Corrections or additions?
This article was published in U.S. 1 Newspaper on December 15,
1999. All rights reserved.
Sold to California: PV Kannan
P.V. Kannan has sold Business Evolution, a
five-year-old
College Road-based company, to Kana Communications, a hot E-commerce
software provider that went public on Nasdaq (KANA) in the fall.
Kannan
received a reported $140 million in stock for his 65-person firm.
Based in Redwood, California, with a market value of nearly $5
billion,
Kana is in the same business as the former Business Evolution —
turning online browsers into buyers. It has more than 250 customers
including more than 10 of the top 20 most visited sites on the
Internet.
Its online customer communications solutions support multiple channels
of online contact: inbound and outbound E-mail, web based customer
self-service, web forms, real-time messaging and voice over the
Internet.
Kannan has devised numerous groupware products used by both major
corporations and government entities, such as NASA, and online two-way
retail software used by such companies as Home Depot, L.L. Bean and
Buy.com. It lets customers participate in a live dialogue while
browsing
a website, and it assigns priorities to customer queries so responses
can be made through delayed or real-time channels. Kannan will remain
on College Road as vice president of what is now Kana Realtime, which
is now the name of his software product.
Business Evolution had about $3 million in sales this year, and it
recently raised $5 million in a private placement from investors
including
Nassau Capital, one of Princeton University’s investment companies.
The transaction with Kana will be accounted for as a “pooling
of interests.”
Kannan grew up in southern India and received two degrees from the
Institute of Chartered Accountants in New Delhi. He came to the United
States in 1991 to work on an IBM project in Chicago, then worked at
Oracle Consulting in Portland, Oregon. He cofounded the firm with
his wife, Shanthi, in Vancouver, British Columbia (U.S. 1, April 30,
1997). They relocated to the Princeton area in 1995 when Kannan saw
how much more common the use of groupware was in the east.
Kana Communications Inc., 305 College Road East,Princeton 08540. P.V. Kannan, vice president. 609-951-0216; fax,609-951-0882.Home page: https://www.kana.com.Top Of PageExpansionsAlcon Enterprises.Information not available in this version of story.Hopewell Valley Community Bank, 4 Route 31,Pennington08534. James Hyman, president and CEO. 609-466-2900; fax,609-466-7370.Home page: https://www.hvcbonline.com.With nearly $27 million in assets the new community bank has movedfrom temporary space in Pennytown to its permanent headquarters. Theprimary organizer behind this venture was Patrick Ryan (U.S. 1, March18, 1998).Kelly Massad LLP, 17 Hulfish Street, Suite 280,Princeton 08540. Mark I. Massad, partner. 609-924-7200; fax,609-924-7250.This accounting firm moved from 104 Carnegie Center to 17 Hulfish,Suite 280. Dave Ambrose joined the firm as a partner in November.He had his own practice in Staten Island. Other partners are RonaldJ. Sacco, Hal Peterson, and Mark I. Massad. The phone and fax numbersare new.Top Of PageCrosstown MovesAssist America, 1 Palmer Square, Suite 315,Princeton08542. George Howard, president. 609-921-0868; fax, 609-921-0933.This company, which coordinates medical benefits for group insurancecompanies, moved from 17 Hulfish, Suite 280, to 1 Palmer Square, Suite315. Phone and fax are the same.Telelogic, 200 Rockingham Row, Princeton 08540.Per Blysa, vice president North America. 609-520-1935; fax,609-520-8512.Home page: https://www.telelogic.com.A division of Saab Combitech Group moved from 116 Village Boulevardto Rockingham Row. Headquartered in Malmo, Sweden, it markets asoftwaredevelopment tool used by such firms as AT&T, Siemens, Ericsson,BritishTelecom, and Motorola.Top Of PageSouth River RoadSouth River Park, a new warehouse center at Exit 8Aowned by TrammellCrow, is leasing up. Earlier this fall a Schwinnbicycle distribution center expanded from South Middlesex Avenue anda third-party logistics provider moved into 105,505 square feet. Thelatter, Con-Way Integrated Services, recently more than doubled itsspace to 200,000 feet, with the potential for increasing up to 665,000feet. (See story, page 8.)Paul Torosian and Jeffrey Goggins of TrammellCrow represented thetenants and Gerard J. Keating and Daniel P. Leahy of Hiffman ShafferAssociates and Kenneth Lundberg of James E. Hanson Inc. representedthe owners.Schwinn Riteway Distribution, 1265 South RiverRoad, South River Road Park, Cranbury 08512. Will Rafter, salesmanager.609-860-5800; fax, 609-860-5955.Con-Way Integrated Services, 1265 South River Road,South River Road Park, Cranbury 08512. Michael Minnis, logisticscentermanager. 609-655-1400; fax, 609-409-2770. Home page:https://www.con-way.com.Top Of PageHomecare DownsizesPrinceton Medical Equipment, 11 Princess Road,Suite L, Lawrenceville 08648. Stephanie Szewczyk, director ofoperations.609-844-0221; fax, 609-844-0251.A 9,000-foot Nassau Park store that sold wheelchairs and walkers hasclosed, ending an unusual effort by a nonprofit — the MedicalCenter of Princeton — to own a retail franchise (U.S. 1, November26, 1996). The Medical Center had partnered with a Long Island-basedfirm, Homecare America, to sell durable medical equipment and supplies– wheelchairs, walkers, oxygen tanks, and first aid kits.The Medical Center of Princeton made its unusual move to buy a retailfranchise partly because of managed care changes, requiring morepatientsto go home earlier. A spokesperson at that time said it was”anotherpiece in the continuum of care.”Now the store has closed and after several name changes a portionof the business — primarily rental, the part that operated inthe back of the retail store — operates as a phone order businessfrom 11 Princess Road. The new company, Princeton Medical Equipment,rents and sells durable medical goods such as walkers, wheelchairs,and commodes.Top Of PageLeaving TownImage Dynamics, 2553 Route 130, Campus 130,Cranbury08512. 800-631-3909.Photo-me USA, formerly known as Image Dynamics, closed its officeat 2553 Route 130, and forwarded everything back to the corporateoffice in Grand Prairie, Texas, 800-850-1401. A spokesperson for thecompany said that management decided to consolidate. The companyplacesautomatic photo vending machines.Paradise Software Inc., 227 Route 33 East, Building2, Suite 6, Manalapan 07726. Theresa Randise, managing partner.732-446-7009;fax, 732-446-2449. Home page: https://www.paradise.com.A half-dozen years ago this was a fast growing software company headedby John A. Malleo-Roach and Perry Randise (U.S. 1, August 18, 1993).Now it has moved from 7 Centre Drive in Jamesburg and has a new phoneand fax. The two person firm, headed by Theresa Randise, has a newmission; it sells and distributes video boards made by Viewcast.comin North Carolina.Sphere Biosystems Inc., Box 156, Chatham 07928.Stephen R. Wilson, president. 973-635-5496.The combinatorial chemistry firm moved out of the Rutgers incubatoron Jersey Avenue.Ulico Casualty, 7 Centre Drive, Jamesburg.609-409-1490.The New Jersey office of this firm has closed. Calls for underwritingshould be directed to 301-327-7209. Calls for claims should bedirectedto 909-393-5147. It deals in construction surety bonds.Top Of PageDeathsSalvatore R. DeForte 73, on December 7. He owned andoperatedSal DeForte’s Ristorante in Trenton.Joanne Thatcher-Cline, 43, on December 12. She was anexecutive secretary with The Liposome Company on Research Road.Shelley S. Bock, 49, on December 11. She was manager ofsystems operations at the Bristol-Myers Squibb facility on ScuddersMill Road.Previous StoryNext StoryCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
