period, the non-seasonally adjusted number followed the traditional pattern. Rates usually peak in the fourth quarter, as holiday spending and heating bills kick in causing people to put off paying their loan. But then, when they get caught up in the first quarter, delinquencies fall again.
"The question is whether the drop represents anything more than a normal seasonal decline or a more fundamental improvement," said Jay Brinkmann, MBA’s chief economist. "The normal seasonal drop is coming right at the point where we believe delinquencies could potentially be declining and the problem for the statistical models is determining which is which."
The foreclosure inventory rate, which represents the percentage of mortgaged homes repossessed by lenders, was fairly flat quarter-over-quarter, inching up to 4.63% from 4.58%. But it jumped a lot from 12 months earlier, when the rate stood at 3.85%.
Nearly all varieties of loans suffered increased delinquencies compared with 12 months earlier. Prime fixed-rate loans hit 6.17%; prime adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) tipped 13.52%. Subprime fixed-rates jumped to 25.69%; and subprime ARMs are a whopping 29.09%.
The one bright spot was that delinquencies for FHA loans, the mortgages guaranteed by the Federal Housing Authority, dropped slightly to 13.15%.
The improvement is likely due to tighter FHA underwriting standards, which it adjusted after loans issued in 2007 and 2008 started souring. That should be a relief for taxpayers, who will be on the hook for any losses the FHA suffers.
Most of the overall rate increases are attributable to the seriously delinquent loans, Brinkmann said. Those loans, which are 90 days or more late, are going all the way through to foreclosure, but are not being foreclosed, keeping people in the system longer.
In the pre-housing-bust world, many borrowers would have already lost their homes and their delinquencies would no longer be counted in the survey.
Shift in problem-loan types
Lenders have slowed repossessions for various reasons: They may not have enough staff yet to handle the volume; the foreclosure prevention initiatives, such as the Home Affordable Modification Program, is postponing many foreclosures; and the banks themselves are trying to prevent defaults by approving more short sales.
There has been a fundamental change in the nature of the loans causing the most default problems, according to Brinkmann. And, he added, unemployment is the culprit. "Delinquencies are much more driven by the recession than by any one loan type now," he said.
Subprime ARMs accounted for nearly 30% of all delinquencies a year ago, but just under 15% now. Meanwhile, prime fixed-rate loans delinquencies have grown so much that they represent the single biggest bucket of delinquent mortgages: 37% up from 29% a year ago.
Some of the prime loan defaults stem from an increase in people deliberately "walking away" from mortgages. These are homeowners who can pay their loans but choose not to because their homes have dropped so much in value.
According to a recent report, as much as 31% of all defaults in March were strategic.
Brinkmann opined that many of these "strategic defaulters" may be underestimating the impact of walking away. It may take them much longer to repair their credit histories than they realize as lenders assess more than their credit ratings to determine whether to finance future home purchases.
Underwriting involves more than just checking credit scores, and if a lender sees a strategic default on their records, homebuyers may not qualify for loans.
"They may be able to repair their credit scores," he said, "but their ability to buy a home in the future may be negatively impacted for years to come."
Cisco Systems Inc. executives said on Monday that air traffic problems caused by a volcano in Iceland makes a good argument for this video conferencing products.
The market for advanced video conferencing such as Cisco's telepresence already has good growth potential, the company's Senior Vice President for Emerging Technologies Marthin De Beer said on a conference call about its completed acquisition of Tandberg ASA on Monday.
But De Beer added that the volcano-related cancellation of flights in Europe and across the Atlantic shows the need for telepresence as a way for companies to communicate under any conditions.
"We have seen a huge spike in usage," Fredrik Halvorsen, the former Tandberg CEO who will now head Cisco Systems's TelePresence Technology Group, told Reuters on Sunday. "The only evidence is anecdotal, but you will not get a demo room in any of the Cisco facilities."
Bank of America Merrill Lynch is one of several financial institutions providing debt financing Cerberus Capital Management’s acquisition of DynCorp International Inc.
The deal is valued at $1.5 billion, including the assumption of debt. It is slated to close in the third or fourth quarter.
DynCorp International, based in Falls Church Va., provides government services related to U.S. national security and foreign policy objectives. The company (NYSE:DCP) operates programs in logistics, contingency operations and training to reinforce security.
New York-based Cerberus Capital Management is a private-investment firm with $23 billion under management.
Along with BofA Merrill Lynch, the lenders financing the deal include Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Barclays Bank plc and Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. Each institution also acted as a financial adviser to Cerberus.
BofA Merrill Lynch is a global strategic adviser and underwriter, raising nearly $3 trillion for clients worldwide over the last 10 years. It is a division of Charlotte-based Bank of America Corp. (NYSE:BAC).
In the near future, TV is going to be available anywhere, on any device, at any time. Just don’t expect it to be free.
That’s because of the big, unanswered question being asked by networks, cable companies, advertisers and technology providers: How do we make money from it?
Viewers are already taking full advantage of online television. Broadcast networks make many of their shows available on Web sites like Hulu and YouTube a day after they air, and many cable stations also put their shows on the Web.
In December, more than 178 million Americans watched TV online, streaming 33 billion shows, according to online data tracker comScore.
But the business model for free Internet television doesn’t work yet. Networks can’t get advertisers to pay the same as they do for broadcast and cable TV, and networks and cable providers are reluctant to lose their mutually beneficial partnerships.
In the traditional TV model, networks get paid tens of billions of dollars by advertisers and billions more in retransmission fees by cable and satellite providers. Satellite and cable providers get paid in subscription fees by customers.
The free Internet TV model cuts out the middle man: Networks post their content directly online and advertisers pay for the right to place their ads on the Web site and within the video. Satellite and cable providers aren’t part of the equation, and networks lose out on their licensing fees.
Advertisers hesitant to join in
The loss of revenue from cable and satellite companies isn’t the only reason why free Internet TV isn’t working yet. Advertisers remain coy: Broadcast and cable TV advertising is a $70 billion a year business, but Internet TV advertising has yet to crack $1 billion, according to Matt Wasserlauf, chief executive of online advertising network BBE.
Many advertisers are wary of sponsoring online TV, primarily because the measures of those ads’ effectiveness and reach are still up in the air, say media analysts.
"Advertisers aren’t going to pay for the right to sponsor content unless they know how many people are watching it," said Todd Dagres, general partner at Spark Capital. "The technology is available, but it is still in the process of being implemented."
The online video ad world is also a different ball game than the TV commercial sphere. Internet TV ads are interactive, unlike traditional TV ads, and effective Internet TV ads require a whole new level of creativity. Advertisers are still trying to determine the best way to reach potential customers online.
"The way people approach online ads is qualitatively different from the way they approach TV ads," said Shishir Mehrotra, director of video monetization at Google (GOOG, Fortune 500). "The biggest blockers to advertisers from making the jump to the Internet from TV are creative ones."
The lack of live TV online — and the big advertising bucks that come with it — is another huge factor preventing online TV from being successful. Though some networks have begun to air some live content online, notably CBS’s online coverage of the NCAA basketball tournament, live Internet TV is far from pervasive.
Live sporting events like the Super Bowl and live shows like American Idol command the biggest advertising dollars fast cash without a hassle. But separate licensing fees, bandwidth limitations and a low return on investment have held networks back from putting more live content online thus far.
With the business model still shaky, media company CEOs have suggested that free online TV is coming to an end.
How the online TV business can work
With free heading out the door soon, subscription services are the likely replacement.
Media CEOs like News Corp’s (NWS, Fortune 500) Rupert Murdoch, Disney’s Bob Iger and NBC’s Jeff Zucker, who co-own Hulu, have all hinted at making Hulu a subscription-based service. They just haven’t said how much users will have to pay.
Netflix (NFLX) has been operating a successful subscription-based streaming service for quite some time, and on Monday, Walmart (WMT, Fortune 500) announced that it had purchased Netflix’s online streaming video competitor Vudu. In December, Apple said it had negotiated deals with CBS (CBS, Fortune 500) and Disney (DIS, Fortune 500) to launch a streaming subscription-based service for Apple TV.
Cable companies have gotten in on the action as well. CNNMoney.com parent company Time Warner (TWX, Fortune 500) partnered with Comcast (CMCSA, Fortune 500) last summer to test its subscription-based "TV Everywhere," which made Time Warner content available online to Comcast subscribers for no additional charge. Comcast deemed the project a success, and has continued the TV Everywhere partnership on its Fancast Web site.
Subscription services generally bring more content to the Web than free services, including some cable shows that have been exclusively available on TV or for purchase on iTunes.
There’s something in it for the cable companies too: As technology improves and consumers begin watching more online, on-demand content directly on their television sets, cable and satellite providers could have a role in bringing that content to consumers by providing customer service for Internet TV like they do for "regular" TV.
"If consumers want high-quality content with a high-quality experience and high-quality service, there’s a place and a role for companies that have cables piped into your house," said David Wertheimer, executive director of the Entertainment Technology Center at the University of Southern California.
In the end, experts say that the free, advertising-supported model may exist for some content, but the subscription model will have to at least run along side it.
Experts say commoditized programming like news, cooking programs and how-to shows will stay free, because there will always be another site offering the same content for free. But your favorite shows that can’t be duplicated and cost millions of dollars to produce are something you will have to pay for.
"Every piece of content that is commoditized by nature has to be free," said Ran Harnevo, chief executive of 5min Media, an independent digital media group. "On the other hand, if everything were free, you would lose the production value of good shows. So people will have to pay for content that’s not commoditized."
Fixing millions of gas pedals and brakes and convincing customers their vehicles are safe could end up being the least of Toyota’s challenges. Some experts think the price tag from legal settlements could end up topping the company’s estimate of $2 billion in recall costs.
There are already more than 30 U.S. lawsuits filed against Toyota involving the problems with its gas pedals alone, according to Craig Hutson, senior investment grade analyst at Gimme Credit, a bond research service firm. And there are more lawsuits are in the works.
"Lawyers are champing at the bit to get at these guys, and the company has come out and largely admitted mistakes in respect to these issues," said Hutson. "It’s hard to put a dollar amount on it, but multi-billion dollar costs are not out of the realm of possibility."
Hutson isn’t alone in worrying about how much lawsuits could hurt Toyota. Credit rating agency Moody’s cited the litigation risks when it warned Tuesday that it might downgrade Toyota’s credit ratings.
The company also faces at least one class action suit involving problems with the brakes on 2010 models of the Prius and other hybrid vehicles. Toyota announced a recall for those hybrids Tuesday.
New reports of problems with the steering of its Corolla could mean more lawsuits against Toyota.
Safety experts estimate official complaints involving Toyota gas pedals show there have been 19 fatalities involving the recalled vehicles.
But Gary Robb, an attorney in Kansas City who is looking at filing cases, says he believes that number will increase significantly as people look more deeply into accidents for which no cause was ever determined.
"We’ve had so many calls from so many people now that this news has come out," he said. "Accidents that were heretofore attributed to driver error are very likely due to a malfunction of the gas pedal. There’s going to be dozens of those incidents arising."
Cases involving death or serious injury will likely be handled in individual lawsuits.
Suing to reclaim lost value. Robb said he’s also looking at a class action case to try to recover billions of dollars he claims were lost in the resale value of the recalled vehicles. He said his experts estimate total losses could be in the $6 billion to $8 billion range paydayloans. "For many people their car is their second largest investment," he said.
Other experts suggest that the loss in resale value is not as high as Robb’s figure, but that it is still likely in the billions.
Kelley Blue Book, a leading used-car value service, is lowering its estimated prices for the recalled models this Friday by 2.5% to 3.5%. That’s enough to lower the value of each vehicle by between $250 and $800.
The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration estimates that more than 6 million U.S. vehicles are affected by the recall. So based on Kelley Blue Book’s estimates, the overall loss in resale value is likely to be at least $2 billion.
Toyota wouldn’t comment on its legal exposure from the recalls. As to the reduction in resale value by Kelley Blue Book it said, "Historically Toyota and Lexus vehicles have held their value very well relative to other vehicles. We expect that to be true in the future as well."
It’s not clear whether courts will allow plaintiffs to collect that much money. James Henderson, a law professor at Cornell University, said legal precedent is against them.
But Henderson does think the recall opens Toyota for a rash of new personal injury cases. He added that if it is determined that Toyota knew of problems with the gas pedals and did not warn a driver involved in an accident, the company could be hit with punitive damages.
Hutson said beyond the cost of any jury verdicts or settlements, the lawsuits have the potential of causing continued damage to Toyota’s reputation, keeping the problems and company’s failures in the news. That could cost the company additional sales going forward.
He said if any documents come out which prove Toyota engineers knew something needed to be fixed, it will be difficult for Toyota to ever regain consumers’ trust.
"When your image is one that has been largely built on quality and dependability, you can’t afford that kind of smoking gun," Hutson said.
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