NEWS IN BRIEF
Daily Digest 24 February
24-02-2009
by Bryan Collins
UPC boosts broadband and phone customers | Google apologises for Gmail outage
UPC Ireland, the parent company of NTL and Chorus, reported a 2.7 percent drop in revenue for October to December 2008 compared to the same period in 2007. Over the same period the company’s operating cash flow rose by over 10 percent and it generated revenue of USD80.7 million. UPC Ireland saw its broadband subscriber base exceed 100,000 during the quarter and its telephone customer base reach 27,800, an increase of 9 and 19 percent respectively year-on-year. The firm also reported an increase in its digital television subscriber base to 315,500 and a decrease in its ordinary cable television subscriptions; something it blamed on the fall in the number of newly-built homes. “As we enter 2009, UPC has confirmed it is committed to spending EUR90 million to continue providing Irish business and consumers with more choice,” said Robert Dunne, CEO of UPC Ireland.
Eircom has set up a EUR100,000 fund for people who are developing innovative web applications. The telco has partnered with research and development group Telecommunication Software and Systems Group (TSSG) to promote its second Web Innovation Fund. It’s inviting applicants who are developing web content, movies, TV, games news, music, sport and widgets. The closing date for submissions is Thursday, 30 April 2009. “It’s a very challenging time out there for start-ups in today’s economic climate. Money is tight and funding is difficult to secure,” said Cathal Magee managing Director of Eircom Retail. Further details are available here.
On Tuesday, Microsoft and the Digital Media Forum hosted an event to help companies access information and guidance for setting up their ventures. Over 200 companies attended the Bizspark Innovation Accelerator in Dublin. The event featured discussions and workshops hosted by some of Ireland’s prominent entrepreneurs including Iona Founder Chris Horn, Havok founder Dr Steve Collins and the 2008 Dublin City Female Entrepreneur Mary Ryan. BizSpark start-ups receive professional support from Microsoft as well as community-driven support from partners like the Digital Media Forum. The programme is open to all tech start-up companies who are privately held, less than three years old, have less than USD1 million annual revenue and are developing a software product or service.
Samsung Ireland has appointed Anthony Dayman as its key accounts manager within its consumer electronics division. Dayman will be responsible for leading the development of strategic partnerships across Samsung’s key accounts such as Euronics, Expert and Harvey Norman. Prior to this appointment, Anthony worked with Osmosis Distribution and Sharp Electronics. He has previous account management experience in the electronic retail sector, having begun his career in consumer electronics with DSG Group.
Scoil Mhuire Marino in Dublin, has become the first school to benefit from the Computers for Irish Schools programme. It received a number of machines free of charge which were recycled on behalf of Whitehall College of Further Education. The programme is aimed at companies who want to dispose of their computers and allows them to donate their hardware at no extra cost. "In Scoil Mhuire Marino we are currently using 10 machines which have been kindly donated by Computers for Irish Schools. These machines have been a great addition to the school and they are currently on the network in the computer room, increasing the number of machines available to the children," said Martin Rabitte, the man who nominated Scoil Mhuire as a participant in the programme.
Irish-based broadband infrastructure group, euNetworks, has launched a new high-capacity Ethernet network throughout Germany. euNetworks' Ethernet solutions can be deployed from more than 20 datacenters across Germany and more than 100 datacenters across Europe including France, Ireland and the UK. The network was developed to meet the increasing demand for mission-critical networking solutions from financial institutions, web 2.0 providers and various other businesses.
Macalla, an Irish mobile payment solutions provider, is to provide its Macalla Platform to Saudi Telecom Company's (STC), Kuwaiti subsidiary VIVA. The Irish company is contracted to provide software and expertise to enable VIVA's e-payments and m-commerce services. The roll-out of the project will be on a phased basis. The VIVA service channels include mobile, kiosk and web and will support payment by wallet, debit and credit cards. The VIVA services are provided in Arabic and English directly to VIVA subscribers via the VIVA dealer/agent network.
Travel review website boo.com has partnered with toptable.com to allow visitors to book restaurants directly through Toptable’s website. Customer will also be able to access more than 25,000 restaurant reviews on the site. “Users can also use boo.com search technology to search for restaurants via Google Maps allowing them view and book restaurants and reviews based on location. Visitors can also see a wide selection of bars, attractions and of course hotels nearby prospective restaurants that they are considering,” said boo.com’s web producer Yvonne Martin. Irish firm Web Reservations International (WRI) is the parent company of boo.com.
Gmail users worldwide were left floundering for several hours Tuesday morning as Google's webmail service experienced an outage. People were unable to access their e-mail, calendar or contact information, with many turning to blogging and microblogging sites to express their displeasure. The issue was resolved before lunch time and Google has since released a statement. "Many of our users had difficulty accessing Gmail today. The problem is now resolved and users have had access restored. We know how important Gmail is to our users, so we take issues like this very seriously, and we apologise for the inconvenience." The internet giant did not explain what caused the outage.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 