For the record 29 January

29-01-2007

by Jonathan Farrelly

Motorola considers closing Cork plant | SSIA spenders expected to splurge online

Mobile phone maker Motorola is considering ending all engineering activities at its Cork facility, according to RTE. The move could result in the loss of 350 jobs at the plant, which is mainly involved in software development. The company told workers the news on Tuesday, saying that if the plan was confirmed, it would result in 'the vast majority of employees at the site being at risk of redundancy' and this would also make the site unsustainable as a Motorola facility. It also told RTE it would not be making any further comment until it had consulted workers in Cork.

With two thirds of SSIA savings products ready to mature, HomeWise.ie expects to benefit as it predicts around 20 percent of people plan to spend their SSIA savings on home improvements. HomeWise.ie is a search engine that lists more than 50,000 home and garden suppliers. "For those people looking to spend their SSIA savings, HomeWise.ie enables users to search a selection of quality suppliers and tradespeople based on consumer ratings and reviews, and offers innovative new ideas that can help them to realise their dream home and garden through a comprehensive library of news and information." said Rosey Broderick, managing director of HomeWise.ie. The firm is based at the Innovation and Technology Transfer Centre at UCD.

The ESET NOD32 has been named the overall best antivirus product of 2006 by testing group AV-Comparatives.org. ESET's antivirus solution earned the top rank in proactive on-demand detection, and on-demand scanning speed. "This year's report shows that ESET NOD32 leads not just in one, but [in] multiple categories of comparison," said Andreas Clementi, project manager at AV-comparatives.org.

O2 customers will be able to download a series of six mobile video podcasts by rugby pundits George Hook and Brent Pope for the 2007 RBS 6 Nations campaign. The podcasts will be available to download on 3G handsets featuring O2's i-mode service, and will also be made available on www.O2.ie. 'The Snug' will be produced by Random Thoughts Media, a Dublin-based digital media company which specialises in made-for-mobile and broadband content.

BT Ireland has been awarded a contract by Enable Ireland Disability Services to provide its ICT requirements. Under the terms of the five-year agreement, the BT managed service will provide and support a range of services, including a managed MPLS network, an IT help desk, centralised data centre and application management, as well as disaster recovery facilities.

eBay was the top 2006 search term in Britain according to analysts at Hitwise. Analysis of over 25 million internet users across all major search engines found 'Harry Potter', Liverpool FC and Big Brother were all popular searches in their categories.

Sun Microsystems has appointed Declan Carr as its new sales manager in Ireland. Carr joined Sun in 2005 as part of its acquisition of StorageTek.