NEWS IN BRIEF
Daily Digest 14 May
14-05-2009
by Bryan Collins
BT's Irish profits grow 18 percent | Irish tech blasts into space
BT reported an 18 percent year-on-year profit increase for the year ending 31 March 2009 for its operations in the island of Ireland. However, the entire BT operation announced losses of STG134 million and said it is planning to reduce its staffing levels by 15,000 through voluntary redundancies and natural attrition. Reports suggest that the company is not expecting to cull of any of its 3,000 Irish staff. "We've been increasing employee numbers to deliver… new contracts while reducing numbers in areas of our business where we are experiencing a decline in demand and are driving efficiencies. These reductions have come predominantly through natural attrition. We have no set plans to accelerate what has been business as usual for us," said BT Ireland in a statement. BT's operation in Ireland also saw its gross margin improve by 9 percent while underlying revenues excluding foreign exchange movement declined by 4 percent to STG800 million.
HP has overtaken Dell to become the number one PC vendor in Ireland. According to its first quarter 2009 results, the computer manufacturer said it grew its market share in Ireland to 32.9 percent and its year-on-year performance increased by 7.1 percent compared to 2008. The company sold 40,834 units in Ireland during the first quarter of this year, which was around 10,000 more than Dell. HP also claims that Dell's market shared has dropped by a massive 63.1 percent. "The Q1 preliminary results are very encouraging. It is a very welcome and timely boost for everyone in what will undoubtedly be a very challenging year," said Martin Cullen, general manager for HP's Personal Systems Group in Ireland.
Irish technology developed by a research team at NUI Maynooth and two Irish companies is being launched into space on Thursday. Europe's Spaceport in French Guaina is the location for the take-off of the Planck surveyor satellite which is carrying technology partly researched and developed by a team at NUI Maynooth, Dublin-based company CAPTEC, and Cork company Farran Technology. "The data collected [by the technology] will tell us things like the age of the universe, the rate at which it is expanding and what the future of the universe looks like," said Professor Anthony Murphy, who led the NUI Maynooth research team.
Irish content management software company TerminalFour has partnered with creative agency Different Digital to target the UK's commercial website market. The two companies are going to offer a solution which they say will accelerate the adoption of digital media by company websites. "This partnership has already resulted in our first joint customer and we are jointly working on a number of new opportunities," said David Miller, chief operating officer of TerminalFour. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
e-Net has been shortlisted for the 2009 ICT Excellence "Telecommunications Company of the Year" award, along with Magnet Networks and Complete Telecom. The company, which is responsible for managing the State's Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs), was selected, along with Magnet and Complete, for the shortlist by a panel of telecoms experts. The ninth annual ICT Excellence awards will be presented at a gala presentation dinner in the Royal Marine Hotel, Dun Laoghaire, on 21 May.
The European Commission has assigned 2 x 15 MHz of the S-Band spectrum to Solaris Mobile. The Dublin-based company can now use the spectrum across the European Union to facilitate the provision of TV, video and radio, as well as two-way communication to a variety of handheld and vehicle-mounted mobile devices. Solaris also plans to work with content providers who want to broadcast location-based services, video, and radio channels to mobile phones, vehicles, game consoles and other handsets.
'Nestwatch 2009' on RTE Radio 1's Mooney Show is being made available as a live stream using technology provided by AirSpeed Telecom. The telecoms company is providing high-speed bandwidth to enable live streaming of nesting Blue Tits from special nest boxes which have been erected by the Mooney Show in the gardens of Aras an Uachtarain and the Mary Aikenhead daycare centre in Donnybrook. This is the third year that AirSpeed Telecom has provided this service to the Mooney Show and the company is using wireless radio technology to make the live streaming possible.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 