IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 24 March
24-03-2011
by Sylvia Leatham
Receiver appointed to Ellickson Engineering | IDA, Microsoft launch cloud initiative
The Irish Times reports that business advisory group Deloitte is to establish a new development centre and tax unit in Belfast, which it hopes will create 125 new jobs. One hundred new jobs are expected in Deloitte's new National Solution Centre in Belfast, which will focus on software development, testing, analytics and application support.
The paper also says that seven businesses in EastPoint Business Park have pooled resources to fill their vacancies at the second annual EastPoint Jobs and Careers Fair at Estuary House, to be held on Friday. Jobs on offer include positions in IT sales, business development, technical support, accounting and finance, and project management. The companies recruiting are Oracle, Whirlpool, Citrix, Citrix Online, Arvato, Ergo and Global Tele Sales.
The paper also says that proposals for what was billed as one of the world's largest data centres, to be located at Kilpedder, Wicklow, have been rejected by An Bord Pleanála. In its decision, the board said the site was "a greenfield, unserviced rural area" between Kilpedder and Newtownmountkennedy, and "not in an area identified for urban growth in the Regional Planning Guidelines for the Greater Dublin Area, 2010-2022". It is not known if the promoters of the 82-acre "digital services campus" will launch a new planning application.
The paper also has extensive coverage of the Moriarty tribunal report.
The Irish Independent says that accountancy firm Grant Thornton will be appointed as receiver to Waterford-based Ellickson Engineering, putting the future of 80 jobs in jeopardy. Ellickson Engineering has been closed for business since last week and it is understood the receiver is being put in by Bank of Ireland to assess the finances of the firm. The company manufactures and distributes light engineering products.
The paper also reports that the IDA has teamed up with Microsoft to launch a joint effort to attract US cloud computing companies to Ireland. The initiative is the first time the IDA has teamed up with a multinational in this way. Microsoft Ireland managing director Paul Rellis is in the US for the launch this week alongside John Dennehy of HR Locker, a Cork-based cloud computing company, and Kevin Mahon of US-based Kemp, which has its European hub in Ireland.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Yahoo has added a feature for its web search service that is meant to keep up with recent upgrades by Google and Microsoft. Yahoo said its new "direct search" technology tries to provide specific answers to queries above traditional links to websites that all search engines display. The company is selling ads specifically for the new feature, which is a large box that opens near the top of its search-results pages. Shashi Seth, a Yahoo search executive, said it is unclear whether Yahoo will share that revenue with Microsoft, which last year began to power search results for Yahoo sites under a 10-year alliance.
The Financial Times reports that IT hardware and software companies will in the next few weeks unveil the estimated hit to revenues of the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The first indication of the impact on tech companies that sell to Japanese companies or government agencies came late on Tuesday, as US software company Adobe slashed its forecast of overall revenue growth for its current quarter by nearly half to reflect the effects of the disaster in Japan. According to analysts, sales to Japan have a disproportionately large effect on tech companies in the current quarter, given the timing of the country's fiscal year, which closes at the end of March.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 