Weekly Digest
Weekly Digest Issue No. 458
26-03-2009
by Deirdre McArdle
Dell continues to toll | E-voting debacle trundles on | Mobile giants share and share alike | Eircom feels the heat | Facebook does about-face on redesign
Dell continues to toll
We thought the bad news from Dell Ireland was all over: we were wrong. Workers in Dell's Limerick and Dublin facilities were delivered a blow this week with the news that the PC maker is to cut approximately 100 jobs at each location. In all, 230 jobs will be lost: 100 in Limerick and 130 in Dublin. At its Cherrywood, Dublin facility Dell provides sales services to Ireland and the UK, as well as technical support to Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The PC giant employs around 1,500 at this facility. Meanwhile, what's so damning about the Limerick job cuts is that they focus on what are considered high-end jobs, including posts in research and development. When Dell announced in January that it was to move its Limerick manufacturing operations to Poland, with the loss of 1,900 jobs, cold comfort was taken in the suggestion that at least high-end jobs would be safe, with the possibility that they could even be increased over time. Also during the week, a secret government report prepared last December by Forfas predicted that Dell would make some 2,510 workers redundant and that a further 6,600 positions were likely to be lost in companies supplying goods and services to Dell. To be sure, many companies have felt the brunt of Dell's cost-cutting decision, including, most recently, Dell subsidiary Alienware, which is based in Athlone. Fears are growing that 70 jobs will be lost at Alienware's Irish facility as the company plans to move its PC and laptop manufacturing to -- you guessed it -- Poland.
E-voting debacle trundles on
As we brace ourselves for what's likely to be a tough 'mini' Budget, it's inconceivable that we are still paying to store redundant voting machines. It's clear now that the machines, which cost EUR52 million, will never be used by the State. Environment Minister John Gormley admitted as much during the week when he outlined what he sees as three 'major' problems associated with the project: the huge costs to introduce the system, including EUR28 million to make the machines suitable for use; continuing controversies with e-voting in the Netherlands and Germany; and a lack of public trust in e-voting. But scrapping the machines is apparently going to cost an arm and a leg too. Reports during the week suggest that the Government would need to buy out long-term leases on the warehouses used to store the defunct hardware. It emerged that leases of up to 25 years have been signed to store the machines, with costs ranging from zero to EUR210 per year. The machines are currently housed in 13 different locations, and figures revealed during the week show that storage costs for 2008 came to EUR204,000 – multiply that by 25 years, and, well, you get the picture. For his part Minister Gormley has defended the delay in scrapping the project but has yet to provide a date for the machines' disposal. Expect to see an eBay ad soon: "For sale: e-voting machines. One owner, never been used, ideal for general and local elections. Would suit Tiger economy."
Mobile giants share and share alike
As consumer spending dips and the mobile market becomes more competitive, mobile operators Vodafone and O2 have put their heads together and come up with a network-sharing deal that will see the pair make substantial savings in capital and operating spending. The operators have signed an agreement to share their wireless network infrastructure in Ireland, the UK, Germany and Spain. The deal will likely include Vodafone and O2 sharing the sites for where mobile towers are located, as well as network equipment like base stations. Reports also suggest that the agreement could eventually including the sharing of radio spectrum, although this hasn't been confirmed by the companies. The operators hope the deal will enable them to save hundreds of millions of euro in the next 10 years. Eager to get into this cost-saving nirvana, reports suggest that Eircom is keen to discuss the potential for networking-sharing partnerships for its mobile subsidiary, Meteor. The telco is reportedly looking to open discussions with other Irish mobile firms, including Vodafone, O2 and Three Ireland.
Eircom feels the heat
In more news of Eircom, the former incumbent has come under considerable fire following the publication of an EU report criticising its wholesale services. The report was damning in its assessment of access to the Eircom network for competitors, calling it "expensive and unreliable". Ronan Lupton, chairman of ALTO, the association for alternative operators, said the report shows "once again that competition is clearly being hindered and Eircom continues to hamper its competitors' efforts to deliver the services required by consumers and businesses". He has called on the Government to "urgently consider nationalising or investing in the national phone network to ensure that all operators have unfettered access to it and in particular the 'last mile'". Defending Eircom, spokesman Paul Bradley explained to the Irish Independent that the costs of running the Irish network were higher than in other EU countries, and as a result, costs to competitors were higher. Meanwhile, on the consumer side, the report showed that Irish fixed-line users pay the highest line rental costs in Europe at EUR25 per month, a whopping 66 percent higher than the European average of EUR15 per month. This stat prompted Labour MEP Proinsias De Rossa to call on ComReg to launch an investigation into line rental costs in Ireland. "I fail to understand why Eircom's equivalent in Finland, a country much larger than us geographically with broadly the same population, can charge just EUR8 -- just one-third the amount charged by Eircom. The European Commission may also yet have to intervene, as it has done with mobile phone and texting costs, in this matter," said De Rossa.
Facebook does about-face on redesign
Since its latest site re-design three weeks ago, its second in a year, social networking phenomenon Facebook has faced the wrath of disgruntled users. The homepage re-vamp intended to add more Twitter-like real-time content with the addition of a new area called the stream. The changes didn't go down too well with Facebook users, however, with many complaining that the new area is too cluttered and unstructured, and that they had difficulty in finding information they wanted. On Tuesday, the social network capitulated to the millions who asked for changes. On the Facebook blog, Christopher Cox, the site's director of product, acknowledged that "redesigns are generally hard to manage", and went on to say that Facebook would be making changes "immediately and over the next several weeks". Specifically, Facebook will be making amendments that let users better control their stream, and for it to update automatically. Cox said the social network will be adding the ability to turn on auto updating so that users no longer need to refresh the page. Other tweaks include moving friend request notifications and event invites to the top of the right column and updating Highlights more frequently. Industry commentators are in two minds as to whether or not Facebook should have caved in to the some 2 million users who complained. The site has around 175 million users worldwide, so while 2 million complaints sounds like a lot, in relative terms it signifies just 1 percent of the site's users. Perhaps Facebook thought 2 million users were too many to lose.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 