In the papers 4 July

04-07-2008

by Sylvia Leatham

Seagate to invest STG120m in Derry plant | Vodafone buys controlling stake in Ghana Telecom for USD900m

The Irish Times reports that Minister for Communications Eamon Ryan has launched the Government's policy on next-generation broadband, with a promise to invest EUR435 million to ensure universal access to broadband. Read the full story as reported by ENN on Thursday.

The paper also says that US firm Seagate Technology is to invest STG120 million in its plant in Springtown in Derry over the next two years. The new investment will not result in the creation of any additional jobs, however. Seagate said the investment will be directed into new equipment, research and development, infrastructure and IT systems. The Springtown facility specialises in wafer fabrication.

The same paper notes that Irish software start-up Dial2Do has won an award for best media and mobility company at a Silicon Valley event organised by Microsoft. A spin-out from Dublin's Rococo Software, Dial2Do has developed an application that allows users to use a hands-free phone to send e-mail and text messages, set reminders and post to web publishing services such as Twitter. The company won the award at the prestigious "Launch: Silicon Valley 2008" event.

The paper also reports on the launch of Fundingpoint.ie, a new website aimed at helping Irish charities to find new avenues for funding outside of State assistance. The site acts as a source of funding information for the community and voluntary sector and has details on hundreds of schemes from a variety of sources, including central and local government, EU funds, independent trusts and corporate grants.

The Irish Independent reports that a former IT manager who cost a State body an estimated EUR700,000 falsely claimed he had a PhD qualification in his job interview. The consultants who were appointed to check out Neil Ryan's CV failed to examine this aspect of his qualifications before he was given a job with the National Educational Welfare Board (NEWB) in 2003. The Public Accounts Committee has heard that Ryan was suspended two years later, after it emerged that almost EUR200,000 had been paid for unnecessary IT equipment and a further EUR271,000 for IT services which had not been provided.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Vodafone Group has agreed to acquire a controlling stake in Ghana Telecom for USD900 million. UK-based Vodafone said it plans to acquire a 70 percent stake in the state-controlled operator from the government of Ghana. The government will retain a 30 percent stake.

The same paper says that internet services firm VeriSign has named founder Jim Bidzos as interim chief executive, president and executive chairman, replacing William A. Roper, who resigned on Monday. Bidzos said Roper resigned from VeriSign voluntarily, but he declined to provide further details about the reasons for his departure. VeriSign's core businesses include operating the central database for the registration of all dot-com (.com) and dot-net (.net) domain name addresses, issuing certificates that encrypt online communications and authenticate the identities of website owners, and providing services that validate the identities of website users.

The Financial Times says that EU regulators are to push ahead with an antitrust inquiry into IBM's dominance of the computer mainframe market, despite Big Blue's acquisition this week of Platform Solutions, the small rival whose complaint had stirred up the review. Sources in Brussels confirmed that the European Commission would continue to investigate issues that Platform Solutions had raised, even though the company withdrew its antitrust complaints this week. "We're continuing to look at competition in that market," said one official.

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