IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 21 May
21-05-2010
by Sylvia Leatham
SAP creates new Irish jobs | DRG secures EUR500k investment
The Irish Times says that Eircom is seeking to appoint a corporate adviser to help it formulate its long-term financial strategy and restructure its EUR3.3 billion debt. It is understood that six international banks and specialist restructuring groups have tendered for the work. These include Goldman Sachs and Rothschild. An informed source said Eircom could hire two groups to advise it on its financial strategy. An appointment is expected in the coming weeks. No comment was available from Eircom but sources said the move was designed to look at its long-term financial needs and wasn't prompted by an urgent need to restructure its debt pile.
The paper also reports that mobile operator O2 is to create 100 jobs in Dublin over the next two and a half years. The move is part of a EUR25 million investment over five years by Spanish telecoms group Telefonica to create a pan-European human resources function. Telefonica's European services centre will support employees in O2 subsidiaries in Ireland, Britain, Germany, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The creation of the shared services centre was supported by IDA Ireland.
The paper also says that a cloud computing consortium to help develop industry standards and a rating system for cloud computing companies was launched this week by CA Technologies and Carnegie Mellon University. Cloudcommons.com is to be the online home of a new Cloud Commons Consortium industry group which will produce an independent 'service measurement index' scoring system that "will be the TripAdvisor" for parties interested in getting an insight into both major and small cloud services providers, said Laura McCluer, vice president, Cloud Community, CA Technologies.
The same paper says that more than three-quarters of Irish TDs plan to use social media tools in the next general election campaign, with Facebook overwhelmingly the favoured platform. A new survey from PR firm Pembroke Communications found that 77 percent of politicians said they would use social tools to get their message out during the next election. Of the 48 TDs that responded to the survey, 96 percent said they would use Facebook, 65 percent said they planned to use Twitter, while half said they would use YouTube and blogs.
The paper also says that business software firm SAP is to begin a recruitment campaign next week to fill 75 positions at its Irish operations, bringing the total number of employees here to about 1,000 people. The company said 15 positions are new roles in SAP SSC Ireland, which provides post-sales support and software maintenance services to customers. The remaining 60 jobs were previously announced through the IDA for the SAP subsidiary Business Objects, with recruitment of 100 people to be phased in over four years.
The paper also reports that mobile internet services company Digital Reach Group (DRG) has completed a EUR500,000 investment deal with Pageant Holdings to double its employees and fund the company to profitability. DRG provides mobile advertising, app and content publishing services for media companies, advertisers and ad agencies. The company said the investment would primarily be spent on recruitment, as well as some product development and helping the company towards break-even early next year. DRG currently has 10 employees and is hiring a further 10 people in sales, operations, administration, billing and research positions.
The paper also reports that in order to achieve a digital transformation of the European economy and European society, it is vital to understand the role of public authorities. That's according to Anthony Whelan, head of European commissioner for the digital agenda Neelie Kroes's cabinet, who was speaking at the Irish Internet Association's annual conference in Dublin. These authorities need to correct market failures and at the same time create an environment in which economic entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs can do their work, he said.
The paper also notes that a Cork woman who gave her daughter up for adoption 18 years ago was reunited with her after a search for her name on Google and the social networking site Facebook. Orlaith McCullagh tracked down the teenager's online social profile following a Google search for her name. The search prompted her to get in touch with her daughter through a friendship request on Facebook.
The Irish Independent notes that Communications Minister Eamon Ryan is to meet the Broadcasting Authority, ComReg and RTE next week in a bid to kickstart the collapsed Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) project. A spokeswoman for the minister said last night he was "disappointed" that the Broadcasting Authority's process to find a commercial DTT operator had failed. She added that public service television would switch over from analogue to the DTT system by the EU's 2012 deadline "come what may".
The Irish Examiner reports that US company RCM Technologies has announced it has selected Cork as the location for its European headquarters. RCM, which employs nearly 2,500 people worldwide, said its European headquarters at City Gate, Mahon would service multinational clients in the life sciences sector. "We selected Ireland because it is one of the leading international locations for the life sciences industry. Many of the largest pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device manufacturing companies have located their facilities in Ireland," said Leon Kopyt, RCM's chairman and chief executive.
According to the Financial Times, shares in Dell fell as much as 5 percent in after-hours trading on Thursday, in spite of a 52 percent jump in first-quarter net income, after the PC maker reported a thinner profit margin and warned of a coming seasonal slowdown in purchases by large businesses. Earnings rose to USD441 million, or USD0.22 a share, and revenue climbed 21 percent to USD14.9 billion. Net income before severance and facility closure costs and amortisation of intangible assets rose 20 percent to USD584 million, or USD0.30 a share, topping analyst expectations. Gross margins fell, however, to 17.6 percent of revenue from 18.1 percent a year earlier. Operating margin came in at 5.5 percent, not much improved from the fourth quarter's 5.4 percent.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Google has outlined its plans for merging conventional TV programming with content delivered from the internet. The software, called Google TV, was demonstrated at a developer event in San Francisco. Google TV, which is based on the Android operating system, includes search features and a guide to help users navigate among an array of websites and TV programmes.
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Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 