Daily Digest 25 August

25-08-2008

by Deirdre McArdle

Broadcom to buy AMD's digital TV unit | 'Champions' to boost student interest in IT careers

Broadcom is to acquire fellow chip maker AMD's digital TV chip business for USD192.8 million in cash. AMD is selling the unit as part of a program to reduce debt and improve profitability, said Dirk Meyer, president and chief executive. "The sale of our DTV business is a key step in AMD's transformation, helping to strengthen our balance sheet, lower our breakeven point, and hone our focus in order to take full advantage of our position as a leader in both microprocessors and graphics technology," said Meyer in a statement. The 530 members of AMD's dedicated DTV team, as well as certain employees directly supporting this team will be invited to join Broadcom.

In a bid to boost interest among second level students in careers in engineering, science and technology, ICT Ireland and Engineers Ireland have launched the 'Champions Programme', which will involve young 'champions' from high-tech companies visiting schools around the country to talk directly to students. Champions from over 50 technology companies will participate, visiting approximately 250 schools to talk about their lives and experiences, and why it's worth considering a career in technology. According to reports there are currently 10,000 job vacancies in the computing and IT sector in Ireland, and 5,000 jobs available in engineering. Despite the high number of vacancies, many college courses that could lead to positions in the IT and engineering sectors are struggling to fill places.

In related news, consultancy firm Deloitte revealed that over 90 percent of the technology firms it surveyed in Northern Ireland said employee retention and recruitment was their biggest obstacle. The report found that firms throughout Northern Ireland are feeling the effects of a shrinking talent pool simply because they are not retaining enough graduates, many of whom are being lured into foreign markets. The report also revealed that 42 percent of respondents said a shortage of experience was a key factor in recruiting enough technically qualified staff.

Irish-owned online recruitment firm saongroup.com has announced its acquisition of Mauritius-based recruitment website MyJob.mu for an undisclosed sum. MyJob.mu is the leading recruitment site in Mauritius. The announcement follows saongroup's acquisition of South African recruitment website PNet in August 2007. Saongroup.com has offices in 10 countries across four continents. Its head office is in Dublin and the firm employs more than 1,700 people around the world.

Irish directory enquiries service Call 11890 has extended its 'Freedom' campaign until the 31 December 2008. That means that landline (Eircom landline) calls to 11890 will be free until the end of the year. Call 11890 is headquartered in Clonshaugh Industrial Estate, Dublin. The firm currently employs over 110 staff across its call centres in Dublin and Galway. It is estimated that the Irish directory enquiries market will be worth EUR70 million by the end of 2008.

The iPhone is on the way to Russia, with Apple agreeing a distribution deal with carrier Mobile TeleSystems, Russia's largest mobile operator. According to a source quoted by Reuters the device will go on sale in the Russian market in October of this year.

The Public Interest Registry, the registry behind the dot-org domain name, has announced that over 7 million domain names are now registered as dot-org, making in the third most popular generic domain after dot-com and dot-net. "This is a significant milestone for .org, as it has consistently grown 20 percent year over year since its management by [the] Public Interest Registry," said Alexa Raad, CEO of the Public Interest Registry. The registry began managing the dot-org domain in 2003.