NEWS IN BRIEF
Daily Digest 22 August
22-08-2008
by Deirdre McArdle
Luzern receives EUR2.5m investment | Nortel jumps into virtual worlds
Dublin-based e-commerce firm Luzern has received a cash injection of EUR2.5 million from venture capital firm Delta Partners. Luzern's proprietary web-based application 'Channel Optimiser' helps product manufacturers manage the return and sale of surplus goods or goods that have been returned at the point-of-sale. Specifically, Luzern's 'Channel Optimise' helps manufacturers sell these goods through e-commerce channels like eBay and Amazon. Luzern currently works with such consumer electronic product manufacturers as Creative, Palm, Philips and Sanyo. Luzern plans to use the money to expand its global operations and to support its breakthrough in the US market.
Telecoms equipment firm Nortel has unveiled web.alive, its 3-D audio-visual virtual world technology aimed at the business sector. The technology can be used on a firm's external website to allow sales staff to interact with customers via their avatars, for example. It can also be used as a collaborative tool for employees; they could hold virtual web-based meetings with their avatars interacting in real-time. Nortel has also announced its acquisition of DiamondWare, a developer of proximity-based 3D positional voice technology that brings life-like sound to virtual web and voice communications. DiamondWare's technology will be a key component of web.alive.
E-learning firm SkillSoft has posted second quarter revenue of USD83.3 million, up 17 percent on the USD71.5 million reported in the same period a year ago. Net income came in at USD12.9 million, a slight increase on USD12.4 million in 2007. Earnings per share for the period were USD0.10, a marginal drop from USD0.11 in the year-ago quarter. SkillSoft was formed in 2002 when Irish e-learning giant Smartforce merged with smaller US rival SkillSoft. The company currently employs 60 people in Ireland.
Workforce management solutions firm Softworks announced that the Courts Service is to pilot its web-based Flexitime, Absence Management & Leave Approval solutions in selected offices throughout the nationwide network of court buildings. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. Headquartered in Wicklow, Softworks also has offices in the UK and the US.
The Home Office in the UK has revealed that a memory stick containing personal details of criminals in the UK has been lost. The stick was lost by the Home Office's contractor PA Consulting while it was being moved between computers, according to reports. The data, relating to all prisoners in England and Wales, was not encrypted and contained names, birth dates, prison release dates and home detention curfew dates. An investigation into this latest data loss bungle is underway.
Closer to home, Bank of Ireland has said that it will not be making public the Data Protection Commissioner's report into the theft of four bank laptops last year. In April 2008 it emerged that the four laptops had been stolen between June and October 2007. The laptops contained credit history, some medical backgrounds for life assurance quotes, addresses and bank account details of some 10,000 bank customers. In a statement to RTE News, Bank of Ireland said it accepted the findings and recommendations of the Data Protection Commissioner's report.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 