NEWS IN BRIEF
Daily Digest 7 December
07-12-2009
by Deirdre McArdle
Mobile broadband usage on the rise: CSO | Avaya gets green light for Nortel buy
Broadband connections among Irish enterprises remained static at 84 percent in 2009 compared to last year, according to a report from the Central Statistics Office. Forty-five percent of enterprises use a DSL broadband connection with speeds of over 2Mbps, compared to 41 percent in 2008. Mobile broadband usage has risen to 27 percent, up from 24 percent last year. Two-thirds (66 percent) of enterprises said they have a website or homepage, up slightly from 65 percent in 2008.
Staying with broadband news, Chorus NTL launched its 30Mbps Fibre Power broadband service, which the firm claims is the fastest consumer broadband available in Ireland. Chorus NTL said it would be rolling out three new broadband speeds -- 30Mb, 15Mb and 5Mb -- on the 4 January 2010 and the services will be delivered across the firm's upgraded network. The 30Mbps service will cost EUR42 per month if part of a TV and phone bundle, and EUR50 per month if taken as a standalone product.
Compliance software developer Norkom is working with Clique, a Science Foundation Ireland research cluster, on a research project to develop next generation techniques that will enable financial institutions to identify suspicious or criminal behaviour faster. "By uniting researchers, business experts and technologists, this collaborative research with Norkom Technologies on data patterns, graph and network analysis will help tackle critical questions behind financial fraud," says Professor Padraig Cunningham, one of the lead researchers at Clique.
Irish IT distributor DataSolutions has been awarded Irish distribution rights by ShoreTel, a global provider of IP based unified communications. Under the agreement DataSolutions will develop the ShoreTel partner network in Ireland through a national marketing campaign. John Howard, ShoreTel's managing director, EMEA: "As a company that delivers solutions through the channel, the selection of national distributor is fundamental to our success. Not only does DataSolutions align with our core business values, but it proved to have the channel partner support, technical skills and marketing capabilities to convince us of its suitability to join the ShoreTel family.
Social networking site Facebook is to create a Safety Advisory Board that will be made up of five internet safety organisations from North America and Europe -- Common Sense Media, ConnectSafely, WiredSafety, Childnet International and The Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI). The companies will advise Facebook on online safety and privacy issues. Last week Facebook made changes to its privacy policy, which will allow users to control who sees each individual piece of content they upload.
PC maker Dell is to form a new business unit that will focus on developing mobile devices, reports the Wall Street Journal. Heading up the new division will be ex-Motorola executive Ron Garriques, who was the former head of Dell's consumer business unit. Dell's consumer unit will now be combined with the small business computer unit, with Steve Felice leading the joint entity. Dell's most recent quarterly figures featured a 54 percent drop in profits and a 15 percent dip in revenues. Diversifying into mobile devices is seen as a way for the PC giant to reduce its dependency on the corporate PC market, which has seen demand fall off over the past year.
Enterprise communications firm Avaya has announced that the Canadian Minister of Industry has approved its acquisition of Nortel Enterprise Solutions under the Investment Canada Act. The company said it has now passed regulatory reviews in the US, Canada and the European Union, and expects to close the transaction this month. Avaya acquired Nortel's enterprise business for about USD900 million.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 