In The Papers 18 August

18-08-2008

by Sylvia Leatham

Poor take-up for IT college courses | Gardai hunt card-skimming gang

The Irish Times reports that records concerning more than 80,000 officers from the first Irish police force are being released online. The new genealogical source will contain the personal details of every man who enlisted in the Irish Constabulary between 1816 and 1921, including name, year and place of birth, age on enlistment and marital status. The information is available on subscription website Ancestry.co.uk.

The Irish Independent says that many college courses that offer a route to technology jobs are struggling to fill places. Despite the economic downturn, there are currently 10,000 job vacancies in the computing and the IT sector, and 5,000 jobs available in engineering. One example of poor take-up of IT-related courses is at DCU, where the number of students graduating in computer applications dropped from 224 in 2005 to 70 this year. Because of the failure to fill all their places, some third-level colleges are holding special maths entrance exams, offering a second chance to students who failed Leaving Cert maths to gain entry to engineering and some technology programmes.

The paper also notes that Lenovo and Vodafone Ireland are launching a new range of ThinkPad notebooks with built-in mobile broadband. The laptops, which will be available from October, are specifically designed for the small to medium-sized business user.

The Irish Examiner reports that Gardai are hunting a gang who skimmed more than 20,000 bank cards from sales terminals in Irish shops. Una Dillon, head of card services at the Irish Payment Services Organisation, said criminals went into shops pretending to be doing maintenance work on behalf of the banks. "We have discovered only in the last 48 hours that a number of retailers have been affected by a point-of-sale compromise," she said. "We have a list of all the card numbers that have been used. They have either been blocked or restrictions put on those cards." Bank of Ireland estimated that 3,100 of its debit and credit cards were affected. It said that as a temporary measure it had reduced the daily withdrawal limit on all its debit cards for ATM transactions outside Ireland to EUR100.

The Financial Times says that while many IT firms are concerned about the prospect of their IT budgets being cut, compliance and risk issues are likely to drive an increase in spending from banks, according to a survey. A poll by Temenos, the Swiss banking software group, of 336 industry chief technical officers and financial officers found that more than 40 percent expect their budgets to rise by 5 percent or more in 2008. Another 14 percent expect their budgets to rise moderately, while 32 percent expect them to stay in line. Only 11 percent thought their budgets would be cut.

The Wall Street Journal reports that fewer Americans are reading newspapers -- getting their news online instead -- but television remains the leading source of news in the US, according to the Pew Research Center's biannual survey on news-consumption habits. Younger people tend to get more of their news on the internet, while older people use traditional media such as television and newspapers, said the survey. Pew said the results show an increasing shift toward online news consumption, but that there is now a sizable group of more engaged, sophisticated and well-off people that use both traditional and online sources to get news.

The Sunday Business Post reports that automotive technology firm DHS is planning to raise EUR1 million in funding by the end of the year. The Irish firm has already raised EUR500,000. The money will be used to develop software products for the motor industry, such as an in-car calendar and a media application. The recent funding round raised cash from Enterprise Ireland and a private equity group, with more funding promised from EI.

DHS is not alone in raising funding. The same paper reports that Limerick-based Chip Sensors has raised close to EUR1 million in the past year. The money has come from Enterprise Ireland, and the Bank of Ireland Kernel Capital Partners Fund. A total of EUR980,000 was raised. EI now holds a 39 percent stake in the company.

The paper also writes that Trimmer Kedington, an IT solutions firm based in Dublin, has recorded a net profit of EUR1.1 million for the year. The company's gross profit was up marginally from the previous year's EUR4.5 million to EUR4.6 million, while net profit fell slightly from EUR1.2 million to EUR1.1 million. The firm also slashed staff numbers during 2007, cutting its wage bill from EUR6.6 million to EUR5.8 million in the process.

The Sunday Business Post also reports that technology firm Version 1 is on track to generate EUR20 million in revenue after it won new business valued at EUR3 million in the past three months. The new clients include IIB Bank, Unicare, Quinn Healthcare, the Royal College of Surgeons and government departments. A number of other deals are said to be in the works.

The same paper notes that online insurer Click and Insure has unveiled a new mortgage repayment insurance product on its website.

The paper also notes that a new seminar from the Irish Internet Association and marketing company ICAN will discuss new media tools for businesses. The half-day seminar will take place next month.

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