Provo, Utah-based Ancestry.com said Wednesday afternoon that it has named Dr. Paul R. Billings to the company's board of directors. Billings, who the company said is a "renowned genomics expert", boosts the firm's board to nine board members. Billings is Chief medical officer at life Technologies, and also has served at CELLective Dx Corporation and Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings. Ancestry.com is a provider of family history and genealogy resources.

Phoenix-based DICOM Grid said Wednesday that it has raised $5M in an expansion funding round, for the firm's cloud-based, software-as-a-service for medical imaging. The funding was led by Canaan Partners, CHL Medical Partners, and individual investors. DICOM Grid, which is led by Morris Panner, said the funding will go to expand distribution of its products for managing diagnostic imaging and related health data. DICOM's product helps imaging centers, hospitals, and doctors to offload the hassles of storing, sharing, and exchanging diagnostic imaging, moving that into the cloud instead of keeping it on expensive, in-house storage.

Lafayette, Colorado-based Aegis Analytical, which develops manufacturing and process management software, said this morning that it has named Mike Neal as its new Chief Technology Officer. Neal has previously served in CTO roles at IHS, SAQQARA, and Requisite Technology, in addition to serving at Lockheed and other companies. Aegis Analytical develops softwar eused by manufacturers to manage their manufacturing processes.

Screen protector: check; smart phone case: check; add-on Bluetooth keyboard, check; built-in pepper spray cartridge, say again? Think you're the mobile phone user every accessory under the sun? An Arizona company has come up with what might be the most unique (or at least, dangerous) mobile smartphone accessory yet, a smartphone case which includes a built in pepper spray cartridge. Spraytect said it hopes to make its product available in June to users, allowing Apple iPhone 4 and 4S users to use the popular smartphone as both a communications device and a weapon. It's unclear how often iPhone users expect to use their smartphone as a defensive device, however, Spraytect looks to be betting that there are many customers out there who think they might just need to use their mobile phone as personal protection while texting or surfing the Internet.

Boulder-based Mocavo, which is developing an online genalogy search engine, is announcing this morning that it has raised $4M in a Series A funding. The round came from the Foundry Group. Seth Levine of Foundry joins the company's board as part of the funding. Mocavo is developing a custom search engine specifically focused on genealogy information. The company was part of the TechStars accelerator effort. Mocavo is led by Cliff Shaw, who previously built three companies in the genealogy area, including GenForum (sold to A&E Networks), Pearl Street Software (sold to MyHeritage), and BackUpMyTree (also sold to MyHeritage).

Salt Lake City-based online health social networking site Alliance Health Networks said Tuesday that it has acquired Medify, the operator of an online site which allowed users to learn more about disease conditions based on the experiences from other patients. Financial terms of the acquisition were not announced. Alliance Health said it will integrate Medify's technology across its portfolio of social health networks, a network of sites focused on specific health conditions. Medify was venture backed by Voyager Capital.

What's Paul Ahlstrom, one of the founders of vSpring Capital doing nowadays? Kickstarting an entire venture capital industry in Mexico, that's what. In a fascinating story on Ahlstrom's journey from Salt Lake City to moving his family to Mexico, GigaOm talks about how Ahlstrom is pioneering the venture capital industry in Mexico, applying what he learned in Utah to create a entrepreneur and investing community in that country.

Provo, Utah-based Qualtrics, a developer of enterprise data collection and analysis software headed by Ryan Smith, has raised a huge, $70M funding round for the firm from two high profile venture capital firms. The round looks to be the largest venture capital round raised by a Utah company in years, dwarfing the amount of venture capital invested in the state over the last few quarters. Qualtrics said the funding will go to expand its software-as-a-service product offerings, and accelerate its global growth. Qualtrics said it plans to hire another 250 employees in the next year alone. Qualtrics software is used by businesses for online data collection and analysis, and allows do-it-yourself tools and analytics software to those companies.

Boulder-based SolidFire is tapping a veteran of Skype and Avaya for its new Vice President of Engineering, the company said today. Skype said it has named Daniel Berg as its Vice President of Engineering, to head up engineering, development and quality for its solid state disk (SSD) storage systems. Berg joins from Avaya, where he was VP of Research and Development. Berg also served as Chief Technology Officer and Head of Research and Development at Skype, in addition to serving at Sun Microsystems, IBM, and Honeywell.

Denver-based TriZetto Group, the developer of healthcare management software headed by Trace Devanny, is expanding today, saying that its subsidiary Gateway EDI has acquired NHXS, a software firm that helps medical practices manage physician reimbursements. Financial terms of the acquisition were not announced by the company. TriZetto said that it will integrate NHXS's capabilities into its Gatway EDI solutions. TriZetto acquired Gateway EDI in February of 2011.

Scottsdale, Arizona-based GoDaddy announced today that it has awarded $100,000 in total scholarships, as part of its second annual Go Daddy .ME Scholarship Program. The domain name registration and web services firm said that it awarded $10,000 scholarships to ten different students to apply towards the cost of tuition and books this fall. The scholarship asked students to submit an essay on how the they’ve leveraged the power of the Internet in their education. Winners were Nina Brante, Kennesaw, Ga.; Hannah Potter, Yarmouth, Maine; Brian Schroeder, Greenville, N.C.; Jennifer Tu, New Orleans, La.; Brian Lange, Wyoming, Ohio; Madison Maschger, Grain Valley, Mo.; Vinamrata Singal, Seabrook, Texas; Leahna Luke, Honolulu, Hawaii;
Matthew Iozzio, Little Falls, N.J.; and Rachel Russell, Newbury Park, Calif.

A major data center and colocation provider, CyrusOne, said today that it is breaking ground tomorrow on a new, 1 million square foot data center it is building on a 57-acre campus in Chandler, Arizona. CyrusOne said its new data center, which is expected to have its first phase complete in 2013, is on a parcel of land it purchase in Chandler last fall. CyrusOne is a subsidiary of Cincinnati Bell, and is based in Houston, Texas. The firm said the data center is expected to be the largest of its kind in the country, with its own 110 megawatt power substation.

Trimble, a developer of GPS and other related equipment for the surveying, construction, agriculture, fleet and asset management, public safety and mapping industry, broke ground on a new campus in Westminster, Colorado today. Trimble, which has had operations in the state since 2000, is opening up a new 125,000 sq. ft, 4-story building on 15 acres, with space for up to 570 employees. Trimble is expecting to complete the campus in May of next year. The company broke ground on the project at a ceremony Monday with Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper as well as other local dignitaries. Cresa Partners, a real estate broker which focuses on technology firms, was the broker on the project.

Broomfield, Colorado-based Starboard Storage, a developer of storage systems which use both solid state and hard disk drive storage, has raised $13M in a Series B funding round, the firm said this morning. The round came from JP Ventures GmbH and Grzia Equity GmbH. Starboard Storage said its storage sytsems provide twice the performance at half the cost of competing storage systems. The firm is headed by Victor Walker. The company said the funds will go towards sales, marketing, and operations.

Englewood, Colorado-based IHS, the provider of information analysis services and other related services, said Friday that it has acquired Arvada, Colorado-based XeDAR. IHS said it paid approximately $28M for XeDar, which is a provider of geospatial information products and services. Xedar had 134 employees in Arvada as well as at an office in Albuquerque. IHS said that XeDAR's geographic and land information system solutions are a "great complement" to its energy technical information and analytical tools.

Denver-based Regenerative Sciences announced this morning that it has raised $2M in an investment round, for the firm's development of treatments for orthopedic conditions. The investment came from John C. Malone, chairman of Liberty Media Corporation. According to the firm, the investment will go towards advancing its clinical and lab-based stem cell research, as well as national expansion of its physician network. Regenerative Sciences uses a patient's own stem cells to treat such issues as cartilage lesions, torn ligaments and tendons, osteoarthritis and bulging spinal discs.

Salt Lake City-based inContact, which develops cloud-based, contact center software, reported today that its Executive VP of Sales, Frank Maylett, is leaving the firm. Maylett has been at inConcact since 2008. Maylett is leaving to another software company, which was not named by inContact.

A pair of Arizona State University students--who went on a leave of absence from the school to start their company--have just scored $10M in venture funding. Suhail Doshi and Tim Trefen, the founders of Mixpanel, met at school at ASU, and decided to apply for the YCombinator accelerator program in San Francisco. The firm just announced $10M in funding this week in a Series A funding, which came from Andreessen Horowitz, along with Max Levchin (co-founder of PayPal), Marc Benioff (founder of Salesforce.com), and David Sachs (co-founder of PayPal). The firm is now located in San Francisco.

Boulder-based Napkin Labs said Thursday that it has launched its suite of off-the-shelf apps that helps companies bolster their following on Facebook. The firm said its apps include Brainstorm, a way for companies to ask fan questions and allow fans to share content; Photoboard, a way to hosts contest and collect pictures from the community; Superfans, to find and connect with the most influential fans of a brand; and more. Napkin Labs was co-founded and is headed by CEO Riley Gibson. All of the firm's new apps interact with Timeline and encourage participation from a Facebook user's friends and connections.

Lehi, Utah-based Solutionreach, a developer of a software-as-a-service product to help healthcare practices communicate with their patients, has scored an equity investment from private equity firm Summit Partners. Financial terms of the investment were not disclosed. Solutionreach, which was founded in 2000, helps healthcare practices acquire, educate, and otherwise communicate and market to patients. The company is headed by Jim Higgins. As part of the investment, Peter J. Connolly, Craig D. Frances, Thomas S. Bremner, all of Summit Partners, have joined the company's board of directors.

Boulder-based software development tool developer Rogue Wave Software is expanding its lineup of tools through an acquisition, the firm said Thursday, of IBM's ILOG Visualization for C++ Products line. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Rogue Wave said its agreement to acquire the line will add high-performance data visualization capabilities to its portfolio. Rogue Wave, which is headed by Brian Pierce, develops a range of software tools specifically aimed at the high performance computing (HPC) market. The firm is venture backed by Battery Ventures.

Provo, Utah-based online family history and research site Ancestry.com told its users Thursday that it has now hit more than 10 billion records on the service. Ancestry.com offers up lists of historical records which are used for family history and genealogy projects. The company did not say if that count included records it added in April when it acquired competitor Archives.com.

Bozeman, Montana-based Schedulicity, the developer of online scheduling software for small businesses, said Wednesday that it has added Greg Rogers, the co-founder and CEO of Pictela, to its board. Pictela is an ad-serving technology firm which AOL acquired in December of 2010. Rogers also has served at Tacoda. Schedulicity, which is run by Jerry Nettuno, said that Rogers will help the firm evolve its service offerings. Schedulicity's software is used by small businesses to handle online appointment scheduling.

Louisville, Colorado-based Coalfire, the provider of IT audit, risk assessment and compliance management products and services, announced today that it has acquired Digital Resources Group (DRG), a California-based provider of information security assessment and data protection services. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Coalfire, which is venture backed by Baird Venture Partners, said the buy will give it staff, skills, and and additional geographic presence in the northeast and western United States and in Latin American and the Caribbean. Coalfire, which is headed by Rick Dakin, said that it has more than doubled its staff since its venture round from Baird last year.

Security software developer eEye, which has operations in Phoenix, has been acquired by fellow security software firm BeyondTrust, the firms said this morning. Financial terms of the acquisition were not announced. BeyondTrust said that it will integrate eEye's Retina CS products with its PowerBroker family of products. eEye was venture backed by Openview Venture Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners and Insight Venture Partners.

In more proof that you can't have too much fun at a startup, Boulder-based Orbotix has a new video out, where some of the company's engineers cleverly disguised the robotic ball as an orange. The engineers took the disguised Orange sphero, and stuck it in a grocery store, confusing shoppers to no end when what they thought was a fruit went running away on the aisles. (video below)

Lujure, which develops an online service to help companies easily create a Facebook fan page, has scored funding from TechStars' David Cohen. According to Lujure, it raised $500,000 in a funding round from angels, which included David Cohen, the founder and CEO of TechStars, along with Pat Matthews (webmail.us), and Bill Boebel (webmail.us). Lujure is based in Blacksburg, Virginia.

Colorado Springs-based Ramtron said today that it has named Gary E. Richards, currently serving as its Interim CFO, to the permanent position of Chief Financial Officer. Richards has been interim CFo since October of 2011. Richards had been serving as controller of Ramtron since 2008, and also had served at Photo Stencil, Pricewaterhouse, Martin Marietta, Digital Equipment, United Technologies and Apple. Ramtron is a semiconductor maker which develops memory products.

Salt Lake City-based Zagg is threatening to "aggressively pursue its legal rights" against a blogger, which the firm said accused the maker of mobile device accessories with manipulation of its financial results. In a terse statement, Zagg--which says it normally does "not comment on blog posts"--said the blog purposefully distorts information and erroneously references financial results from the company, and that it will be also be reporting the matter to the Securities and Exchange Commission. It appears that the statement might have come as a result of a post on Seeking Alpha last week, where Nicholas Pardini, a analyst at hedge fund Nomadic Capital Partners, claimed that Zagg is "defrauding investors through channel stuffing" and that its sales numbers do not match its earnings claims.

Missoula, Montana-based TerraEchos, a developer of a software system which is able to turn unstructured data streams to detect security threats in both the cyber and real world, said today that it has gained additional seed funding. Financial details of the funding were not disclosed. The round said the new investment came from True Ventures. TerraEchos has previously raised funding from Flywheel Ventures, S&K Technologies, and GCS research. TerraEchos' products are used by the U.S. defense and intelligence community.

Louisville, Colorado-based zColo, the colocation arm of Zayo Group, said today that it has inked a deal to provide provide carrier-neutral interconnection and colocation services for First Communications. Financial details of the deal was not disclosed. Zayo provides a network of fiber bandwidth, network-neutral colocation and interconnection services.

Denver-based TrizeTto Group, the developer of healthcare information technology software, said that it has added CDPHP, a not-for-profit health plan serving nearly 400,000 members in upstate New York, as a customer. TriZetto said that CDPHP is using its care management software for population health management and member engagement initiatives. Size of the deal was not announced. TriZetto's software is being used to consolidate a variety of application that were previously used by CDPHP for care management.

Boulder-based Confio Software, which makes database performance analysis software, claims that it has seen record growth during its first quarter of 2012. The firm--which did not report actual financials--said it now has seen its ninth consecutive quarter of double-digit revenue increases. The company said the increase came due to increased deployment of databases in virtualized environments. confio is headed by Matt Larson. The company has been claiming record growth records for the past few years, but has yet to announce any actual growth figures or revenue numbers.

Boulder-based Ball Aerospace, the developer of spacecraft, advanced instruments, sensors, and other products for the aerospace industry, said it has named Jeff Osterkamp as its Vice President of Engineering today. Osterkamp was already at Ball, serving most recently as Vice president for Component Technologies. He also served at Sperry Flight Systems. Ball said that Osterkamp replaces Doug Neam, who retired last month.