NEWS IN BRIEF
Daily Digest 23 October
23-10-2008
by Emmet Cole
Senator hits out at Minister for Communications | GOA to create 400 jobs in Dublin
Senator Shane Ross has hit out at Minister for Communications Eamon Ryan following the defeat of Ross' Broadband Infrastructure Bill (22-27) in the Senate on Wednesday. Telling the Minister to "invest or perish," Senator Ross also highlighted IT cuts in the recent Budget and cited a lack of progress on broadband, "with consultation paper following consultation paper and forum following forum."
Orange's online games division, GOA, has established a Multilingual Customer & Operations Support Centre in Dublin, the Tanaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Mary Coughlan TD announced on Thursday. With the support of the Government through IDA Ireland, GOA's office in Dublin will support Warhammer Online and its portfolio of other games across all of Europe in five languages (English, French, German, Italian and Spanish). The new facility is expected to create around 400 jobs.
An Taoiseach Brian Cowen announced Thursday that a number of Irish companies have signed contracts and agreements with Chinese organisations that are expected to generate new export sales of around EUR40 million in the next 12-18 months. The deals were signed as part of a trade mission to Beijing. Amongst the deals are Audit Diagnostics -- a Cork-based healthcare company -- which secured a significant contract with Chinese company Beijing Second Wind to produce health diagnostic kits for hospitals and mobile clinics. In another deal, Timoney Technology Group, based in Co Meath, concluded a licence agreement with Sinotruk to manufacture suspension systems for trucks.
DigiYouthz, a new programme from Microsoft designed to inform Irish students about career opportunities in the technology industry, was launched on Thursday. The first event takes place on 12 November 2008 as part of Science Week Ireland and will provide students aged 12-16 with hands-on experience of the latest technology from computer gaming to online services and movie production.
Mary Coughlan, Tanaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, announced the winners of the 2008 Science Foundation Ireland/Dell Young Women in Engineering scholarship awards on Thursday. Ten winners were presented with scholarships, each valued at EUR20,000 The awards aim to encourage more female students into engineering as an undergraduate degree and future career.
Meanwhile, Colt Telecom announced its financial results for the quarter ended 30 September 2008. The firm said revenue increased by 0.3 percent to EUR420.7 million. Meanwhile, after tax profit reached EUR18.6 million and earnings per share rose from EUR0.01 (in 2007) to EUR0.03.
Citrix also announced its third quarter results on Thursday. Globally, the company achieved year-over-year quarterly revenue growth of 14 percent, while in the EMEA region revenue grew by 21 percent. The firm also recorded GAAP diluted earnings per share of USD0.26 and non-GAAP diluted earnings per share of USD0.43. Globally, net income for the third quarter was USD49 million.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 