Hard times offer tech opportunity: Austin ventures mines deals from company cutbacks. (News).

WEST END -- In a departure from its traditional modus operandi of investing in early-stage concerns, Austin Ventures has launched an initiative to help spin out promising technologies from large corporations and build companies around them.

Led by David Panos, a newly hired venture partner, Austin Ventures will aim for technologies within its traditional areas of expertise -- software, telecommunications equipment and semiconductors -- though Panos also is examining potential deals in everything from security and enterprise-application software to wireless communications.

Though Panos' primary base is in Austin, "I expect a major proportion of our investments …