Digital River to buy Commerce5

Eden Prairie, Minn.-based e-commerce company Digital River Inc. will acquire Aliso Viejo, Calif.-based Commerce5 Inc. in a deal worth $45 million.Commerce5 is a private e-commerce software maker.

Digital River will acquire about 40 Commerce5 client contracts, including Gateway, Inc., Lexmark International, Inc., Sharp Electronics Corp. and Sony Electronics Inc.

Digital River will pay $32.4 million for the company, and it will assume $12.6 million in debt. Also, Commerce5 executives will receive 87,500 Digital River shares based upon meeting certain performance goals.

PacificNet to buy stake in Chinese telecom firm

Eagan-based PacificNet Inc. has agreed to acquire a majority and controlling interest in Guangzhou Wanrong Information Technology Co., a Chinese telecommunications services provider.

PacificNet will pay approximately $1.4 million in restricted stock for a 51 percent stake in Guangzhou Wanrong. The purchase price is payable upon achievement of certain net income goals.

PacificNet will also invest $370,000 in the firm for general corporate purposes.

PacificNet recently participated in a Minnesota trade mission to China led by Gov. Tim Pawlenty. The company operates a variety of businesses in the country, such as call centers, telemarketing and telecommunications services firms.

IT worker confidence up in November

Confidence in the employment market among IT workers rose marginally in November, as the sector's Hudson Employment Index inched up 2.2 points to 101.1. Renewed confidence in personal finances and heightened job satisfaction contributed to the slight increase. Technology workers were about as optimistic as workers overall; the composite Index held steady in November, slipping just .04 points to 100.1.

Nearly half (48 percent) of the workers in the IT sector reported that their financial situations were improving in November, up from 38 percent the previous month. There was a six-percentage point drop to 35 percent in the number reporting that their finances were getting worse. Job satisfaction rose five points to 76 percent in November.

However, the IT workforce was significantly more likely to expect layoffs in November, as that figure increased from 22 percent to 27 percent. The number of workers concerned about job security rose five points to 32 percent.

Identix gains State Department order

Minnetonka-based Identix Inc. has received a $4 million order from the U.S. Department of State for biometric technology that will be used for the agency's visa processing programs.

Identix will supply and integrate additional biometric discovery engines to upgrade the agency's automated fraud-detection technology.

The State Department will use Identix's facial recognition technology to screen applicants for duplicates, aliases and for faces on a watch list, prior to issuing a visa. The agency currently has more than 45 million facial images enrolled in its system.

Identix won its original contract with the State Department in September 2004. The company expects to recognize the majority of the revenue from the agency's latest order over the next 12 months.

NASA picks four local firms

NASA selected four Twin Cities firms for its technological projects.

NASA picked NVE Corp. of Eden Prairie, T3 Scientific of Arden Hills, SVT Assoc. of Eden Prairie and SIFT of Minneapolis for its Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program.

The program is designed to stimulate technological innovations, increase the use of small businesses for meeting federal research and development needs, and to increase private sector commercialization of innovations derived from federally funded research.

The agency also selected NVE for its Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program, which is similar to the SBIR program, but also requires a collaborative research effort between a small business concern and a research institution.

Selected proposals receive up to $70,000 for an SBIR contract and up to $100,000 for a STTR contract.

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