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Sony fastest-growing PC maker | Pentagon concerned about USD39.99 GPS 'jammer'
Following months of speculation, it was revealed on Tuesday that computer-maker Dell will make its own line of printers. The US company, which has carved out a reputation on its ability to offer goods at low costs, penned an agreement with Lexmark to produce Dell printers. The widely expected move should set the stage for a new battle in the sector with industry stalwart HP, which dominates the lucrative printer sector.
Siemens Mobile Acceleration has been launched in Ireland to provide wireless start-ups with seed capital and worldwide sales support. Siemens will provide capital investments of around EUR1 million apiece to Irish start-up companies involved in mobile technology, mobile applications and mobile services. It will also provide business coaching from senior management consultants and access to Siemens' worldwide marketing and sales channels, and research and development facilities.
Wireless equipment maker Ericsson has developed a handset that can switch between new 3G mobile phone networks and existing networks without dropping calls. Hong Kong-based mobile phone operator Hutchison, expected to be one of the first to launch 3G services in Europe, warned in July that voice calls may be interrupted when a customer moves between a 3G network and an existing network, a process known as a handover. Ericsson said it has demonstrated its new handset to representatives from Hutchison and from Sweden's Telia.
Microsoft Ireland has appointed PR firm Edelman Technology to manage its product and customer public relations in Ireland. Edelman, which already works on the software giant's product PR in the US, will manage communications across several segments including Office, .NET and Licensing.
Irish travel technology company Datalex has signed a joint marketing and distribution agreement with T-Systems, a division of the Deutsche Telekom Group. The deal will enable Frankfurt-based T-Systems to distribute and implement Datalex solutions throughout Germany. The German company will sell Datalex's BookIt! CORPORATE solution and co-operate in the distribution of BookIt! MATRIX and BookIt! CONSUMER, the core components of the Datalex Internet booking engine platform.
Eland Technologies, a supplier of software solutions to the travel industry with an office in Dublin, is to provide its FlightMinder application to Air New Zealand. The airline will use the advanced flight and gate paging solution to provide its customers with automatic notification of flight delays and cancellations. The service, to be called TextExpress, will be available free of charge to registered Air New Zealand Airpoints members.
IT solutions provider CARA Group has announced a partnership with Barron McCann, a UK-based IT security company. Under the deal, CARA Group will be the first authorised provider of Barron McCann's X-Kryptor security product in Ireland and Northern Ireland. X-Kryptor is a network encryption appliance designed to protect data on corporate and government IP networks.
Japanese consumer-electronics giant Sony is the fastest-growing major PC maker in the world, according to new research by Gartner Dataquest. Worldwide shipments of Sony computers grew faster than those of any other major brand in 2001, and this year shipments increased 23.7 percent in the second quarter. At the end of Q2, Sony was in eighth position in terms of worldwide market share, up from twelfth at the end of last year.
A group of mobile phone operators and retailers in Britain has launched a programme to encourage the reuse and recycling of handsets. In spite of the fact that mobile phones can be used for up to seven years, 15 million handsets and accessories are replaced every year in Britain. The "Fonebak" programme, which is being run by Shields Environmental, has the support of Britain's five main mobile phone operators: O2, Orange, T-Mobile, Virgin Mobile and Vodafone. From 2004, a European Union directive will make phone producers and distributors responsible for taking back and recycling old handsets and accessories.
The Pentagon is concerned about the availability on the Internet of an inexpensive device that can be used to jam global positioning satellite (GPS) signals, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. GPS technology, which is used in precision-guided bombs to help them pinpoint their targets, may be vulnerable to a type of jammer that is available through the Internet for a mere USD39.99. This could cause problems for the US if it uses this type of bomb for strikes against Iraq.
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