NEWS IN BRIEF
Daily Digest 9 June
09-06-2009
by Emmet Ryan
Revenue, profits jump at Norkom | Twitter hunts impostors
InishTech, a new start up based in Dublin, has been set up to relaunch Microsoft's Software Licensing and Protection services. InishTech was created through a collaboration with the Microsoft IP Ventures Programme, Enterprise Ireland, and entrepreneurs Aidan Gallagher (formerly of Baltimore Technologies), John O'Sullivan and David Smyth. "We are committed to offering our customers the most flexible licensing and intellectual property assurance solutions possible," said Gallagher, who is chief executive of InishTech.
Irish compliance software firm Norkom has posted a 17 percent increase in revenue for the year to end of March 2009. In the firm's annual results revenue rose to EUR48 million, while profits before tax increased by 14 percent to EUR8.2 million. Earnings per share grew by 1 percent to just under EUR0.08. "Despite the current turmoil in the banking sector and the subsequent economic impact, the resilience of Norkom's business has shone through, with our teams delivering a strong performance during the year," said Norkom's chief executive, Paul Kerley.
Adware and Trojan downloaders are the chief security threats facing Irish PC users, according to a study by security firm ESET. In Ireland, the top infection was called Win32/Toolbar.MyWebSearch, a potentially unwanted toolbar that includes a search function that directs searches through MyWebSearch.com. Outside of Ireland the greatest threat recorded was autorun malware that comes with infected USB devices.
From 1 July Digiweb will increase the speed of its Tooway consumer broadband service to 3.6Mbps from 2Mbps, at no extra charge for customers. Maximum uplink speeds will also be increased to 384kbps for all customers. In addition, overnight usage volumes will be discounted by 50 percent between midnight and 6am to reward users of the satellite network at times of traditionally low usage.
Translation services firm Lionbridge has announced it has renewed its contract with the US Department of Justice Executive Office for Immigration Review. Lionbridge is the government agency's provider of on-site and telephone interpreters for immigration court proceedings across the US. The contract is worth approximately USD100 million to Lionbridge over the next six years with one base year and five option years structured into the deal. Lionbridge has two facilities in Ireland, one in Ballina and the other in Dublin.
Twitter has posted a notice on its blog regarding celebrity impersonation. In the notice, Twitter's management said impersonation violates its terms of service and that it will move to delete accounts known to be created by impostors. Twitter says it is looking at other means to prevent impersonation and will launch a beta preview of a new system called Verified Accounts later this summer. The news follows calls by brothers Peyton and Eli Manning, both of whom are high profile American Football players, through a journalist earlier this week to alert fans that Twitter accounts created in their names are false. Elsewhere a false account created in the name of Tony La Russa, manager of the St Louis Cardinals baseball team has been removed from Twitter. The Mannings and La Russa are the latest in a long line of celebrities who have fallen victim to hoax accounts.
Companies proved to be less inclined to use outsourcing last year, according to a new report from Gartner. The analyst firm found global IT services revenues reached USD806 billion in 2008, an increase of 8.2 percent but well short of Gartner's growth prediction of 9.5 percent. According to the study, business was brisk in the first half of 2008 but declined as the year wore on. IBM leads the IT services outsourcing market with a 7 percent share while Hewlett-Packard has moved into second place following its acquisition of EDS.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 