Daily Digest 16 September

16-09-2008

by Emmet Cole

IFDS Ireland takes strategic stake in Percana | No credit crunch for Interxion

Irish pensions software, consultancy and outsourcing specialist Percana Group has received a life-affirming injection, with news that International Financial Data Services Ireland (IFDS Ireland) has acquired a substantial minority interest in the company. IFDS Ireland sources cited Percana's Eclipse software system as a key reason for the investment. Financial details are not yet available, but it has been confirmed that Pat Concannon, chief financial officer of IFDS Ireland, will join the board of Percana Group. Percana Group currently employs 100 people at its headquarters in Dublin's Parkwest Business Park.

Happily, there is no credit crunch for Interxion, the Dutch-based data centre provider. The company, which opened an Irish facility in the summer of 2001, has announced that it has obtained a EUR135 million revolving credit facility from leading European banks, including Fortis Bank (Nederland) B.V. and Cooperatieve Rabobank Regio Schiphol U.A. Interxion Ireland offers managed services to support the company's data centre offerings.

There may be fewer screams in the departure lounge at Dublin airport over the coming months, with the news that a website has been launched to help travellers submit complaints about flight delays and cancellations online. The website was set up by the Commission for Aviation Regulation and was developed by Dublin-based Webtrade. Aviationreg.ie will also inform passengers when an airline or travel agent has gone out of business.

Senan Power has been appointed business development manager at telecoms company Airspeed Telecom. Airspeed Telecom operates a nationwide wireless radio transmission network. Power will take responsibility for developing new business in the enterprise market and developing strategic relationships with key clients and partners. He previously worked at Irish Broadband Services as regional sales development manager.

The world of cloud computing received a little sunshine on Tuesday, with news that Salesforce.com has been selected as the first Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) company to be placed on Standard & Poor's prestigious S&P 500 index.

The Imagine Communications Group has added the "AccessMyLan" business mobility package to its service portfolio, it was announced on Tuesday. AccessMyLan, which was developed by Dublin's Asavie Technologies, enables remote users on browsers, laptops, desktops or mobile phones to connect to office networks via DSL, Wi-Fi and mobile broadband.

'Red-eye' (caused by the reflection of light from the retina when a camera flashes close by) and 'golden-eye' (caused by looking too much like James Bond) defects in digital photographs may be a thing of the past, with the announcement that Tessera Technologies has launched FotoNation Red. The new software detects and corrects red-eye and golden-eye glitches in digital photographs, the company claims. FotoNation was purchased by Tessera Technologies in February, and has retained its Irish R&D centre in Galway.

Got something to say about licensing conditions affecting the forthcoming launch of digital radio in Ireland? Now may be your chance, as the Commission for Communications Regulation, ComReg, announced the launch of its consultation period on the matter. The consultation focuses on the proposed licence conditions for the digital radio licences that will be issued to RTE and to the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland under the Broadcasting (Amendment) Act 2007. The consultation document (08/79) is available from ComReg.ie.

Finally, just when you thought it was safe to go into the particle collider, a group of Greek hackers calling themselves "The Greek Security Team" has breached network security systems at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The incident occurred last week, soon after the system was turned on. The breach only affected a subsystem of the LHC network, according to reports emanating from the site, and took the form of a message displayed on one of the LHC websites that included the line (in Greek): "We are 2600 -- don't mess with us." No systems were damaged in the attack, so hopefully project scientists can safely continue to risk the entire known Universe without fear of accidents or further security breaches.