NEWS IN BRIEF
Daily Digest 18 March
18-03-2009
by Emmet Cole
Avaeon finds Safeway forward | Employees 'biggest threat' to sensitive data
Galway-based software company Avaeon Solutions has won a major new contract with the US-based Safeway Insurance Group. In an announcement timed to coincide with a business reception led by Taoiseach Brian Cowen in Washington on Tuesday, it was revealed that Avaeon Solutions will develop software to automate the lifecycle of Safeway customers' policies. Avaeon's .NET-based application framework, Topoix, will provide Safeway's 450 insurance professionals and 2,000 independent producers with a system to service more than 250,000 policyholders. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
The 'Revolution' confocal microscopy system developed by Andor Technology has been installed in two Chinese universities -- Hefei and Wuhan. Used by life scienctists and in the semicondiuctor sector, confocal microscopy is an optical imaging technique that's used to improve the quality of microscopic images. Andor has been selling into China through its distribution channels for the past 10 years, and launched a direct presence there in 2006 with the opening of a Beijing office. The Belfast-based firm was recently named as the winner of the Cathay Pacific Rising Star Award, which acknowledges business dynamism and success by small and medium sized enterprises in Hong Kong and China.
Just under 48 percent of IT decision makers consider employees the biggest threat to sensitive data in their organisations, according to a data security and encryption survey carried out by IT Force. The research found that hacker activity is considered to be the second biggest threat (34.8 percent), followed by partners and customers with only a 2.2 percent threat rating. Almost three quarters (74.5 percent) considered data encryption to be an important issue for their organisation, while 25.5 percent didn't think encryption was an issue.
The European Patent Office and the European Commission have announced the 12 nominees for this year's European Inventor of the Year awards. The nominees include: John Daugman (UK) for his eye-based biometrics system; Brian Druker (US) and Jurg Zimmermann (Switzerland) for a new drug to combat chronic myelogenous leukaemia; Fiona Fairhurst (UK), who invented the "fastskin" swimsuit inspired by shark skin; and Adolf Goetzberger (Germany), who is widely regarded as the father of the commercial use of solar energy. The winners will be announced in Prague on 28 April 2009.
Meanwhile, Google has released a new version of its Chrome web browser -- the first major update of the browser in six months. As well as promising faster performance, the update offers new features including auto-filling of online forms and new ways for users to drag tabs within the browser window. Google claims that the new Chrome beta loads certain types of web pages some 25 percent to 35 percent faster than the current version.
Canon announced a distribution agreement with leading Irish office solutions provider Bryan S Ryan on Wednesday. Under the agreement, Bryan S Ryan will supply Canon's range of specialist large format printers for general use, Computer Aided Design (CAD) and Geographical Information Systems (GIS).
Marvel Entertainment and Gazillion Entertainment have agreed an exclusive, 10-year licensing deal to develop massively multiplayer online (MMO) games based on Marvel characters. First up will be a casual MMO title based on Marvel's "Super Hero Squad". Gazillion is also set to create "Marvel Universe," an MMO game for PC and consoles. Financial details of the licensing deal were not disclosed.
Finally, Apple previewed its iPhone OS 3.0 on Tuesday and announced the immediate availability of a beta software release to registered developers. The iPhone OS 3.0 beta release includes an updated software development kit with over 1,000 new application programming interfaces. Apple also announced over 100 new features that will be available to iPhone and iPod Touch users this summer including cut, copy and paste; stereo Bluetooth; syncing Notes to the Mac and PC; shake to shuffle; parental controls; and automatic login at Wi-Fi hot spots. The iPhone OS 3.0 beta software and SDK is available for registered developers to download here. iPhone customers will be able to download the new iPhone OS 3.0 software for free this summer and iPod Touch customers will be able to purchase a software update for USD9.95. International pricing will be available at launch.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 