NEWS IN BRIEF
Daily Digest 25 February
25-02-2009
by Emmet Cole
Five SFI 'research clusters' launched | IDC cuts IT spending forecast
Tanaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mary Coughlan, has announced the creation of five new Science Foundation Ireland Strategic Research Clusters (SRCs), representing a EUR23.9 million investment in collaborative research activities involving seven academic institutions and 22 companies. Amongst the SRCs announced is Clique, which will focus on graph and network analysis, and involves partnership between UCD, IBM, Idiro Technologies and Norkom. The FAME SRC will focus on the management of end-to-end communication services, and will be led by the Waterford Institute of Technology and involve collaboration with Cisco Systems and Hewlett Packard, amongst others. The SRC programme was first introduced in 2007 to link scientists and engineers across academia and industry to answer research questions, develop Irish-based technology companies, and foster industry partnerships.
Businesses considering cloud computing need to consider concerns about the location of data, the viability of cloud-based services over the long term and negotiating contracts with cloud-computing service providers, according to Philip Nolan, partner at law firm Mason Hayes+Curran. Speaking at an event hosted by the Irish Software Association on Wednesday, Nolan pointed out that Ireland may be a particularly suitable candidate for locating the massive server farms the cloud is based on, not only because of Ireland's strong international broadband links and the availability of qualified IT personnel, but also thanks to our mild climate, which is important in controlling the cost of cooling the hardware. For more on the event, visit www.mhc.ie.
Organisations not complying with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) may face fines of up to USD25,000 per month, according to Stephen O'Boyle, of Irish IT security firm Espion. Speaking at a panel discussion on PCI-DSS in Dublin on Wednesday, O’Boyle encouraged organisations to implement the standard: "PCI-DSS can win you business with partners who are increasingly demanding this certification from their associates, while fraud-conscious consumers also favour retailers who offer better guarantees of card security." The panel included AIB's Credit and Risk Director Michael Gulliver; Michael Finn, a project manager with the Department of Transport; John Taylor, Eircom's Head of IT Security; and Clive Ryan, who leads Eircom's Advisory Services. PCI-DSS is a compliance requirement for all organisations who accept credit card payments.
Market analyst IDC has revised its worldwide IT spending forecast downwards, citing the erosion of the global economy and the prospect of negative GDP growth in many countries. IDC now forecasts worldwide IT spending will grow by just 0.5 percent year-over-year in 2009, down from a November 2008 forecast of 2.6 percent growth. The greatest impact will be felt in global hardware markets, where overall spending growth will be minus 3.6 (-3.6) percent this year. In contrast, worldwide spending on software and IT services are each expected to grow 3.4 percent in 2009.
Separately, IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker, found that factory revenue in the worldwide server market declined 14 percent year-over-year to USD13.5 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008 -- the second consecutive quarter of market decline. Worldwide server unit shipments declined 12 percent in that period compared with the fourth quarter of 2007. In 2008 overall, worldwide server revenue declined 3.3 percent to USD53.3 billion, while worldwide unit shipments grew 2 percent to 8.1 million units -- the first time the server market has exceeded 8 million units in a calendar year.
An IBM survey about energy consumers has found that 90 percent of the survey's 5,000 respondents want smart metering tools to monitor their energy use. Respondents aged 18 - 34 were most eager for the types of automated energy management that smart metering and smart grids will bring. This age group is also the most willing to pay a stated premium for these services -- approximately USD100 as a one-time fee, or a monthly fee of USD5. The survey results came as IBM announced it is joining the EDISON research consortium -- a collaboration aimed at developing an intelligent infrastructure intended to encourage the large scale adoption of sustainable electric vehicles.
Samsung Ireland has been announced as the corporate sponsor of 'Seachtain na Gaeilge', the Irish language promotion festival. The sponsorship forms part of a larger initiative between Samsung and Conradh na Gaeilge which will see Samsung sponsor Irish language events and workshops in schools and Irish summer colleges throughout the year. Seachtain na Gaeilge will run, strangely, over two weeks between 2 March to 17 March 2009.
Finally, Paul Byrne, currently the managing director of business information solutions provider ICC Information Ireland, has been appointed as MD for ICC in the UK too and will assume responsibility for both UK and Irish operations. Byrne has been MD of ICC Information in Ireland since 2006.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 