IN THE PAPERS
In the papers 6 September
06-09-2007
by Sylvia Leatham
Vodafone may buy Italian and Spanish infrastructure | Intel prepares to serve up new chips
The Irish Times reports that ALTO, the representative body for alternative telecoms operators, has appointed Liam O'Halloran as chairman, as noted by ENN on Wednesday. On his appointment, O'Halloran called for Eircom to be separated into wholesale and retail arms to spur the uptake of broadband. He also said ALTO would oppose any deal which would see the break-up taking place in exchange for Eircom receiving a stake in the Government's metropolitan area networks (MANs).
The Irish Examiner reports that Cork-based online travel company MyguideTravel is expanding. The company is moving to new offices in Skibbereen from its farm base in Castletownshend, County Cork. MyguideTravel will employ up to 40 people at the new offices.
According to the Financial Times, Vodafone is considering buying telecoms infrastructure in Italy and Spain to allow it to supply fixed-line broadband to its mobile customers. The UK group is mulling an offer for fixed-line networks in Italy and Spain owned by Tele2, a Swedish telecoms company. Vodafone declined to comment on Thursday.
The paper also says that Anatel, Brazil's telecoms regulator, has been given the go-ahead to rule on the proposed purchase of a stake in Telecom Italia by Telefonica of Spain, bringing closure of the EUR2.3 billion deal a step closer. The decision by a judge in Brasilia marks the latest skirmish in a battle for domination of the country's fast-growing mobile telephone market. Earlier, another court had suspended Anatel's deliberations at the request of Claro, Brazil's third-biggest mobile operator, controlled by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim.
The Wall Street Journal says that Intel has overhauled its high-end line of chips for server systems, just ahead of the most important product launch in years for AMD. The new models in Intel's Xeon line are aimed at servers containing four or more microprocessors, one of AMD's strongest niches. Like some existing Intel products, the latest Xeons package two chips that each have the core circuitry of two microprocessors. By contrast, rival AMD on Monday is announcing a "quad-core" version of its Opteron line, code-named Barcelona, that has four calculating engines on one piece of silicon.
The paper also notes that Network Appliance has filed an intellectual-property lawsuit against Sun Microsystems, alleging the software and computer-server firm violated seven patents. Network, a maker of data-storage equipment, said the suit was in US District Court in Lufkin, Texas. Chief Executive Dan Warmenhoven said Network is seeking a ruling on its patents and is also requesting a judgment to show it isn't violating three of Sun's patents in the US.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 