NEWS IN BRIEF
Daily Digest 13 November
13-11-2008
by Deirdre McArdle
HEAnet outlines five-year goals | O2 Ireland caps pre-pay data rates
At its annual conference on Thursday, HEAnet, Ireland's national education and research network, outlined its strategic plan for the next five years. It has set itself three key goals for that time-frame: the delivery of advanced ICT networking services to manage vast datasets, the provision of secure and reliable access to e-learning across the higher education sector, and the delivery of ICT services to cater for the changing needs of the education and research sector. "[These] will ensure that Ireland's networking infrastructure for education and research is absolutely world-class and keeps Ireland at the leading edge of international broadband networking developments, consistently reaching the levels of the leading countries in Europe and around the world, so that we can continue to successfully compete in research and innovation," said Jimmy Devins, Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation, speaking at the conference.
Mobile operator O2 Ireland has capped its daily rate for data and internet use on pre-pay phones. Users will be able to access up to 50MB of data for EUR0.99 per day. If they go over the 50MB allowance, they will pay EUR0.05 for each additional kilobyte used. Jude Lynch, sales director, O2 Ireland, explained that users don't pay EUR0.99 every day, just when they download data or browse the net from their handsets. "Consumers can also check their daily usage at any point during the day so it's more transparent," she said.
Companies have been urged to reinforce security policies for mobile and remote workers as research reveals many visit inappropriate websites on company laptops, reports Vnunet.com. A UK study by mobile operator Vodafone found that around 7 percent of mobile workers have visited adult websites on a company device while out of the office, compared to 3.8 percent who have done so in the office. Some 19 percent said they used a company device to download music outside work, 10 percent have visited gambling sites and around 15 percent have downloaded software without company authorisation. Vodafone warned that such behaviour can leave companies vulnerable to viruses or malware and cautioned that the unauthorised downloading of software could lead to higher support costs.
Cybercriminals are increasingly targeting workers who access social networking sites and other web tools, in an effort to glean data for use in attacks on corporate networks. Systems security firm ESET said the most popular web applications targeted by hackers include MSN instant messenger, Hotmail, Gmail and Facebook. While many government and financial services companies block access to popular websites such as YouTube at work, some firms don't pay attention to how staff use these free web programs, with only a small minority providing secure alternatives, said ESET. In addition, most customised business applications continue to be created with functionality, not security, as the top priority, according to the security firm. ESET recommends that companies assess potential threats to their data and have a defensive strategy in place, with regularly updated multi-layered protection, in the form of a firewall and antivirus, anti-spyware and anti-spam software.
Microsoft has released Windows Small Business Server 2008 (SBS 2008) and Windows Essential Business Server 2008 (EBS 2008). "Ireland has over 72,000 small businesses, which are the centre of our local economy. Today only one in six small businesses in Ireland have a server," said Enda Flynn, Windows Essential Server Solutions product manager, Microsoft Ireland. "In today's economic climate, businesses are looking at how they can reduce costs while increasing their competitiveness. We believe that technology provides the means to address both issues." Over 16,000 small businesses in Ireland are currently using the previous release of Microsoft Windows Small Business Server.
Business communications firm Damovo has signed a deal with Hertz to provide a speech recognition system at the car rental firm's European Service Centre in Swords, Dublin. The system, which is multi-lingual, is expected to handle up to 100,000 calls in the first year of operation. Financial details of the agreement were not released.
IT management software firm CA has acquired Israeli firm Eurekify for an undisclosed sum. The Israeli firm specialises in identity and role management. The acquisition will enable CA to add next-generation role-based identity and compliance management to its security software line-up, CA said.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 