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The Irish Times reports that Irish start-up Firecomms, a specialist in photonics, has appointed Cork native Declan O'Mahoney as its new chief executive. O'Mahoney, a founding partner of US tech firm Northstar Systems, has returned from California to take up the position. The National Microelectronics Research Institute in Cork has spent eight years developing a new type of light technology for Firecomms that can replace existing copper or glass fibre-optic cables used in electronic communications. The company is close to signing its first chip-manufacturing deal with a Taiwanese firm.
The paper also reports that the Irish Software Association's new chairman, Paul O'Dea, is calling for the establishment of a business institute within the ISA to address the weakness in sales and marketing among Irish software companies. O'Dea says Irish software firms depend on exports but lack the skills to push products and services into international markets, particularly the US. The institute, which would conduct about 30 days of teaching a year with "students" at chief executive or sales director level, would require a significant level of funding from both the State and individual companies.
The same paper reports that Microsoft is testing the on-line functionality of its Xbox games console on its own internal network in Ireland due to the lack of decent broadband connectivity in Dublin. In addition, the Republic will not be included among the initial countries the on-line gaming service is launched into in the next few months. "Obviously the Xbox is about broadband... it's about making people want to have broadband in their home," says Microsoft Ireland's entertainment manager, John Guest. "I feel the same aggravation you do about the lack of development [of broadband] in Ireland."
The paper also carries an interview with Lars Svensson, president and chief executive of Ericsson Enterprise. Svensson predicts that the new 3G (third generation) networks the company is selling will be used more by businesses than by consumers, as there is a high demand for the ability to access data over networks in the enterprise sector. Svensson believes sales and service staff will use new technology to access corporate data while out of the office and to input information to corporate intranets and other systems.
According to the Financial Times, security software firm Network Associates has reported net profits ahead of Wall Street expectations. The company, which is in the process of completing its acquisition of former subsidiary McAfee.com, posted net profits of USD9.09 million, or USD0.06 a share, for the quarter ended 30 September. This compares with a year-earlier net loss of USD11.3 million, or USD0.08 a share. Net revenues for the period were USD232 million, up from USD205 million in the year-ago period.
The paper also reports that e-commerce group USA Interactive says it has gained full ownership of Ticketmaster but has abandoned plans to acquire the remainder of two other Internet companies. USAI will pay USD15.17 a share for the Ticketmaster stock it does not already own. The company had also been planning to acquire the shares it did not already own in Hotels.com and Expedia but decided against it.
The Wall Street Journal says that a federal judge has ruled that Intel's most powerful microprocessor infringes on patents owned by Intergraph. A US District Court judge in Texas indicated nine instances of patent infringement in relation to the Itanium chip. The decision will cost Intel at least USD150 million under terms reached in advance of the trial with Intergraph. Analysts said the ruling is unlikely to have a significant impact on Intel or on the Itanium's acceptance.
The paper also reports that two more former WorldCom employees have pleaded guilty for their role in the USD7.2 billion accounting fraud at the troubled telecoms company. Betty Vinson and Troy Normand, former employees in the accounting department, pleaded guilty to two criminal counts of conspiracy and securities fraud. The decision by the pair to cooperate with the government's investigation and to plead guilty could help prosecutors build their case against senior company executives.
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