For the record 23 April

23-04-2008

by Ciara O'Brien

Havok causes a stir in Japan | Mobile coupon usage to soar

IBM has introduced new services targeting mid-sized businesses to help manage risk and improve the security of their IT systems. A recent survey by the tech firm found that there has been a marked rise in organised crime attacks on smaller organisations, partly due to the absence of resources that larger enterprises have access to in order to prepare for such attacks. The new services include: express penetration testing services to reveal vulnerabilities by simulating a network attack, mimicking the techniques used by attackers; a new security bundle to provide protection against network threats, vulnerabilities, worms, viruses, spyware and spam; a managed multi-function security bundle, including firewall, VPN, behavioural & signature antivirus, intrusion prevention security (IPS), anti-spam, and web filtering; and managed protection services for servers.

Software-as-a-service firm Salesforce.com is planning its first Dreamforce Europe user and developer conference in London in May. The event, which takes place 7 and 8 of May, will feature special guests such as musician and philanthropist Peter Gabriel, easyGroup CEO Stelios Haji-Ioannou and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales. Executives from Accenture, AAA Soliditet AB, AON Corporation, CODA, Cognos, Dell Corporation, Deloitte, Google, and Misys International Banking Systems will also take part in keynote speeches and sessions at the conference.

Car rental distribution company CarTrawler has signed up with low-cost carrier Myair.com to sell car rental to customers in each of the 30 Italian and European destinations it serves. The car hire firm's content has been integrated into Myair.com's key consumer contact points, including a stand-alone booking facility. CarTrawler has signed agreements with LOT Polish Airlines, VLM, Blue1 and SITA.

Almost 3 billion mobile coupons will be issued to mobile users by 2011, with Juniper Research estimating that just under USD7 billion of discounts will be redeemed. The latest research indicates that mobile coupons are becoming increasingly important to brand owners and retailers to entice users into taking up mobile marketing and advertising campaigns. Some of the key benefits include cost savings on campaigns, an increase in average revenue per user and an increase in customer retention for mobile operators. However, some retailers are hesitant to adopt mobile coupons, and to undertake the changeover from laser scanners to optical readers that use the required CCD technology to read barcodes.

More than 50 percent of UK office workers have mistakenly sent e-mails to the wrong person, a new poll by Sendmail has revealed. According to the message-processing security company, one in five office workers send up to three e-mails to the wrong people everyday, with internal company information, contract information and people's personal details among the most commonly mis-sent files.

Irish games technology firm Havok has opened a new office in Japan, bringing to six the number of Havok locations worldwide. The Dublin-headquartered firm has offices in San Francisco and San Antonio in the United States, Munich in Germany and Calcutta in India, and employs over 100 people. The Japanese office has already secured a number of contracts with Sega, Microsoft, EA, Yukes and Capcom.