NEWS IN BRIEF
Daily Digest 13 January
13-01-2009
by Deirdre McArdle
Fears grow for Derry's Seagate workers | Tanaiste visits Limerick
Seagate's Derry-based workforce has been called to a meeting Wednesday morning as fears grow for the firm's Northern Ireland employees. Although management at the Seagate plant in Derry said there were "no plans to announce significant lay-offs" at the meeting, they said the nearly 1,400-strong workforce would be updated on current working arrangements and any changes that may be needed. The Derry plant makes over 1 million ready-write heads for computer hard drives per day and it's expected production will be scaled back. On Tuesday Seagate Technology revealed a surprise management shake-up, replacing Chief Executive William Watkins with Chairman Stephen Luczo.
Tanaiste and Enterprise Minister Mary Coughlan is to meet with the Mayors of Limerick City and County, Clare and North Tipperary in Limerick to discuss the fallout of Dell's decision of last week to slash 1,900 jobs in Limerick. The Tanaiste's decision to travel to Limerick has been broadly welcomed by the Mayors, who are likely to use the meeting to call on the Government to identify a "replacement industry that will help act as a source of employment for [Dell] workers", said Mayor of Clare, Councillor Madeleine Taylor Quinn.
Three Ireland has launched what it claims is the world's first fully-integrated social networking mobile phone. The INQ1 handset integrates the Facebook experience as well as Skype, Windows Live Messenger and a host of other social networking and sharing utilities into the "heart of the phone", said Three. It has a real-time interactive 'live contact book' with friends' online status and Facebook profile pictures displayed against their contact details. The phone also offers integrated RSS feeds, free Skype-to-Skype calling and unlimited free instant messenger capabilities. INQ1 also allows users to directly upload pictures to their Facebook profile from its 3.2 megapixel camera. The device was developed by handset manufacturer INQ, which is a subsidiary of Three's parent company Hutchison Whampoa. It is available from EUR99 at 3Stores and through the operator's website. Watch out for a video review of the INQ1 on ENN in the coming week.
Business IP service provider Strencom has signed a deal with e-Net, which manages the Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs) around the country, to provide back-up connections to e-Net's 28 co-location facilities. The back-up connections would ensure that individual MANs wouldn't lose their connectivity to national and international networks in the event of e-Net's primary network developing a problem. Strencom's back-up network uses a secure multi-protocol layer switching (MPLS) solution over XDSL. Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.
According to a survey conducted by IT consulting firm Clarion Consulting, 42 percent of Irish IT departments said that IT was likely to become more strategic to their business in the current belt-tightening environment, while 37 percent are facing increasing pressure to demonstrate the value that IT is adding to the business. When it comes to spending, 38 percent of companies are forecasting a decrease in IT budgets over the next 12 months. Meanwhile, just 58 percent of companies actually have a fully documented and defined IT strategy in place, compared to the 2007 figure, which was recorded at 70 percent.
Security firm Eset has outlined what it believes will be key security threats for 2009. A family of Trojans with keylogging capabilities that gather information relating to online games (such as World of Warcraft) and the credentials required to participate will continue to prey on online gamers. Eset says the main danger with this malware is that it can result in financial loss in the real world. It also warned about a variety of malware that is using the file autorun.inf as a way of compromising a PC. This file contains information on programs meant to run automatically when removable media (such as USB flash drives) are accessed by a Windows PC user.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 