IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 10 December
10-12-2010
by Sylvia Leatham
Broadband for all by 2012, says Minister Ryan | Only 21pc of Irish firms are selling online
The Irish Times reports that the word Chatroulette was the fastest-growing search term among Irish users of Google in 2010. According to Google's Zeitgeist, an annual analysis of the billions of searches carried out on the Google website, Chatroulette also topped a global ranking of fastest-growing searches. 'Fifa 11' topped the chart for sports-related searches in Ireland, while Cee Lo Green topped the music category. Google also released a chart of the 10 most popular Irish searches, rather than the fastest-growing. Top of this list was Facebook, followed by YouTube and Hotmail.
The paper also says that every home in the country will have broadband access by 2012, according to Minister for Communications Eamon Ryan. Announcing the completion of the National Broadband Scheme, Minister Ryan said coverage had now increased from 85 to 99 percent of properties. The remaining 1 percent, or 12,000 properties, would be covered by a soon-to-be-announced rural broadband scheme, which would be completed in 2012.
The same paper notes that green tech firm Simple.ie is confident of raising as much as EUR2 million in its latest Green BES (Business Expansion Scheme) Fund, according to managing director Elliot Griffin. This is the fourth time the company has offered such a fund, and Elliot said he was pleasantly surprised by the amount of investors already showing an interest despite the economic conditions.
The paper also reports that online payments firm Realex Payments processed over EUR1 billion in transactions last month. The news came as the company announced it achieved a 9 percent annual increase in pretax profits to EUR783,000 in the year to the end of April 2010. Revenues grew 8 percent to EUR7 million. The company said the average transaction it processed in November was EUR252, up from EUR182 in November 2009. The volume of payments processed increased 26 percent.
The paper also notes that newly established software company OnePlace is about to sign a major contract with a large Irish insurance company. OnePlace was spun out of Wicklow-based Ability Software with assistance from CorporateSpinouts.com. If the deal closes with the Irish insurer, it will generate recurring licence revenues which will be used to fund OnePlace.
The same paper says that Zutec, which sells web-based software for building and asset management, has won contracts worth more than EUR2 million in Australia and the Middle East over the past three months. Zutec has secured a EUR1.3 million contract from the consortium managing the passenger terminal at the new Doha International airport in Qatar. In Australia, Zutec has won a contract with Fiona Stanley Hospital in Perth and a contract as part of the development of Victoria's new Royal Children's Hospital.
The same paper notes that only 21 percent of Irish businesses are using e-commerce to sell their products, and the online channel accounts for just 24 percent of sales at firms who do sell over the internet, according to new data from the Central Statistics Office. Manufacturers were most likely to sell using e-commerce, with 31 percent participation. But the use of e-commerce for purchasing by manufacturers has fallen from 63 percent in 2009 to 49 percent this year.
The paper also says that chipmaker Movidius has secured a EUR940,000 investment from the AIB Seed Capital Fund. Movidius will use the funding to expand in the US and Asia, where it is marketing its Myriad 3D platform to mobile device makers. This allows 3D images to be displayed without the need for special glasses.
According to the Financial Times, Dell is in late-stage talks to acquire storage company Compellent for nearly USD900 million. The PC maker said it was holding exclusive talks about a deal valuing the company at USD27.50 a share, an 18 percent discount to the price that the stock closed at on Wednesday night. Compellent's shares, which stood at around USD12.25 at the beginning of July, had soared in recent weeks as takeover speculation built.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 