NEWS IN BRIEF
Daily Digest 22 September
22-09-2009
by Emmet Ryan
C&W lands deal with Ryanair | Facebooks turns off its Beacon
HP Ireland has signed a EUR78.5 million contract with the Northern Ireland Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety for the provision of ICT services. The four-year deal covers ICT needs for regional projects within health and social care. HP will provide the department with a range of technical and advisory services as well as hardware and software. The contract includes the modernisation of a patient administration system used by all hospitals in Northern Ireland.
Irish data centre managed services firm Servecentric has won a EUR600,000 managed hosting deal with Kenexa, a global provider of business solutions for human resources. The announcement follows Kenexa's decision to grow its European operations by opening an Irish office in Dundalk, Co. Louth. This is expected to create 30 jobs by the end of 2010. Kenexa has over 1,400 employees throughout the world and delivers its services to over 4,000 organisations located in more than 200 countries and territories.
Telecoms firm Cable and Wireless has secured a EUR15 million deal with Ryanair to manage the budget airline's IT and telecommunications infrastructure. The contract will see Cable and Wireless maintain IT at Ryanair's European network of 180 airports in 26 countries. As part of the deal the budget-airline's check-in kiosks will use the telecommunications firm's network to enable passengers to obtain boarding passes.
Dublin firm Vasorum is looking to exploit a lucrative market with the proposed launch of its Astra Plug product. The medical devices firm has developed the product, which is due to be launched in Europe next year, as an implant to help control blood-flow for patients of cardiac procedures. Approximately 10 million patients undergo procedures that require such devices annually. Vasorum estimates that the market for products like Astra Plug could be worth USD1 billion by 2010.
Dot-mobi and dot-im domains are growing in popularity, according to Irish hosting provider Blacknight Solutions. Dot-mobi domains are targeted at businesses looking to expand their presence on the mobile web while dot-im is aimed at business with a focus on social media and instant messaging. "We're seeing a lot of innovative uses for the dot-mobi domain amongst our customers," said Michele Neylon, founder of Blacknight. "Many people are using dot-im domains to centralise all their social media profiles, so instead of telling everyone you meet to visit you on Twitter, Facebook, Instant Messenger, all you have to do is give them your dot-im address and it will have links to all your online activities." Blacknight is currently running a limited time offer where customers can register a dot-mobi domain for EUR6.75 and a dot-im domain for EUR4.95.
After years of complaints, Facebook is to shut down its controversial Beacon program. Launched in 2007, the service tracked user activity on other websites and sent alerts about them to their Facebook friends. From the get-go the service was charged with allegations of invasions of privacy and the social network has decided to turn off Beacon as part of a class-action settlement. The settlement, which is pending the approval of a judge, will also see Facebook pay USD9.5 million to create a foundation to promote online privacy and security.
Google has received backing from an advisor to the European Court of Justice in its trademark row with LVMH. The luxury goods firm, which owns the Louis Vuitton brand, has challenged Google's efforts to sell brand names as keywords. The court said on Tuesday that advocate general Poiares Maduro said the action did not constitute a breach of trademark.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 