NEWS IN BRIEF
Daily Digest 11 August
11-08-2008
by Deirdre McArdle
Delta Index rolls out online trading app | Have your say: vote for science
Dublin-based financial spread betting firm Delta Index has completed the rollout of its online trading platform, XDeal. The rollout follows an investment of EUR3 million, EUR500,000 of which was spent on the in-house development of the proprietary trading application. The firm's decision to develop a proprietary platform is a wise one as this means it retains full ownership of XDeal's underlying code and associated intellectual property. According to Michael O'Shea, joint managing director of the firm, the launch of the trading app will enable Delta Index to expand aggressively into the European market, a move he says will lead to a doubling of the firm's workforce to 20 over the next 18 months.
Eighteen new companies opted to set up shop in Dublin's Digital Hub last year, according to Philip Flynn, CEO of the Digital Hub Development Agency, who launched the firm's annual report for 2007 on Monday. During the year online games publisher Gala Networks Europe and GOA Games Services, a games publishing arm of France Telecom, established offices in the Digital Hub. Meanwhile, Irish firm Zamano expanded its operations there through the acquisition of Red Circle Technologies Limited. As well as outlining achievements for 2007, Flynn also announced that the Digital Hub has recently hit a significant milestone. "At the end of last year, the total number of companies in our enterprise cluster stood at 93 and, since then, I am pleased to announce that we have reached the 100-mark."
Staying with the Digital Hub, it's been announced that the Irish finals of the World Cyber Games will take place on 6 and 7 September. Gamers from all over Ireland will battle it out against each other in PC and Xbox games to gain a place in Team Ireland. The World Cyber Games -- which are known as the 'Olympics for computer gamers' -- take place every year with gamers from all over the world competing against each other. The Irish finals determine who will represent Ireland at the global event, which is set to take place in Cologne, Germany from 5-9 November 2008.
An experimental project hosted at the Science Gallery and online is inviting members of the public to vote on video pitches recorded by scientists seeking research funding. Through the project, YourScienceYourSay, three research scientists present brief video diaries of their work, explaining why they should be the recipient of a EUR4,000 grant. Whichever project receives the most votes will be awarded the funding. There are two options for voters: go to the recently opened Science Gallery at Trinity College Dublin and record a video response in a video booth; or record a video response and submit it via YouTube. There's also an online opinion poll at Science.ie that will count towards the overall vote. The polls are open until 16 August. The aims of the project are threefold: to actively engage the public in determining part of the research agenda; to give scientists a tangible benefit for participation in public engagement; and to analyse the process of using pitch videos for funding grants.
The European Commission has called on Member States to ramp up their efforts to digitise their cultural collections of books, music, photos, paintings and films and make them available online. The call to action comes as Viviane Reding, EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media, announces her goal of launching a European Digital Library, Europeana, before the end of this year. Europe's libraries contain more than 2.5 billion books, but only about 1 percent of archival material is currently available in digital form. The Commission has pledged to help Member States make their cultural content available online; in 2009-2010, EUR69 million from the EU's research programme will go towards the digitisation activities and the development of digital libraries.
Technology giant Hewlett-Packard has revealed its plans to acquire Colubris Networks, a wireless network provider, for an undisclosed sum. Colubris offers wireless management and security products, as well as 802.11n capabilities. HP said it aims to combine Colubris' product range with its ProCurve Networking line as it moves to expand its wireless offerings into new markets such as healthcare and education. "The acquisition of Colubris Networks will strengthen ProCurve's hardware, management platform and services, significantly improving the overall performance capabilities of both wired and wireless networks, and will deliver even more best-in-class choices for our customers worldwide," said Marius Haas, senior vice president and general manager, HP ProCurve. The acquisition is expected to close by the end of HP's fiscal year 2008.
Broadband provider Ice Broadband has appointed Alessio Andreoli to the position of Senior Network Engineer. In this role Andreoli will be responsible for the ongoing maintenance, planning, developing and configuring of Ice Broadband's network infrastructure. Andreoli joins Ice from Ryanair, where he was senior network and security engineer. The Dublin-based broadband provider has also hired Krishna Rao as Customer Services Manager. He will be charged with the management and development of the customer services team. Rao joins from eBay, where he worked for one year. Prior to that, he worked for NTL Communications for five years.
Creating successful email surveys: Denise Cox of email specialist Newsweaver argues that you can tap into your readers' likes or dislikes by surveying them.
