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For the record 19 March
Wednesday, March 19 2008
by denise cox


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 href="http://www.enn.ie/article/10124090.html">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.