NEWS IN BRIEF
Daily Digest 22 June
22-06-2009
by Emmet Ryan
Ryan launches next-gen broadband paper | Project Kelvin gets underway
The Minister for Communications Eamon Ryan has published the Government’s policy paper on Next Generation Broadband. The paper lays out some of the commitments the government is making, such as the National Broadband Scheme and the soon to be launched school’s broadband project. Calling the paper "just the beginning of our ambitions", Communications Minister Eamon Ryan said: "It forms part of a wider strategy to develop Ireland as a smart economy with innovative, high-efficiency technologies at its core... Operating from a position of strength in the communications sector will allow us to capitalise on these advantages and develop Ireland as a high-end, digital economy." Click here here for video footage of Minister Ryan introducing the paper.
Project Kelvin, one of the projects mentioned in the Next Generation Broadband paper, was launched on Monday. The EUR30 million project will provide a new direct transatlantic telecoms link between Ireland and North America, as well increased connectivity with the UK and mainland Europe. The cross-border project is being jointly funded by the Irish Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment in Belfast.
A report from Gartner has found revenue from the worldwide security software market totalled USD13.5 billion in 2008, an increase of 18.6 percent from 2007. The analyst firm said there was an increasing demand for appliance-based products, particularly within certain segments such as e-mail security and secure web gateway markets.
Infrastructure software firm Citrix Systems has announced the availability of Citrix XenServer 5.5, a new upgrade on its virtualisation product. The announcement comes 75 days after Citrix made the full enterprise-class XenServer platform available for unlimited production deployment at no charge.
Irish-based PopCap Games has launched Bejeweled Blitz, a one-minute version of its Bejeweld games franchise, on Facebook. Bejeweled has proven popular on the social network attracting more than 5 million monthly users since debuting in late December of 2008. More than 75 percent of the 5 million monthly active users are female and so far over 1 billion sessions of the game have been served.
The Irish Medical Times is seeking entries for the Best Use of IT in Healthcare prize for the annual Irish Healthcare Awards. The awards will take place on 15 October in Dublin and the closing date for entries is 7 August. Companies and organisations that develop IT solutions which are applicable in healthcare delivery are invited to enter. Last year’s winner of the award was the Technology Research for Independent Living Clinic from Trinity College Dublin and St. James’s Hospital. The clinic was created as a research platform to test and inform the development of new technologies aimed at maintaining and enhancing the independent living of older people.
Apple's executives will be smiling from ear to ear at the rather unsurprising news that the new iPhone is a hit. The firm sold more than 1 million units of its latest model in the first three days, making it the most successful version of the iPhone yet. The iPhone 3G S went on sale Friday in the US and seven other countries. The previous model – iPhone 3G -- also sold 1 million units inside of three days but that version was launched simultaneously in 22 countries. Apple chief executive Steve Jobs, in his first statement since taking a medical leave of absence in January, said, in a written statement: "customers are voting and the iPhone is winning." The statement from Jobs comes just a couple of days after it was reported he had received a liver transplant about two months ago.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 