Andanh.com

Limelight Networks Inc., the Tempe-based technology company that provides online content-delivery services for Microsoft Corp., Amazon.com, and a slew of other businesses, has seen its stock rise significantly in the last several days.

Today its shares closed up 13.1 percent at $3.81. On Friday, its shares closed up 12.3 percent at $3.37.

The company, which stores multimedia content such as videos and music files for its customers and then delivers it to consumers who download the content online, has not reported any major news in the last few days.

However, management has provided investors with more clarity regarding how a patent lawsuit with a major competitor might impact its business if the end decision is unfavorable.

Akamai Technologies Inc. is seeking a permanent injunction against Limelight for infringing patented technology the Massachusetts company licenses.

A judge could decide whether to grant Akamai the injunction at a June 18 court hearing. The infringing portion of Limelight's content-delivery business is pegged at about 50 percent of its overall revenue, according to executives.

Limelight has filed a motion opposing Akamai's request for an injunction. In February, a U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts ordered Limelight to pay Akamai $45.5 million in damages, but both companies are filing post-trial motions to determine whether that decision with stick. 

Limelight, which is approaching the one-year anniversary of its high-profile IPO, has seen stock price drop dramatically in the last year because of the Akamai litigation, missed sales projections and other perceived risks facing content-delivery network companies.

Since debuting June 8, its stock has traded between an all-time high of $24.33 and an all-time low of $2.62.

Since taking over as president and CEO of the Arizona Technology Council about six months ago, Steven Zylstra has been saying mergers and alliances will be key to growing the Phoenix-based trade group's presence in the state.

That activity seems to be taking shape with the announcement that the Aerospace, Manufacturing and Information Technology Cluster of Southern Arizona has merged with the council.

Under the merger, AMIT is now serving as the Arizona Technology Council's Tucson office. AMIT Executive Director Justin Williams will continue serving as director of that office.

Both groups expect the consolidation to help them provide more resources to their combined members and be a more powerful lobbier on legislative issues pertaining to the tech industry.

The Arizona Technology Council represents about 500 member companies and associations. AMIT represents about 800 companies and 15,000 professionals, mainly in southern Arizona.

Zylstra, who helped run various technology groups in Arizona in the 1990s before leaving to run the Pittsburgh Technology Council in 2000 for seven years, conducted a report last year for the Arizona Technology Council about options the group had for growing its base by partnering with other local tech organizations.

The study singled out the Arizona BioIndustry Association and the Southern Arizona Technology Council as potential merger partners.

Other local trade groups have merged in the last year, including the BioIndustry Association of Southern Arizona into the Arizona BioIndustry Association and the Arizona Association of Industries into the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

In another effort to boost its presence, the Arizona Technology Council recently unveiled a revamped Web site.

Many states have stepped up efforts to help people with subprime or bad loans facing foreclosures since federal help has been slower than expected.

Arizona homeowners facing foreclosure and looking for help can now call a local hotline. The new number (877)448-1211 will route callers to state housing agencies offering foreclosure-prevention counseling.

Some struggling Arizona homeowners had trouble finding help through the national hotline 888-995-HOPE.  Different foreclosure laws among the states and language barriers were part of the problem.

But some state efforts to help homeowners are stalling in other parts of the country. Minnesota legislation that would have required a one-year moratorium on foreclosures so borrowers had more time to seek help or to get their loans modified was just vetoed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

He believes the bill would have made mortgages more expensive and difficult to get in Minnesota. Pawlenty cites almost a dozen other bills that have recently passed as examples of how Minnesota is working on its foreclosure problem.

The City of Phoenix is thinking about expanding its use of photo technology to enforce traffic laws.

This always sets the teeth of populist conservatives on edge, for reasons that are not apparent.

Some argue that photo traffic enforcement is not effective, although the evidence points in the other direction. But the opposition hits an emotional chord that goes beyond the empirical case.

Some see incipient big-brotherism in photo enforcement of traffic laws, but this also seems far-fetched. The cameras snap at a point in time in which an infraction is being committed. Hard to see that as a great invasion of privacy or the tipping point on a slippery slope toward 1984.

Some see photo traffic enforcement as motivated by revenue, and that's a legitimate concern. A free society doesn't want law enforcement to be profit-motivated. That's why asset forfeitures should go to general funds, not to revolving accounts controlled by law enforcement officials.

However, hard to see that as a big problem in photo traffic enforcement. Napolitano has suggested that big money can be made from posting cameras on state highways, but when legislative budgeteers kicked the projections they proved highly inflated. For the most part, the money isn't that large and the infractions pretty cut-and-dried -- not a lot of opportunity for abuse of discretion.

Instead, the opposition seems to be rooted in a sense that photo traffic enforcement is just unfair. That if you are to get a traffic ticket, a real cop should have to catch you. That using cameras is cheating.

Given the carnage on our streets, this view that traffic laws are a game is highly unfortunate. Technology permits traffic safety laws to be more fully enforced, and accidents reduced, while freeing up real cops to do other important public safety activities. There really isn't a good argument against using it.