The New Year is starting off with bang as companies work to absorb other companies they recently bought.
But not all these deals are so public, and investigators had to dig for the news that AOL sold Winamp and Shoutcast, the latter a company that hosts some 50,000 radio stations. Rumors had it that Microsoft (News 
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The Internet of Everything space was also busy, and this market should have plenty of future wheelings and dealings as it grows to $44 billion by 2017.
One company focused on home automation is Nest Labs, which has raised some $150 million. That, experts say, gives Next a tidy little market valuation of $2 billion.
Just yesterday Infomedia announced it is buying the Vringo mobile platforms and partner services. Australian-based Infomedia sells CRM and monetization services to device manufacturers and mobile carriers. Vringo (News - Alert), meanwhile, fits in nicely with its own line of monetization wares.
Internet of Things (IoT) provider ThingWorx is apparently worth $112 million, at least to PTC which just made the buy. PTC aims its wares at manufacturers, and now hopes to also sell them M2M technology from ThingWorx to make and service connected products. ThingWorx, now 4 years old, was an early M2M innovator and now has a full development platform that has search, Web 2.0 and social sharing.
Business process outsourcing company Qualfon is boosting its back-office processing and call center present in Hancock, New York.
This is part of an overall expansion that included the buyout of Data Control Group (DCG), and 11 year-old data services firm out of Deposit, New York. “Qualfon is a growing company that has experienced great success in the Delaware River valley. We love the people and their work ethic, and we’re excited to further expand our presence in New York,” said Pete Lutz, senior vice president of Qualfon Data Services Group.
The call center build out will cost the firm $2.8 million and will result in 400 new area jobs.
