NEWS IN BRIEF
Daily Digest 23 July
23-07-2009
by Emmet Ryan
Intel to appeal Commission decision | Citrix beats revenue estimates
ComReg has published the findings of its first Residential Consumer ICT Survey of 2009. According to ComReg almost 40 percent of respondents anticipate a reduction in their communications spending over the next 12 months, while nearly a third had already made some form of reduction. Despite the overall decrease in spending, home internet connections continue to increase, with 67 percent of respondents having a connection, compared to 58 percent at the same point last year. Eircom remains the dominant internet service provider with 52 percent of the market. Customer satisfaction with internet speeds rose to 70 percent, up from 60 percent last year.
The Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation, Conor Lenihan has announced research funding awards of EUR20.7million for 22 world-class research projects under the Science Foundation Ireland Principal Investigator Programme. "Today's government investment will enable crucial research to be carried out in Ireland over the next three to five years. The successful 22 projects include medical research into cancer, stroke and brain injury, Alzheimer's Disease, asthma, cystic fibrosis, salmonella, meningitis, pre-clampsia, genetics and medical devices, while other areas to be funded include greenhouse gas emissions, web personalisation, cloud computing, cyber security, digital media and semiconductors," said Minister Lenihan.
In other government announcements, a new handbook called 'Buying Innovation, the 10 Step Guide to SMART Procurement and SME Access to Public Contracts' has been published. The guide was launched by the Tanaiste, Mary Coughlan, the Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Dr Martin Mansergh, and Frank Ryan, the chief executive of Enterprise Ireland. The Tanaiste said the handbook was aimed at officials engaged in procurement activity across the public sector. She said that it included practical steps that would encourage innovation in the provision of goods and services to government and increase SME access to public contracts.
Search firm Yahoo has bought Xoopit, a business that provides technology to organise photograph collections in Yahoo's e-mail system. The price of the purchase has not been revealed but technology blog All Things Digital has reported the deal is worth USD20 million, citing sources close to the deal. The purchase follows Yahoo initially working with Xoopit's technology last December.
Chip maker Intel has filed an appeal to challenge the European Commission's record EUR1.06 billion fine and ruling in May. The Commission levied the fine after finding that Intel had abused its dominance in computer processors by offering rebates to computer makers who used more of its chips. A spokesman for Intel said the firm felt its practices were legal and above board. The filing with the European Court of First Instance, which typically takes two years to render an opinion, will not delay Intel's payment of the fine.
Infrastructure software firm Citrix Systems beat market estimates in its latest set of quarterly results. Total revenue for the quarter was USD393 million, ahead of estimates of USD386 million. The figure also represented a USD1 million increase on the same quarter last year. Net profits for the period were USD43 million, or USD0.23 per diluted share, compared to USD35 million, or USD0.18 per diluted share, for the same period in 2008.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 