As public market multiples for software companies improve and deals like Microsoft's acquisition of LinkedIn happen, we appear to be on the cusp of a new dawn in the technology ecosystem and the conference's timing coincided perfectly with this more optimistic, yet reflective time".
Starmine data show the average sales multiple for listed software companies is 3.5.
Autonomy already trades at a much higher multiple than other software companies on the London Stock Exchange, Capital IQ data show.
But put this in perspective of multiple software engineering teams, multiple companies and multiple operating systems and versions of software and it's not hard to imagine how errors creep into applications.
During Tuesday's call, Verizon's Chief Marketing Officer John Stratton said the company intends to continue working with multiple handset partners and software companies.
You cannot directly compare chip and software companies' multiples effectively, given the difference in the gross margins of their core products.
But Palm Source provides about 9percentt of the revenue, and because software companies typically trade at higher multiples than hardware producers, it should account for more of the value.
Most of these software companies have developed solutions that encompass multiple appliances and a team of consultants to integrate it all.
For most revenue-generating early stage software companies, Enterprise Value to Revenue (EV/Revenue) can be an appropriate multiple.
For most software companies and other fast-growing concerns, he looks at the price-to-sales multiple.
