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The Slovakian government has appointed Dublin-based Webfactory as its "international information architects and design consultants". The e-business development company will assist the Slovakian Investment and Trade Development Agency in the production of a number of new Web sites. The sites will aim to promote the country to foreign investors.
Rococo Software and Open Interface North America have formed a partnership to develop advanced Java-based systems for the development of applications using Bluetooth wireless technology. Open Interface North America will integrate the Open Interface BlueMagic 3.0 embedded Bluetooth protocol into Rococo's Java-based Impronto Developer and Technology Licensing Kits.
BT has announced that it has offered to take over Internet directory Scoot.com for STG8 million, some 0.3 percent of the company's value at the height of the dot-com boom. Scoot, which was expected to run out of cash this year, has been for sale for some months. If Scoot's shareholders accept BT's offer, the firm will be merged into BT Retail's existing operator and directory services operations.
Fibernet Group, a UK provider of high-speed Internet services, said it will close its French and German units after fibre-optic cable operator KPNQwest was declared insolvent. CEO Charles McGregor said about 70 of Fibernet's 80 German staff may lose their jobs, along with an unspecified number of its 15 French workers. Fibernet used KPNQwest's network in France and Germany.
US service provider AT&T is expected to buy the remains of bankrupt KPNQwest for less than EUR100 million. Sources close to the sale process said that a rival bid by Dutch investment group Trimoteur may be higher on paper, but the AT&T bid is in cash. AT&T's bid is a tiny fraction of the cost of building the KPNQwest fibre-optic network, which is one of the biggest in Europe. The sale should be agreed by Friday.
The European Commission has cleared the creation of an electronic trading platform, called Centradia, set up by four European banks to offer foreign exchange and a limited range of money market products to their corporate customers. Centradia is an electronic business-to-business trading platform based in London, which has been created by The Royal Bank of Scotland, Societe Generale SA, Banco Santander Central Hispano SA and Sanpaolo IMI SpA.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has made a proposal to help businesses and individuals combat cybersquatters. ICANN, which oversees Internet domain names, said it was close to adopting a new system that would give domain name owners extra time to renew their contracts. ICANN also proposes the introduction of a waiting list for coveted domains that become newly available to the public.
Mobile phone maker Nokia has announced a new Security Developers Alliance program that will enable integrated security applications to meet specific enterprise and service provider requirements. The alliance consists of a group of third-party software companies who have met Nokia's certification standards and received its "Nokia OK" validation to interoperate with Nokia's line of IP security appliances. Members of the alliance will offer a variety of security solutions, including content filtering, data integrity assurance, and network monitoring and management.
Apple Computer seems to be having trouble selling its new flat-panel iMac, as the consumer PC market slows to a crawl, according to CNet News.com. Orders from Apple re-sellers started the quarter strong, but sales have slowed considerably recently. Since early June, some analysts have been questioning whether sales of the new iMac were beginning to flatten out. Distribution giant Ingram Micro has over 2,600 of the machines in stock, according to sources close to the company, and is sitting on more than 15 weeks' worth of inventory.
Polish prosecutors are hunting a computer hacker believed by the US government to have penetrated the NASA space agency, causing damage reportedly estimated at USD1 million. The search is thought to be focused on Poznan in the west of Poland. Regional prosecutor Miroslaw Adamski declined to confirm a newspaper report that US cybercops had followed an electronic trail to a computer used by a Poznan high school graduate.
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