For the record 19 March
19-03-2008
by Ciara O'Brien

Lan Communications wins Nortel award | Athlone IT gets EUR1.8m funding for research hub

Following the announcement of IBM's decision to locate a cloud computing centre in Dublin at its Innovation Campus, Barry O'Leary, chief executive of IDA Ireland, said the development of IBM since it established its Irish base contributed to the decision to locate the new cloud computing centre here. He also said that it would have a number of benefits for Ireland. "It is great value to Ireland in marketing Ireland's technology capabilities," he said. The link-up with third level institutions will also yield benefits in the future, he claimed. "Cloud computing enables students and people working in companies to join a network and use the technology to share ideas." Read the full story on ENN.

Network services provider Lan Communications has been awarded Nortel's "EMEA Outstanding Achievement in Customer Contact" award. The award is designed to recognise innovative technology leadership and successful deployment of Nortel multimedia customer contact solutions with enterprise and government clients. The recipients were announced at the PartnerForum, held in Madrid.

BT Ireland has appointed Paul Mallon as its new practice principle in Corporate & Government Solutions. Prior to taking up the position with BT Ireland, Mallon was CRM Practice Manager for UK & Ireland with Steria. In his new role, Mallon will take responsibility for leading BT Contact Centre Solutions in the marketplace, within BT's Corporate & Government Solutions organisation across the island of Ireland.

Athlone Institute of Technology has been granted EUR1.8 million in government funding for a postgraduate research environment. The Postgraduate Research Hub will contain world-class technology and equipment, purpose-built research workspace, seminar and social space. Located on AIT's East Campus, the hub is expected to enhance the learning, research and social infrastructure of the Athlone campus, accommodating 60 research masters and doctoral student stations.

Organisations in the US and Europe aren't meeting their green objectives because of a lack of communication between the board and IT managers, according to research announced today by Global DataCenter Management (GDCM) and Quocirca. The study found that 35 percent of companies with a carbon footprint reduction policy don't pass it onto IT as a formal objective. More than half of data centre managers aren't aware of their monthly power bill, while 47 percent of organisations do not track server utilisation levels. A surprising 28 percent of data centre managers don't know how many servers they have.

Irish contact centre Conduit has signed a deal with Tesco Mobile to provide its customer care functions. The mobile operator joins Tourism Ireland, TalkTalk, and Vodafone's UK subsidiary as Conduit clients. The call centre has developed training programmes tailored to Tesco Mobile's needs, including accent neutralisation and email etiquette courses.

Northgate Infrastructure Solutions has teamed up with Grampian Fire and Rescue Service (GFRS) to provide, maintain and manage IT infrastructure worth STG15,000. GFRS employs more than 900 people and serves communities in Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire and Moray Council areas. Key IT infrastructure improvements include new operating systems, servers and improved security protocols, which have contributed to greater efficiencies and helped provide the most up-to-date risk information to the fire service audience.

Sony is trying to entice Irish consumers to invest in a Blu-ray DVD player by offering HD DVD owners EUR150 off a new machine to trade-in their HD DVD player. The promotion includes the BDPS300 or BDPS500 Blu-ray players. The discount will be given when the old HD DVD player is presented at an authorised Sony dealer. However, the promotion doesn't include the PS3 and will only run until 31 March.

Toshiba has slashed its profit forecast by a third for the year to March, as weaker flash memory chip prices and HD DVD losses hit the company's bottom line. Net profit is expected to be in the region of 125 billion yen, instead of 180 billion yen that was forecast. Outlook on operating profit was cut to 230 billion yen from 290 billion yen, while revenue is forecast at 7.7 trillion yen, down from 7.8 trillion yen. The figures were negatively affected by a larger-than anticipated decline in sales prices of NAND flash memory, and the company's announcement that it was abandoning its HD DVD business.

Adobe Systems reported revenue of USD890.4 million in the first quarter of 2008, up from USD649.4 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2007, a 37 percent growth year on year. The company had been aiming for revenue in the range of USD855 to USD885 million. The first quarter performance was fueled by the continued demand for Creative Suite 3 products, and good performance in the Acrobat family. Diluted earnings per share for the quarter reached USD0.38, compared to USD0.24 a year earlier. GAAP net income rose to USD219.4 million from USD143.9 million in the first quarter of 2007. The company is aiming for revenue of USD855 million to USD885 million in the second quarter, with an operating margin of 29 to 30 percent.

ComReg has launched a consultation process on how the price of shared access to the local loop for alternative operators will be determined. The regulator is inviting responses to the document, which includes a suggestion that the price of LLU Line Share could be based on an average of comparable prices across the EU 15 for an interim period. The closing date for submissions is 16th April 2008.