Three Days In the Valley: Day Three

FOX Business sent Anchor Liz Claman to Silicon Valley for a three-day look at the technology industry. Here’s what happened on Day Three.

Silicon Valley Launch 2009 Winners

The Silicon Valley Launch 2009 winners are Lumiette and HearPlanet. The Association of Startup Entrepreneurs presented the winners with $40,000 in services from a number of Silicon Valley companies.

Noel Park of Lumiette submitted his flat panel lamp -- an energy-efficient and long-lasting flat light bulb that can last up to 15 years and can be used in a home, office or industry building.

This year’s other winner, HearPlanet, introduced by Steve Echtman, is a program offering content that can be delivered to mobile phones.

“We basically have created a guide for a phone, and we are looking to get on every mobile device,” Echtman said. “We bring information from around the world.”

Satellite Phone Access Around the World

Globalstar Inc. (GSAT), which provides voice and data services to businesses and individuals around the world, said it wants people around the world to have phones that can get service anywhere.

“We are in the process of closing a $738 million financing round,” GlobalStar President Tom Colby said. “It comes from some international banks and private equity firms”

Colby told FOX Business Network’s Liz Claman the company is going to be launching and developing its next generation of services -- satellite voice services, data services and consumer services.

GlobalStar features its popular satellite GPS tracker, which captures GPS readings and sends them to Google (GOOG) maps, twitter feeds and blogs. There is also a 9-1-1 button that sends an urgent and important message to a 24/7 response center.

Cisco Systems Newest Member of the Dow

Cisco (CSCO) Systems CEO John Chambers sat down with FBN’s Liz Claman today for his first interview since the company replaced General Motors in the Dow 30.

“It’s humbling as the first tech company to be added in ten years,” Chamber said of the company's new home in the Dow.

Chambers said Cisco has in past economic downturns come out a much stronger company, and this year plans to compete with market transitions and make a strong move into consumer electronics. After challenging HP and Dell in the server business, he said he is comfortable with the opportunities in front of Cisco, as long as they are properly executed.

“The network will allow you to get access to any movie content, reruns of your shows, the key run from any device, over any combination that works anywhere in the world,” Chamber said. “So all of a sudden you won't care where the processors are located, whether they're in the data center, on the device in your hands, and you are able therefore to have the network play the role where servers are tied uniquely to it, storage is tied uniquely to it, software is tied to it, so we think this is the next-generation data center play, and it's an 85 billion dollar market.”

Chambers said the company has come out of the market at number one many times before and continues to push forward into the next generation data centers.

Slide Makes Internet Video Easier

Slide, founded by PayPal Co-founder Max Levchin, is a program that helps people expresses themselves on the Internet. The company works with other Sites, including MySpace, and has accumulated more than 160 million users.

“It is a company that produces community-driven entertainment,” Levchin said of Slide, “The thing that is special about it, is that the people, themselves, leverage their own creativity with tools we provide to create content.”

Slide has more than 117 million unique monthly viewers, and the company claims more than 200,000 new Slide Shows are added to the Slide Network each day.

Levchin said revenue is coming in from various advertisements and subscriptions for advanced Slide applications.

‘SolarCity Makes Solar Affordable’

SolarCity CEO Lyndon Rive spoke to Liz Claman about the company's mark in the world of alternative energy.

"SolarCity makes solar affordable,” CEO Lyndon Rive said. “We focus on homes and businesses, and we do the design installation and most importantly, the finance. With our customers, they can go solar and save money from day one with no investment on their side.”

The company partners with banks to get tax benefits, which helps pay for the solar power system. Rive said about 98 % of all SolarCity business is in already-made homes with high-cost electric bills.

Cisco Systems Buys Into Consumer Electronics

Ned Hooper, vice president of business development at Cisco Systems, discussed the company's path to the future.

“We set out a long time ago, a mission for the company, which is to change the way people live, learn, work and play, and to be able to drive that vision, we have to be able to experiment with the technology -- see how we can impact lives, see how we can drive those transformations,” he said.

Cisco is constantly buying out small business and had recently bought into consumer electronic companies, i.e. the Flip camcorder, a device that films, records and allows the user to upload directly to the Internet by plugging the device in.

“Today people are using Cisco products to connect to the Internet, but we are also working very quickly to move multimedia around,” Hooper said. “The video experience is something that is absolutely transformative to consumers in a place where we have a real value proposition to bring.”

Hooper told FBN the company has shipped more than 170 million devices to consumers over the last 10 to 15 years.

Marvell Hopes Pogo Plug Will Succeed

Marvell (MRVL), a company that specializes in high-volume storage solutions and other products, recently settled a shareholder suit for $72 million -- a move that CEO and Co-founder Dr. Sehat Sutardgja said he was made in the best interest of the company and its employees.

Sutadgja introduced one of the company’s new products, the Pogo Plug, a computer on a chip inside a plug. It is similar in size to a cell phone, and is designed to hold software and connect to wireless devices. Sutardja said it could be part of the solution in cloud computing -- storing everything in the Internet sky.

“The initial target of the device is less than $50 over the next year or two,” he said.

Sutardja said Marvell customers are more upbeat compared to several months ago, requesting more products, and he thinks any improvement in the economy is always good news.

Draper, Fisher & Jurvetson Backs WOW’D

Venture capitalists Tim Draper and Steve Jurveston told FBN’s Liz Claman they think there is no better time than now to start up a company, because the market is cheaper, and there is less competition.

“On venture capital right now -- I think, actually, it’s going great, this is sort of the perfect time for venture capital,” Draper said. “This is when entrepreneurs are at their greatest, and there is less money around, and there are fewer competitors. The big companies are in shock and looking for what’s better, cheaper and faster. That means they are moving to our startup."

Draper said despite bankruptcies, the few successes that employ many people is what makes it all worth while.

“We are looking at a variety of sectors, more diverse than ever before, in energy and clean tech, in the Internet, even in rockets,” Jurveston said. “There is an amazing amount of creative ideas coming through the pipe.”

DFJ is currently backing a company called WOW'D, which has built a search engine with no servers and no web crawlers. It is distributed across desktops to people around the planet, and according to Jurveston, it creates a better search experience.

Cisco Medical Center For Employees

Pam Hymel, corporate director of medical programs at Cisco Systems, said the company is cutting back on medical expenses, using its own technology to take the lead. Currently, annual medical claims for all employees are around $200 million -- $72 million of which is associated with preventable claims.

“We are focusing on prevention right now, and one of the things that we are actually doing is a proof of concept health center,” Hymel said. “The health center is focusing on using an integrated approach to health care, a primary care patient medical home, driven by technology as the enabler to improve health.”

Cisco’s medical center is doing full services integrated in a primary care home model, and it is using technology to create a paperless environment -- which could mean no more sitting in the office filling out papers. 

Anthony Wood Talks About Roku

Anthony Wood, CEO and founder of his sixth company Roku, is considered a visionary in Silicon Valley. His company's  new digital video player instantly streams high quality movies from Netflix (NFLX) and Amazon Video On Demand from the Internet directly to your TV.

‘It costs $99, and all you do is connect it to your TV, and hook it up to your internet connection,” Wood said. “With a Netflix subscription you can watch any movies you want, and we recently added Amazon On Demand. You can get the device it at Roku.com.”

The product started shipping about a year ago, and it has exceeded expectations. Wood also said he is looking to go public.

“On starting a company -- You have to be persistent and not give up,” he said. “You do have to have a good idea.”