NEWS IN BRIEF
Daily Digest 26 November
26-11-2008
by Emmet Cole
Irish firms perform well on Deloitte's Fast 500 | Ministers announce ‘Electric Vehicles’ plan
Twenty-four Irish companies have made the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 EMEA ranking, with Dublin-based Lincor Solutions (this year's winner of the Irish Fast 50) achieving 35th place in the listing. Zamano and iSite, who placed 2nd and 3rd in the Irish competition, were ranked at numbers 96 and 105 respectively in the EMEA listing. Northern Ireland's top ranking company was Unitas Software in 303rd place. The Fast 500 ranks public and private technology companies from 23 countries with a minimum revenue of EUR50,000 in their first year.
AirSpeed Telecom, the wireless radio transmission network telecoms company, has been awarded a three-year contract to provide a back-up network for BreastCheck -- the national breast screening programme run by The National Cancer Screening Service (NCSS). AirSpeed Telecom will provide a dedicated back-up circuit between BreastCheck screening units around the country and the NCSS site in Dublin. BreastCheck provides free breast x-rays to women aged between 50 and 64 on a two yearly cycle.
Energy Minister Eamon Ryan and Transport Minister Noel "Beep Beep" Dempsey have set out the Government's plans for the mass deployment of electric vehicles in Ireland. The Government wants 10 percent of all vehicles in the transport fleet to be powered by electricity by 2020, representing some 250,000 cars on Irish roads over the next 12 years. The 'Electric Vehicles' plan includes tax incentives for businesses that will allow them to write off 100 percent of the cost of purchase of electric vehicles against tax (under the Accelerated Capital Allowance Scheme), a EUR1 million Sustainable Energy Ireland project to research electric vehicles, and the establishment of a National Task Force to examine infrastructure options for the national roll-out of electric vehicles, including street charging. You'll have to get your own batteries though.
Reports have emerged that Google is in the process of cutting back its contractor workforce worldwide, which currently numbers 10,000. Though the internet giant has confirmed it is looking to cut jobs in this area it has not released exact figures. According to a report on CNet News a Google spokesperson said: "We have 10,000, and we have had a plan in place for a while to significantly reduce that number." An article in the San Jose Mercury News in October reported that Google "has a plan to significantly reduce [the number of contractors] through vendor management, converting some contractors to regular employees, and other approaches." Google employs 20,123 people around the world. This figure does not include the contractor workforce.
Big Mother is watching you: Over 70 percent of parents monitor and track their kids' online activity in order to try and protect them from cyber bullying, paedophiles and giving away personal information that could put them at risk, according to research from online "people search" providers Yasni. The research found that 72 percent of UK parents monitor and track what their children are saying and doing online. Of those parents who admitted to snooping, 56 percent said they did so because they were worried the information their children had left on social networking sites could lead to their full name, contact details and address being readily available, leaving them vulnerable to identity theft. Fourteen percent of parents track and monitor their child's activity because of safety concerns about paedophiles; 13 percent said they monitored usage to ensure their child was not a victim of cyber bullying; finally, 11 percent of parents did so to check for any information that could give them an insight into their child's state of well-being.
LG Electronics (LG), announced Wednesday that it has signed an agreement to become a Global (and Technology) Partner of Formula One. As part of the deal, LG will acquire exclusive marketing rights and the catchy title of "Official Consumer Electronics, Mobile Phone and Data Processor of Formula 1™." As official data processor, LG will be credited on the official live timing service at Formula One events and in the associated timing and data TV graphics.
Meanwhile, DataSolutions was announced as the winner of the 'Best Market Development Distributor' at the 2008 EMEA Citrix conference in Stockholm, Wednesday, for its 'virtualisation labs' software. The annual award is given to the Citrix distributor that delivers "the best service, value and uses innovation in creating awareness for Citrix' solutions portfolio".
Finally, Niall Gilmore has been appointed sales country manager (Ireland) for Citrix, it was announced Wednesday. Gilmore will be responsible for managing the Irish team, growing new business opportunities and developing the company's relationship with its partners. Gilmore previously worked as Citrix's enterprise relationship manager and as a sales manager at IT distributor DataSolutions with responsibility for the Citrix product portfolio.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 