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HANAFIN PUBLISHES 1ST PROGRESS REPORT ON NEW CONNECTIONS
The Minister for the Information Society, Mary Hanafin T.D. has published the first progress report on New Connections, the Government’s Action Plan for developing an Information Society. The report outlines progress on all seven policy strands of New Connections: Telecommunication Infrastructure, Legal & Regulatory Environment, eGovernment, eBusiness; R&D, Lifelong Learning and eInclusion. “While much progress is evidenced in this report, it also identifies certain initiatives which have experienced delays. While some of these are as a result of changes in the make-up of particular Departments, there are evidently other areas requiring a more concerted effort. Today’s publication sends out a clear signal to all of us responsible for its implementation, to focus on minimising delays, and ensure the continued delivery of our Action Plan,” Minister Hanafin said. The next report is scheduled for delivery within the next few months. http://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/viewitem.asp?id=2124&lang=ENG
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EIRCOM SLASHES ADSL COSTS FOR CONSUMERS
Recently Eircom announced that they will halve the cost of their 512k/128k ADSL service to €54 per month, including VAT. It is intended to make this effective from March, subject to consultation with ComReg and industry sources. The company also claim that by September 2004 every Irish town with over 2000 phone lines will be ADSL enabled. This is great news and it pre-empts the deadline for pricing proposals set out in the recent ComReg Decision Notice. http://www.ComReg.ie/docs/ComReg0302.doc. Source: http://www.ebusinesslive.ie/feb03/feb03art3.htm
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mmO2 RECORDS BEST EVER QUARTER FOR MOBILE DATA GROWTH
mmO2 has recorded its best ever quarter for mobile data growth in the three months to the end of December 2002. The company broke previous records for text messaging (SMS) and has maintained its position as market leader in the UK, it doubled the number of GPRS active users across its territories and reported encouraging early progress for its new interactive services – Java games and multimedia messaging (MMS). Peter Erskine, chief executive officer, mmO2, said: “Data as a proportion of service revenues increased to 17.7% from 15.6% in the last quarter, underpinning our leading position in this expanding market and ahead of our stated target of 16% of service revenues from mobile data by the end of this financial year.” www.mmo2.com
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SURVEY ON ONLINE PUBLIC SERVICES IN EUROPE SHOWS IRELAND NEAR TOP
Cap Gemini Ernst & Young released the latest results of its survey on electronic Public Services in Europe. Completed on behalf of the European Commission the report looks at the progress that Europe is making in providing online services to both citizens and businesses. This survey, conducted for the third time, is a core part of the eEurope programme launched by the European Union to bring the benefits of the information society to all Europeans. The measurement criteria covered the level of on line interaction and the overall availability of public services online. For the 20 public services analysed across the 15 EU member states, plus Norway, Iceland and Switzerland, the online sophistication has grown by 15%-points in one year from 45% to 60% with Denmark, Sweden, Ireland and Finland showing progress beyond the level of two-way interaction. The greatest progress has been made by online services for businesses. In almost every country, public services for businesses score significantly higher than those for citizens and this gap is growing. www.cgey.ie
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NEW MEDIA & COMMUNICATIONS BUSINESS AND SERVICES DIRECTORY GOES LIVE
MediaWatch PR has just launched an on-line dedicated Media and Communications directory: Media Pages aims to gather contact details plus live links of media businesses and service providers operating in the worldwide media industry in one convenient website. This will help Internet users to find media services both at local, national and world level. Entries listing are only open to companies, businesses and individuals working in the print, voice, visual and Internet media industry as well as relevant media support industries. Media Pages can be found at – www.mediapages.info or contact John Tierney, MediaWatchPR @ mwatch@eircom.net
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3COM ENHANCEMENTS TO LAYER 2 MANAGED SWITCHES
3Com Corporation has announced the expansion and enhancement of its SuperStack® 3 Switch 4200 line of managed, stackable 10/100 switches with the immediate availability of a new switch, the 3Com® SuperStack 3 Switch 4228G, and enhanced Version 2.0 software for the SuperStack 3 Switch 4200 family. The SuperStack 3 Switch 4200 family is 3Com’s leading Layer 2 managed switch line, providing networking capabilities to support business applications and connecting end-user devices in businesses, educational organisations and government agencies at an affordable price. www.3com.com
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SHOWCASE OF RESEARCH PROJECTS FROM LEADING UNIVERSITIES AND MEDIA LAB
The HEA (Higher Education Authority) Open_House recently showcased some of Ireland’s most exciting collaborative research projects from Ireland’s top universities and Media Lab Europe. Featuring 18 projects conducted by PhD students in seven universities in collaboration with Media Lab Europe, this event was the biggest of its kind in Ireland. Covering topics as diverse as 3D micro-sensors to the development of reality technology for prosthetic limbs, these collaborative research projects were made possible as the result of a EUR2.5 million fund established by the Irish Government in association with the Higher Education Authority (HEA) and Media Lab Europe. www.medialabeurope.org
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REVENUE LEADS THE SKILLS GAP BATTLE
The first certified individuals, including 11 from the Revenue Commissioners, have been honoured at a certification ceremony for the ICS Skills Framework and ICS Skills-Cert (www.ics-skills.ie). The certification follows a three month trial, after which the Revenue Commissioners, Bank of Ireland and Fujitsu Services rolled out the framework within their IT departments. The Revenue Commissioners have also announced that they are to extend the use of the framework and the skills cert and SureSkills will also be implementing both as a service to their clients. www.revenue.ie
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XIAM CERTIFIED BY HP AND ORACLE
Oracle Corporation has announced that XIAM, the mobile middleware and application company, has received certification on Oracle9i Real Application Clusters. Oracle’s database clustering technology addresses high availability and scalability issues and serves as an important component of robust high performance solutions such as those in the XIAM product portfolio. www.oracle.com.
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IRISH FERRIES – QUIZ NIGHT IN AID OF ST VINCENT DE PAUL – MARCH 11TH
St Vincent De Paul quiz night on Tuesday March 11th at 20:30 in O’Shea’s – The Merchant. There will be a bit of food on offer as well as a first prize of a trip to France plus a raffle as well. All in all for EUR30 for a table for 4. Contact alan.Markey@irishferries.com