Today's news, that Elevation Partners is investing $325m for a 25% stake in Palm, is a coming of age for private equity in the tech industry. Which makes the deal a vindication of Roger McNamee, one of the first financiers to see that the sector was mature enough to support a buyout industry, specializing in the restructuring or refinancing of established companies, sometimes even troubled ones like Palm. Press coverage has focused on the involvement of Bono, the U2 lead singer who's a partner at Elevation. But rock-loving McNamee is the firm's founder; what's more, another private-equity firm he started, Silver Lake Partners, is poised to beat out Nortel in the bidding for Avaya, the telecoms equipment maker.