NEWS IN BRIEF
Daily Digest 16 September
16-09-2009
by Emmet Cole
Jeeves asks for Digiweb services | Facebook makes money at last
Telecoms and managed services provider, Digiweb, announced on Wednesday that it has successfully completed a hosting, telecommunications and managed hosting solution for Ask Jeeves/Ask.Com. Ask Jeeves' European IT infrastructure will now be housed by Louth-based Digiweb. The Ask Jeeves website in the UK currently receives 15 million unique users per month. Digiweb will also provide voice and data connectivity for the Ask.Jeeves/Ask.com team in Ireland. Financial details of the deal were not released.
Online recruitment company, Saon Group, which operates in Ireland as IrishJobs.ie, has announced a rapid expansion into the Indian market with the forthcoming launch of 12 new online recruitment websites over the next month. The new sites will bring the group's portfolio of city specific websites in India to 14. The group launched its Indian flagship website in Pune in 2007 and a Hyderabad website in 2008.
Halo Business Angels Network (HBAN) -- a new initiative led by InterTradeIreland and Enterprise Ireland to link early stage Irish entrepreneurs looking for funding with potential angel investors -- was launched on Wednesday. HBAN plans to act as an 'angel network with a VC approach' by offering guidance to businesses seeking access to expansion funds and to investors looking for pre-screened opportunities. HBAN expects to generate close to EUR6 million in new angel investment in its first two years of operation and will create 10 new angel investment syndicates. The new investment raised will be used to back up to 20 early stage enterprises. HBAN plans to focus on companies at an early stage of their development that have established a solid trading record and are seeking approximately EUR250,000-EUR500,000 to support further growth.
Semiconductor company Analog Devices Ireland has announced a partnership with the University of Limerick's engineering faculty to develop a scholarship programme valued at more than EUR125,000. The Scholarship Fund is being established in memory of the late Hank Krabbe, the founding Managing Director of Analog Devices in Limerick. The Analog Devices scholarship will be awarded for the next four years to the top first year student in electronic engineering in University Limerick. The Hank Krabbe medal will be accompanied by a cheque of EUR5,000 and a EUR7,000 payment will be made prior to the start of the student's second, third, and fourth years.
Social networking site Facebook has signed up its 300 millionth member and became cash flow positive in its last quarter, according to co-founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg. 'Cash flow positive' means earning enough to cover operating costs. The revelation surprised Zuckerberg, who said earlier this year that he expected Facebook to be cash flow positive sometime in 2010. Facebook signed up its 200 millionth user in April.
European Union antitrust regulators are set to investigate the search engine deal agreed by Microsoft and Yahoo, according to a report from news agency Reuters on Wednesday. Microsoft and Yahoo struck their 10-year Web search deal in July, in an effort to challenge market leader Google. They expect the deal to be complete by early 2010. Last week, the US Justice Department asked both companies for additional documents as it continues to probe the deal. Google is the No. 1 search engine, with 65 percent of searches, followed by Yahoo with about 19 percent and Microsoft with around 9 percent. Microsoft, Yahoo and the European Commission did not comment on the Reuters report.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 