IN THE PAPERS
In the papers 14 May
14-05-2007
by Jonathan Farrelly
Perlico to enter personal finance sector | Microsoft close to finalising USD500 million investment in Dublin
The Irish Times reports that telephony and broadband provider Perlico is planning to enter into the personal finance market and intends to offer a range of products to consumers from September, including lending and credit cards. Perlico founder and chief executive Iain MacDonald said that Perlico also eventually intended to offer mortgages, income protection and life protection products.
The same paper reports on the commencement of a pilot test of interoperability of electronic tolling tags by the National Roads Authority (NRA). Interoperability would mean that motorists who have an electronic tag for use on a specific toll road in Ireland would be able to use it to pass through any other toll in the country. Around 1,000 motorists have been invited to take part in the trial, which is expected to last for a month. It is understood that if the pilot is a success, commercial deployment could happen within a matter of weeks.
The Irish Examiner reports that Catherine Buckley, president of Macra na Feirme has called on political parties to help devise a national strategy to encourage employers to facilitate e-working from home. She said it is "widely accepted" that working from home can help workers organise their time more efficiently and reduce the stress of commuting.
The same paper reports that Dublin-based software and consultancy provider to the financial services industry, Exaxe, is looking to expand in Europe and is seeking partners in overseas markets to drive the business. The company has the backing of Enterprise Ireland and said it plans to double its turnover to EUR10 million within four years.
According to the Wall Street Journal chip maker AMD is moving to boost its image among gamers and other computer enthusiasts, with the introduction of its next advance in graphics technology. These new graphics processors are an outcome of AMD's USD5.4 billion acquisition last year of ATI Technologies, and will compete with products introduced by rival Nvidia in November. They are available immediately in add-on cards for personal computers.
The Financial Times reports that US e-commerce sales, excluding travel, rose 29 percent to USD146.5 billion last year. The figures, compiled by Shop.org, part of the National Retail Federation, reveal that online clothing sales reached USD18.3 billion in 2006 compared with the USD17.2 billion spent on computers bought via the internet.
The Sunday Independent reports that Enterprise Ireland is said to be "disappointed" that its client companies are selling out too early, according to sources. In recent years a number of Irish technology companies have been bought out in major trade sales, which have included Avaya's purchase of Dublin firm Spectel for USD103 million in cash. However, the State agency's current strategy is to grow Irish companies and see them become world-leading corporations.
The Sunday Business Post reports that Microsoft is close to making a USD500 million investment in Dublin, creating up to 250 jobs. Already one of the countries biggest employers, the company is looking to build a massive data centre at Grange Castle in west Dublin, which would employ skilled technical staff and house thousands of computer servers. The project is well advanced but has yet to be fully approved, Microsoft said in a statement. "Final confirmation for this project is yet to be secured and therefore it is inappropriate to provide further details at this time."
The same paper also states that wireless broadband company Ice Broadband is claiming that it will use new mesh wireless technology from Motorola to cover "every square kilometre" and provide "100 percent" broadband coverage in Ireland by the end of the year. According to the company's chief executive Yvonne Rooney, who is dotcom entrepreneur Fran Rooney's daughter, "we'll charge the same price everywhere in the country and we'll cover everywhere, including the remotest rural areas."
The same paper also says that the Labour Party, Mary Harney, and Fianna Fail have all put a series of campaign videos online, on video website YouTube. The main difference between them is apparently the production quality, as the Progressive Democrats appear to have paid for high quality video.
The same paper also reports that Information Mosaic the Dublin financial software company, has raised EUR9.6 million in funding from its existing investors. Nordic merchant bank SEB and the senior management of Information Mosaic participated in the finance round. The money will now be used for research and development and product marketing, according to John Byrne, founder and chief executive of Information Mosaic. Byrne said the company had also finalised a EUR5 million bond issue with investment banks, which will be repaid over a five-year period at a specified rate of interest.
The same paper also reveals that the chief executive of diagnostics firm Biotrin plans to launch a new company just nine months after he completed a EUR15 million buyout of Biotrin. Cormac Kilty is looking at ways to fund a spin-out from Biotrin. It would be based on the company's biomarkers technology, which can assess organ and tissue damage. Biotrin has just launched a product, which it claims can detect acute kidney injuries much earlier than existing tests. If the product is well received, Kilty is likely to raise significant funding to build a separate company developing and selling biomarker products.
The same paper also says that an Irish internet marketing company backed by Bob Geldof hopes to raise EUR2.4 million in its first-round funding this month. Youbloom which makes web-based marketing tools for music and film companies, has already attracted EUR1 million in funding from private investors. These investors were organised by the Dublin-based financial consultancy firm Cooney Carey. The investors were "mainly property people", said Youbloom's chief executive, Phil Harrington.
And finally, the Sunday Business Post states that Three Ireland is to expand its mobile broadband network to desktop computer users this week. It is to begin selling a broadband package for EUR20 a month. The service will reportedly have a download speed up to 3.6Mbps and will use an adaptor to connect to Three's mobile broadband network. The move will target the 55 percent of Irish households with PCs and is likely to intensify competition with fixed wireless broadband providers.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 