NEWS IN BRIEF
Daily Digest 2 April
02-04-2009
by Emmet Cole
Flextronics to cut 130 staff | Obama chooses Galway tech
Employees at Flextronics in Cork have voted to accept 130 voluntary redundancies as part of the company's worldwide restructuring plans. Approximately 150 people will remain at the electronics manufacturing company, which was heavily dependent on business from Dell's Limerick facility. Flextronics also has a facility in Limerick, where in November last year it cut 118 jobs.
New statistics released by communications regulator ComReg for the fourth quarter of 2008, have revealed Bitbuzz to be the leading Wi-Fi service provider in Ireland. For the first time, the statistics include a breakdown of Wi-Fi minutes used in Ireland. Bitbuzz's share of minutes used is ahead of the total combined share of other major telecommunications firms, including Eircom and BT Ireland. Bitbuzz carried over 52 percent of the 12.8 million Wi-Fi minutes used in Ireland during the fourth quarter of 2008.
Meanwhile, ComReg is making additional spectrum available for FWALA licensing in the 3.6GHz to 3.8GHz range. In addition to these channels -- F/F′ and G/G′ -- ComReg is also making Channel J available, which consists of 10MHz of TDD spectrum, and Channel E which is available in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, and Waterford.
President Obama's administration is set to use an internet technology developed at NUI Galway. A new US website dedicated to the recent USD800 billion economic stimulus package, will employ a web standard created by the team at NUI Galway's Digital Enterprise Research Institute (DERI), in an effort to bring an unprecedented level of transparency to the US government. DERI has developed 'Semantically-Interlinked Online Communities' (or SIOC), which is designed to connect online community sites and internet-based discussions. The SIOC project from DERI at NUI Galway is already being used by Yahoo, SearchMonkey and Drupal.
3Com and Icom announced on Thursday that they have won a EUR500,000 contract to provide Voice over IP communications to the new Criminal Courts Complex in Dublin. The companies (Icom is a channel partner for 3Com) will deliver advanced VoIP capability to the new EUR120 million courts complex, beside the Phoenix Park. The new complex will house 22 state-of-the-art courtrooms and more than 200,000 cases a year are expected to be heard in the new building.
BT has introduced a new Irish award scheme designed to reduce the level of digital exclusion in local communities. The BT Community Connections award scheme offers an opportunity for community and charitable organisations to apply for a laptop and a year's free broadband connection. The scheme runs over an 18 month period, with two rounds in June 2009 and January 2010, offering a total of up to 80 award packages across Ireland.
The Tanaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Mary Coughlan has announced that pharmaceutical company Helsinn Holding, is to establish a centre-of-excellence in research and development at its facility in Mulhuddart, Dublin. The investment of more than EUR13 million is expected to create 10 high-value research jobs.
Mixed attitudes to corporate blogging exist among international senior technology executives, according to a new survey by Eurocom Worldwide in association with Dublin-based Simpson Financial & Technology PR. The survey found that only 33 percent of technology companies surveyed have a corporate blog. The study was carried out in January and February of this year and 12 percent of respondents were from Ireland. The main reason -- cited by 36 percent -- that technology companies are reluctant to embrace blogging is that it is too time consuming. Thirty-three percent just don't see a value in blogging, while 12 percent fear a negative reaction.
Microsoft Ireland has launched its Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS) -- a set of messaging and collaboration solutions hosted by Microsoft. Designed to give businesses streamlined communication with high availability, BPOS promises comprehensive security and simplified IT management. Delivered as a subscription service, BPOS is now available from EUR12.73 per user per month.
Truvo, formerly known as the Golden Pages, is using a new application on Palm Treo Pro devices operating on O2's EDGE network to mobilise its sales force, according to an announcement from O2. The 125-strong Truvo team is using a virtual office, which has improved employee flexibility and increased productivity, according to the company. The sales team can now access their e-mails, update sales applications and track new business data remotely. The new application, developed by PSI Mobile, can also measure sales forecast figures and compare against targets.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 