NEWS IN BRIEF
Daily Digest 16 February
16-02-2009
by Deirdre McArdle
Jolt gives Newry a boost | Landmark copyright case sets sail
Jolt Online Gaming has announced it is investing over STG600,000 in a new facility in Newry that will manage the firm's core online gaming software systems and provide technical support to players globally. The move will create 15 new highly skilled technical support and software jobs, and is supported by Invest Northern Ireland, which has put STG230,000 towards the investment. "With Invest NI's support, and the strong local skills and knowledge base, I believe the Newry site will become the operational heart of the Jolt Online Gaming network. It will be crucial in helping Jolt to expand its global reach and provide a quality service to its gamers," said Dylan Collins, CEO of Jolt. Jolt has offices in Dublin, Vancouver and Hamburg.
At a time when companies all over the world are cutting costs by slashing jobs, BlackBerry maker RIM has announced it is to recruit 3,000 new employees as it tries to keep up with high demand for its devices. "We hired about 4,000 people in 2008; currently we have 3,000 open jobs. We're still hiring a lot," RIM co-chief executive Jim Balsillie told the AFP news agency. Balsillie was speaking at the Mobile World Congress, which opened in Barcelona on Monday.
Staying in Barcelona, Dublin-based mobile services firm NewBay has announced the launch of LifeCache Digital Vault v2.0, a content cloud solution for user-generated and premium content. With Digital Vault, users can back up and restore digital content from multiple devices in a personal online space, as well as share their content via any internet connected device. As a chargeable service Digital Vault could also help operators boost their falling ARPU levels, according to NewBay.
In more news from the Mobile World Congress, Samsung launched five new phones on Monday, including a model to be called Blue Earth, made from recycled plastic with a solar panel on the back for charging. Meanwhile, Sony Ericsson unveiled a new Walkman phone, the W995, along with a 'concept phone' called Idou -- to be available in 2010 -- which boasts a 12 megapixel camera. Finally, Nokia announced two new business handsets -- the E55 and the E75, a slider phone. Nokia claims the E55 is the world's thinnest smartphone.
Mobile operator O2 has launched the Blackberry Curve 8900 smartphone in Ireland. The device boasts the regular e-mail, messaging, organiser, web browser and multimedia applications, as well as built-in Wi-Fi, GPS including BlackBerry Maps, a fast processor and a hi-resolution display. The smartphone will be supported on BlackBerry Internet Service and BlackBerry Enterprise Server, and is aimed at the small business and individual user. It's available with O2 Ireland from EUR199.
Belfast-based Singularity, which provides business process management software, has signed a deal with Chess Telecom, a business telecoms provider in the UK. Under the deal Singularity will connect Chess Telecom to BT's OpenReach network using its Wholesale Line Rental (WLR3) solution. The solution will automate Chess' provisioning processes, helping it to significantly reduce paperwork and manual steps, according to the firms.
Espion Distribution, a Dublin-based IT security firm, has announced the introduction of IronKey, a secure flash drive, to the Irish market. IronKey features always-on hardware encryption to protect stored data, which differs from software-based encryption, in that it cannot be disabled, Espion claims. If an unauthorised person tries to access the data on an IronKey drive and exceeds a number of failed login attempts, a Cryptochip will lock out the encryption functions and erase all data.
Monday marked the opening of a landmark court case in Sweden, with four men behind the site The Pirate Bay facing charges of profiting from the distribution of copyrighted material. The Pirate Bay, one of the world's most popular BitTorrent trackers, has survived numerous attempts to shut it down, and on Monday the defendants were still defiant, saying the site is legal. While the site doesn't host any of the copyrighted material, it does direct users to the material through so-called torrents. The plaintiffs, which include Warner Bros, MGM Pictures, Colombia Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Sony BMG, Universal and EMI, are looking for SKR120 million (USD14.3 million) in compensation for lost revenues. In February 2009 The Pirate Bay reported that it had 22 million users.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 