NEWS IN BRIEF
For the record 8 June
08-06-2007
by Emmet Ryan
Eircom cuts wholesale call rates | First Derivatives lists on IEX
ComReg has announced that the wholesale cost of telephone calls charged by Eircom is to fall by 10 percent from 1 July. Interconnection call conveyance rates are the charges Eircom levies on other telecoms operators for initiating or terminating calls on its network. The reduction in charges is the result of a review held by ComReg.
Worldwide sales of IPTV set-top boxes will grow to 7.9 million units in 2007, according to researchers Strategy Analytics. The report, IPTV Set-Tops: SD, HD and DVR Global Market Forecast, predicts that more than 3 million HD-enabled IPTV set-top boxes will be sold in Europe alone this year as operators make the switch to H.264 technology. The share of DVRs is also growing rapidly, rising to 29 percent of the global market this year from 15 percent in 2006 as IPTV newcomers seek to compete with satellite and cable incumbents. Strategy Analytics predicts that annual worldwide sales of IPTV set-top boxes will reach 33.5 million by 2012, by which time the global installed base will be 112 million units. The report indicates that Asia-Pacific will be the dominant market, accounting for 45 percent of the installed base, followed by Europe on 33 percent and the US on 13 percent.
A number of critical bugs have been discovered in Yahoo Messenger that could potentially allow hackers to take control of a user's PC or a company network, according to eEye Digital Security. The security firm said the flaws allow remote execution of arbitrary code with only minimal user interaction when Yahoo Instant Messenger v8.0 software is loaded.
Microsoft announced plans on Thursday to issue four critical security bulletins next week that address vulnerabilities in its Windows Mail, Internet Explorer and Windows XP. Six bulletins in total, including the four critical fixes, will be released, according to Microsoft's advance advisory notification. The critical status is the most severe ranking Microsoft assigns to security flaws and typically indicates that a system can be compromised remotely with little interaction required by the user.
Northern Ireland-based software firm First Derivatives has made its debut on Dublin's IEX market, making it the 29th firm to do so. Shares in the company launched at EUR4.70 on the market and remained unchanged Friday afternoon. First Derivatives is a provider of support services to the investment banking market. The company, which reported a 48 percent rise in turnover to almost EUR10 million in 2006, has been mooted as a potential big winner for investors this year. Chairman, David Anderson, has publicly commented that one of the reasons for seeking admission to IEX is the increase in liquidity in the trading of its shares that is expected to arise from its IEX quotation.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 