Control4 is “constantly looking” for merger and acquisition opportunities, said CEO Martin Plaehn at a Raymond James technology investor conference. Plaehn referred to “lots of innovation” in the connected home market in physical products, software and cloud-based services. Noting products from video switching company Leaf, which it bought in 2015, and Pakedge Networks, bought this January, Plaehn said Tuesday that his company also looks at businesses that offer incremental revenue opportunity from adjacent categories. On voice control interfaces, Plaehn said voice input adds to the connected home experience, though it can be difficult to manage when controllable devices number more than 100.

The transition team for President-elect Donald Trump named L Brands’ Mark Neuman as another landing team member for the Department of Commerce. Also named: new members to the teams for the Department of Transportation, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and others, said a news release this week.

Verizon agreed to sell 24 data center sites to Equinix for $3.6 billion in cash, including 29 buildings in 15 metropolitan areas, the companies said (here and here) Tuesday. That will increase interconnection in the U.S. and Latin America, the buyer said. "It enables us to enhance cloud and network density to continue to attract enterprises, while expanding our presence in the Americas," said Equinix CEO Steve Smith. Some 250 Verizon employees will work for the acquirer, Equinix said, and both companies said the deal is expected to be complete by mid-2017. "There could be some integration challenges on the non-Terremark facilities, which we understand had lower growth, utilization and capital investment than other parts of the portfolio," Wells Fargo analyst Jennifer Fritzsche wrote investors. Verizon bought Terremark in 2011 for about $1.4 billion (see reports in 2011's April 4 and Jan. 31 issues). "The network-neutral data center space represents a derivative play on the continued growth of IP and Internet traffic," the analyst wrote.

The Trump transition's Jeff Eisenach cited Latino economic and demographic dynamism in a study Tuesday by NERA Economic Consulting, where he's managing director. "The US Latino population is growing, young, increasingly educated, employed, connected, entrepreneurial, and upwardly mobile in terms of income as well as consumption," said the study. It said: the Latino population grew from 22 million in 1990 to 57 million in 2015 and is considerably younger than the U.S. population average; Latinos are responsible for 29 percent of the growth in real income since 2005; are more likely to participate in the labor force; are more likely to be entrepreneurs; and accounted for 46 percent of U.S. employment growth 2011-15; with $1.3 trillion-plus in buying power. Eisenach is a member of President-elect Donald Trump's FCC landing team, along with fellow American Enterprise Institute scholars Mark Jamison and Roslyn Layton (see 1611210045, 1611280050, 1611230014 and 1611290022).

The LNP Alliance asked the North American Numbering Council to clarify and broaden, if necessary, the role of the LNPA Working Group in the local number portability administrator transition from Neustar to Telcordia/iconectiv. Working group members recently raised questions and concerns about certain LNPA transition technical requirements, including "information about issues with system or carrier/vendor certification," testing process success and failures, transition intervals and operational requirements, said David Malfara, LNP Alliance representative to the group, in a letter posted Thursday in FCC docket 09-109 to Betty Anne Kane, chairwoman of the NANC and the District of Columbia Public Service Commission. But the working group's co-chairs indicated the NANC limited the group's role "to developing test cases," which tends to restrict important discussion, Malfara said. "To the extent there is currently a view that the broader issues listed above cannot be discussed at an LNPA Working Group meeting, we request that the NANC permit that broader discussion among the experts of the LNPA Working Group," he wrote. "This is a critical time for the NANC to clarify and, if necessary, broaden the LNPA Working Group’s mandate for discussion. ... There must continue to be clear direction from the NANC that the LNPA Working Group is chartered with discussing and analyzing the broader set of technical requirements, including issues with system or carrier/vendor certification, operational requirements, testing process issues, successes and failures in the test process, transition intervals, and how such matters will be communicated to carriers and vendors."

With many companies trying to adapt to convergence, nearly half of telecom executives are actively pursuing mergers or acquisitions in the next 12 months, Ernst & Young reported Monday. EY said 48 percent expected to pursue M&A, and 37 percent have five or more deals in the pipeline. Adding talent is a big driver, with 71 percent saying that's the most important or second most important reason for pursuing an acquisition outside their sector, EY said. “Positioning for convergence is driving a number of [high-profile] deals, such as AT&T’s announced acquisition of Time Warner, yet smaller deals that can fill gaps in portfolios or provide innovative assets or people are also moving into focus as companies look to overhaul their business models,” wrote EY Global Telecommunications Leader Gaeron McClure. “A number of carriers are pursuing ‘bolt-on’ acquisitions in areas such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and over-the-top (OTT) video services.” EY surveyed 1,700 executives in 45 countries, representing 18 sectors including technology.

A group of 29 science and education-focused groups urged President-elect Donald Trump to “quickly appoint a science advisor with the title of Assistant to the President for Science and Technology who is a nationally respected leader with the appropriate engineering, scientific, management and policy skills necessary for this critically important role,” they said in a letter to Trump dated Wednesday and released Monday. “This senior level advisor can assist you in determining effective ways to use science and technology to address major national challenges. Moreover, this individual can coordinate relevant science and technology policy and personnel decisions within the executive branch of government.”

Fifty-six percent of U.S. consumers have begun holiday shopping, down about 1 percentage point from last year at this time, which was a record, the National Retail Federation reported based on surveying 7,200 consumers Nov. 1-8. Forty-four percent will give books, CDs, DVDs, videos or videogames, and 30 percent electronics, said NRF Monday. It said Friday most U.S. adults will shop this weekend (see 1611180036).

FCC ISP privacy rules will lead to confusion for consumers, the Free State Foundation said in a Friday post. The order, which establishes different rules for ISPs than for edge providers, is seen as likely to be overturned by the Republican-controlled FCC (see 1611090034). “If a consumer who subscribes to Comcast chooses not to opt-in, it appears Comcast cannot collect information regarding that consumer's Amazon purchases because the data would be acquired through the Comcast-provided Internet connection,” wrote Michael Horney, an FSF research associate. “However, Comcast will be able to purchase that consumer's Amazon information either directly from Amazon or perhaps from the consumer's operating system and/or web browser. In other words, ISPs are allowed to purchase consumer information from edge providers, which are not subject to the FCC regulations, even though the edge providers have greater access to consumer information than ISPs.”

The FCC warned consumers about a scam involving "callers pretending to be utility company employees demanding immediate payment," often by credit, debit or gift cards. If consumers receive such a call demanding payments that they don't believe they owe, they should hang up and call the utility company's phone number from a legitimate source such as a billing statement, said an alert Tuesday from the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau. People who believe they have been targeted by the scam should report incidents to their utility company, local police, the FTC's Complaint Assistant or FCC's Consumer Help Center, it said.