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For the record 01 October
Tuesday, October 01 2002
by Sylvia Leatham


IEDR dismisses rumours about the departure of CEO Mike Fagan | Newsagents to set
mobile top-up prices individually in a move welcomed by the Competition Authority









Rumours about the resignation of IEDR chief executive officer Mike Fagan
were smothered on Tuesday after the Irish domain registry's chairman, Professor J
O Scanlan, said that Fagan remained the non-profit organisation's top executive.
Fagan himself said the allegations were untrue and told ElectricNews.Net: "The
only way I am going to leave the IEDR is in a wooden box or with a cheque for
EUR1 million." Sources were able to confirm that IEDR company secretary John
Coman had resigned from the board and would be replaced by Jimmy Joyce, formerly
of Telecom Eireann.



The Competition Authority has welcomed a clarification by the Irish Retail
Newsagents Association (IRNA) of its position regarding electronic mobile
phone top-up charges. In early September, the Authority became aware of notices
printed and distributed by the IRNA that said "because of action by Vodafone we
regret that a handling charge of EUR0.40 on EUR10 and EUR0.60 on EUR15 E Top Ups
will apply." The notices appeared after Vodafone decided to up the
wholesale price of some of its electronic top ups, resulting in the reduction of
retail margins from 10 percent to 6.5 percent. As it is illegal for trade
associations to discuss prices or make pricing recommendations to their members,
the Competition Authority has welcomed the IRNA's decision to inform its members
that they should set top-up charges individually.



Shares in France Telecom rose on Tuesday following reports that Thierry
Breton, executive chairman of electronics group Thomson Multimedia, would be
named the new chairman of France Telecom, according to a report in the Financial
Times. Citing French newspaper Les Echos, the FT says an official announcement
will be made Tuesday or Wednesday. Breton will replace Michel Bon, who resigned
as chairman on 12 September, after it became clear the group needed a massive
financial restructuring. Shares in France Telecom rose 5 percent on Tuesday to
EUR7.29, from a previous close of EUR6.94.







Computer maker Sun Microsystems could take an acquisitions-related charge
of up to USD2.2 billion later this year, according to the company's annual
report. Sun said it may reconsider the value of its investments and acquisitions
in its fiscal second quarter, which ends in December, if its market value, USD8.4
billion on 30 September, did not recover to the April level of USD29.1 billion.
This could result in a non-cash goodwill impairment charge of up to approximately
USD2.2 billion, the company's report said. In addition, Sun revised its fiscal Q4
profit upwards, to more than three times the figure it had reported earlier. The
company said it made a net profit of USD61 million in the quarter ended 30 June,
rather than the profit of USD20 million it announced on 18 July.   





Electronic Data Systems is considering cost-cutting measures and spinning
off some of its divisions in the wake of a recent earnings and revenue warning.
Company chief executive Dick Brown wrote a letter to shareholders saying the
company was considering the changes along with a reappraisal of its strategy of
chasing multibillion dollar contracts that take years to produce revenues. The
company is also investigating how it failed to foresee the huge decline in
earnings and revenue it recently issued warnings on.





HP has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against EMC in the US.
The suit, filed with the US District Court for the Northern District of
California, alleges that a range of features in EMC's Symmetrix, Clariion and
TimeFinder products infringe on seven of HP's US patents. HP is seeking remedies
in the form of monetary damages for past infringement and injunctive relief
prohibiting EMC from using the intellectual property allegedly protected by the
patents.



Most mobile portals hinder users from finding and using mobile data services,
according to new research by Ireland's ChangingWorlds and Sweden's
Mobile Metrix. The report, entitled "The Plight of the Mobile
Navigator", is based on data collected from 20 European mobile portals. "The
situation is rather acute, with the average portal click-distance [the number
of clicks/menus before arriving at the desired content] in excess of 16 and
often greater than 20," said report author Professor Barry Smyth. The average
amount of content available within 12 clicks -- thought to be the point at which
users lose interest -- was found to be less than 36 percent. The best-performing
portals were found to be Finland's Sonera, T-Motion and O2 of the UK, Ireland's
Vodafone and Germany's Genion. 





A growing number of broadband users are watching sporting events on-line,
according to new research by Strategy Analytics. The report says that
although the Internet currently accounts for less than 1 percent of sports
industry revenues, this figure is set to grow as sports rights holders begin to
support emerging channels more actively. At present, few on-line sports services
provide access to live sports Webcasts, because the rights are either not
available or owned by television companies. Strategy Analytics predicts that
future rights negotiations will explore the possibility of live Webcasts as a
separate package and that this type of content will become more widely available
on the Net. 









Dublin-based Openet Telecom, a specialist in convergent mediation, has
entered into a re-seller agreement with Telcordia Technologies, a
developer of communications services, network technologies and Operations Support
Systems (OSS). Under the agreement, Openet's FusionWorks Mediation solution will
be sold and distributed as Telcordia's preferred mediation product. New
Jersey-based Telcordia also intends to integrate FusionWorks Mediation with a
number of its own products to develop new OSS solutions for service providers.







Computer users have been warned about a new e-mail worm, known as Bugbear.
The worm takes advantage of a known vulnerability in Microsoft's Internet
Explorer that can open up a backdoor into computers and keep a log of keystrokes.
Bugbear shuts down anti-virus and firewall software that is designed to block
intruders and can spread by dropping copies of itself into folders on shared
networks. E-mails containing the worm can have a variety of subject lines,
attachments and messages, and the attachment typically has a double extension,
such as .doc.pif.