NEWS IN BRIEF
Daily Digest 14 October
14-10-2008
by Deirdre McArdle
Irish security firm competes on global stage | President Bush creates IP czar
Dublin-based Beyond Encryption Technologies has been selected as the leading European security start-up company in an international competition that highlights the world's most promising security technologies. It now joins five other companies to compete in the World Final of the Global Security Challenge (GSC) on 13 November in London. The GSC final, which takes place at the London Business School, will see the six finalists present their business plans to a panel of judges, consisting of leaders from the Technical Support Working Group (TSWG) of the US Government, and global industry. Beyond Encryption develops software to secure sensitive data and intellectual property on both mobile and traditional devices as well as on servers through file erasure, remote encryption, file retrieval, remote device lockdown and timed lockdown.
Best Buy Europe, a joint venture between Carphone Warehouse and US group Best Buy, said it plans to double Carphone's existing retail earnings in five years, despite the current gloomy economic outlook. Mobile phone retailer Carphone Warehouse said the new venture would open its first 'large format' store in the UK next year, with a plan to open around 100 stores throughout the UK in the coming years and expanding to mainland Europe in a year or two. The venture aims to compete with PC World and Currys group DSG International and Kesa Electricals' Comet stores. It expects to double revenues and earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) by the year ending March 2013.
US president George Bush on Monday signed a bill that strengthens US enforcement efforts to prevent the sale of pirated drugs, software, music and movies. The move essentially creates what industry commentators are calling an "intellectual property czar" for the US. Organisations supporting the new legislation include the Recording Industry Association of America, the US Chamber of Commerce and NBC Universal. "By becoming law, the Pro-IP Act sends the message to IP criminals everywhere that the US will go the extra mile to protect American innovation," said Tom Donohue, president and CEO of the US Chamber of Commerce, in a statement.
Microsoft has confirmed that its next version of Windows, Windows 7, will be called, er, 'Windows 7'. "...[A]s you probably know, since we began development of the next version of the Windows client operating system we have been referring to it by a codename, 'Windows 7'. But now is a good time to announce that we've decided to officially call the next version of Windows, 'Windows 7'," said Mike Nash, Microsoft's corporate vice president of Windows, in a blog posting. Nash goes on to say that the decision, which has come as a surprise to industry watchers, is all about "simplicity". "Simply put, this is the seventh release of Windows, so therefore 'Windows 7' just makes sense." Wise words indeed.
IBM has built a virtual recreation of the architecture and artefacts of China's Forbidden City. "The Virtual Forbidden City: Beyond Space & Time", accessible here, is a fully immersive, 3D virtual world. IBM has worked with the Palace Museum for the past three years on the project. The Virtual Forbidden City enables users to see and interact with other users as well as a range of automated characters. Visitors to the Virtual Forbidden City will be able to take tours that correspond to major historical topics and stories from the Forbidden City as well as take part in activities such as archery, cricket fighting, and playing the ancient game of Weiqi, the "board game of surrounding" now popularised as GO. Visitors may also view and inspect artefacts and scenes such as "The Emperor Having Dinner" and "Court Painting."
Despite shrinking budgets, 70 percent of firms surveyed by Storage Expo said green IT and efficiency is still a priority provided it also saved them money, and 4 percent said that it was a priority even if there were no cost savings. Just one in ten organisations said they are no longer pursuing green IT because of budget cutbacks and 4 percent said green IT was never a priority. "The credit crunch has made a number of businesses rethink their IT strategies and budgets. However, contrary to what most companies think, green IT and beating the credit crunch can go hand in hand if the right strategy is used," said Natalie Booth, event manager for Storage Expo 2008.
By 2013, 47 percent of European broadband subscriptions will use mobile networks and nearly a quarter of broadband-equipped sites will use mobile-only. That's according to a report by research firm Analysys Mason, which says that mobile broadband is an opportunity that mobile operators can't afford to miss, but that they face some challenges if they are to take full advantage. They will need to upgrade their access network, but also transform legacy backhaul to an aggregated IP infrastructure, according to Matt Hatton, principal analyst specialising in mobile broadband at Analysys Mason. Fixed line providers meanwhile will need to "focus more on the rapidly expanding wholesale opportunities to provide the new backhaul and platform infrastructure that mobile broadband providers urgently need. Fixed and mobile operators will need to learn to co-habit as well as to compete," said the report's main author, Rupert Wood.
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