NEWS IN BRIEF
Daily Digest 20 April
20-04-2009
by Deirdre McArdle
Oracle to snap up Sun | New Data Electronics datacentre to create Dublin jobs
Following the collapse of merger talks between Sun Micrososystems and IBM, it has emerged that Oracle has entered into a definitive agreement to buy Sun for USD9.50 per share, in cash. The transaction is valued at approximately USD7.4 billion. Oracle said it expects Sun's operations will boost earnings per share by at least USD0.15 in the first full year after the deal closes while contributing more than USD1.5 billion in first-year profits. "The acquisition of Sun transforms the IT industry, combining best-in-class software and mission-critical computing systems," Oracle CEO Larry Ellison said in a statement. Meanwhile, Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz said in a statement that the deal marks "a fantastic day" for Sun and its customers, while chairman Scott McNealy called the agreement "an industry-defining event". The deal is subject to closing conditions, shareholder approval and approval from US regulators.
Data Electronics has announced it is to open a new EUR25 million datacentre facility in North West Business Park, Ballycoolin in Dublin, creating 10 new jobs in the process. The 40,000 sq ft datacentre will eventually have an overall capacity of over 100,000 sq ft. The move will eventually double the Data Electronics workforce from 55 employees to 100 when the final phase is completed in the next three to five years.
Boxer, the consortium which won the contract to provide digital terrestrial television (DTT) services in Ireland, has pulled out of the project. The Broadcasting Commission of Ireland said Boxer, which includes BT and Denis O'Brien's Communicorp, has withdrawn its applications for the three multiplex contracts. The group blamed the economic downturn and 'challenges' in reaching a deal on transmission facilities with RTE Networks for its decision. The BCI will now ask the second place applicant in last year's competition -- One Vision -- whether it is interested in negotiating on the contracts. The One Vision consortium includes TV3, Setanta and Eircom. Labour spokesperson Liz McManus has expressed her disappointment with the news: "Nationally there are consequences as DTT was to be rolled out across the country. Currently the Broadcasting Bill is going through the Dail to allow for the management of DTT, yet, at present, there is no company to deliver it."
The PC market in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) posted its first yearly decline since the 2001 recession, with sales recording -10 percent year-on-year growth in the first quarter of 2009, according to preliminary data released by IDC EMEA. Breaking it into sub-regions, the CEE region was most affected, bringing down overall EMEA results with a decline in PC shipments of -41 percent, while Middle East and Africa slowed down as well at -6.1 percent growth. Western Europe was more stable, with shipments of -0.5 percent, thanks to sustained consumer demand and continuing popularity of netbooks. Of the top five vendors, Acer and Toshiba were the only two to record positive growth at 3.7 percent and 7.6 percent, respectively. HP retained its lead at the top of the table, with Acer in second place. Dell, in third place, saw sales drop a massive 25.3 percent. Meanwhile, Toshiba was in fourth place overall, with Asus rounding off the top five.
Cable & Wireless has launched high-speed Ethernet as a local access option for enterprise organisations and carriers throughout the Republic of Ireland. The telecoms firm said the solution will deliver Ethernet connectivity with interface options of 10Mbps or 100Mbps to the Cable & Wireless IPVPN QoS product (Internet Protocol Virtual Private Network Quality of Service), which supports video, voice and data through multiple classes of service.
Fifty percent of 10 year-olds, 87 percent of 13 year-olds and 95 percent of 16 year-olds in the EU have a mobile phone, according to a European Commission survey, which revealed that half of European parents worry that mobile phone use might expose their children to sexually and violently explicit images (51 percent) or bullying by other children (49 percent). The Commission has called on mobile operators to do more to protect children while using their mobiles. A GSM Association report shows that 80 percent of European operators have measures in place to control children's access to adult content; however only 41 percent said they actively monitored the effectiveness of their control systems. "Mobile operators still need to be more ambitious to make measures for the purpose of protecting minors more effective in all European countries, and also to make content classification more transparent," said EU Telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 