---

Writing a book is a labor of love, fraught with challenges and hurdles all along the way. We have found this to be all the more true when the book is written by a group of authors and contributors hailing from diverse cultures, professions, and time zones, who are working together as a team for the first time and attempting to address a topic as broad and complex as high-technology entrepreneurship and alliances. It is no surprise, therefore, and a special source of satisfaction to us, that we can acknowledge the contributions of so many talented people from so many walks of life. The book is richer for their diversity.