NEWS IN BRIEF
Daily Digest 22 July
22-07-2009
by Emmet Cole
BT and Vodafone hook up | PC shipments drop in EMEA
BT and Vodafone have agreed a seven-year strategic partnership in Ireland. As part of the agreement -- which is subject to approval from the Irish Competition Authority -- BT will transfer its consumer and small business broadband and voice customer base to Vodafone. BT will also develop Vodafone's broadband infrastructure (with speeds of up to 24Mbs for approximately two thirds of available broadband lines). The deal will give Vodafone wholesale access to BT's advanced network. Further, Vodafone will become the second biggest fixed line provider in Ireland, with over 170,000 fixed line customers and a 15 percent market share of the fixed broadband market. BT says it will now focus its business on providing networked IT services to bigger companies and the public sector in Ireland. More than 84,000 consumers and 3,000 small businesses currently with BT will transfer to Vodafone over the next several months. The companies say the value of the gross assets involved in the deal is EUR4.8 million.
PC shipments in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region continued to fall in the second quarter, according to the latest figures from market analysts IDC. Overall shipments were down 9.8 percent for the quarter compared to the same period last year. The biggest drops were seen in Central and Eastern Europe, where sales dropped a whopping 40 percent. Meanwhile sales declined 2.5 percent in Western Europe. According to IDC, the hardest hit sector was enterprise sales, with the recession preventing many companies in this sector from investing in new PCs. Netbooks continued to shine with 2.6 million units shipped in the region during the quarter.
Nicola Mitchell, the founder and CEO of two successful Irish life sciences companies --Life Scientific and BioScientific Diagnostics -- has been presented with the NovaUCD 2009 Innovation Award. Mitchell established Life Scientific in 1995 to enable clients in the agrochemical industry get their products to market more quickly. In 2006, Mitchell established BioScientific Diagnostics, to provide expertise in the development, validation and utilisation of immuno and cell-based methods for investigation of biopharmaceuticals and biomarkers. The companies collectively employ over 40 people and annual turnover is expected to reach EUR4 million this year, 95 percent of which is derived from export sales.
LG Electronics has posted a record-high second quarter net profit, boosted by sales of mobile phones and flat-screen televisions. The company's net profit rose 62 percent to USD919 million. Global sales rose 13.8 percent, exceeding market analysts' predictions for the period. LG overtook Motorola and Sony Ericsson to become the world's third-largest seller of mobile phones last year.
Damovo Group, the enterprise technology and service solutions company, announced on Wednesday that it has been awarded Microsoft's inaugural 'Rocked the World' award, in recognition of its Unified Communications (UC) solutions. The award was presented by Microsoft's UC EMEA Voice Team at Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference, which took place in New Orleans in the US. Earlier this year, Damovo extended its UC portfolio to include availability of Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Release 2 (R2). The latest release includes dial-in audio conferencing, desktop sharing, and group chat. Damovo Ireland created Damovo's UC solution.
Havok, the Irish games physics engine company, doesn't just create products that enable violent fun on your games console. In a strange case of life imitating art, Havok also works with real-world defence company Thales. Havok announced Wednesday that it has extended its current licensing agreement with the French defence contractor, which supplies equipment to the French and UK militaries. Under the terms of the deal, Thales will use Havok's animation tools to enhance graphics in its range of industrial simulation products.
Yahoo launched a revitalised homepage on Tuesday, that blends Yahoo's collection of online content and products with popular social networking services like Facebook and Twitter. A company spokesperson described the changes as the most "radical" makeover of the site since it was launched more than a decade ago. The homepage re-launch comes as rumours of a search and advertising partnership between Yahoo and Microsoft Corp gain momentum.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 