TERMINALFOUR wins EUR1.3m University Website Contracts

TERMINALFOUR, the enterprise content management company, secured nine major contracts to power university websites with its Site Manager content management system. Among these are high profile third level bodies such as the University of Glasgow, University of St. Andrews, University of Virginia (US) and University College Dublin. The contracts have a combined value of EUR1.3M.

It brings to twenty-nine the number of university and major third level institute customers won by TERMINALFOUR in recent times. Competition has driven the investment in content management systems by these organisations as open days and traditional recruitment techniques are no longer the primary tools used by students researching third level courses. As prospective students are approached by increasing numbers of institutions seeking to recruit them, the website has become the strongest tool in marketing to them.

Stephen Evens, web manager, University of St. Andrews said, "TERMINALFOUR Site Manager will make it very easy to create and customise user-specific areas of our new website. It will help us to engage and attract prospective students by making the site easier to use, accessible and dynamic."

Another significant driver of this strong demand from the third level sector is the need for increased productivity and efficiency and TERMINALFOUR's software helps in many ways. It enables students and staff to interact in a very user-friendly manner via self-service on-line forms. It allows faculty members to create departmental content, publish in multiple languages to cater for international students. It also facilitates potential students to build their own prospectus i.e. a tailored package of content personalised to their needs.

Piero Tintori, managing director of TERMINALFOUR said, "The days of a colourful and information laden brochure for attracting students are over. University websites are now the first port of call for any prospective student seeking information and students are increasingly demanding interactive, engaging and up-to-date websites."

www.terminalfour.com

ASBIS Consolidates Benelux Operations

ASBISc Enterprises Plc (ASBIS), a supplier of computer components to the EMEA emerging markets, consolidated its operations in Western Europe under the company ASBIS NL BV.

The subsidiary will act as the main distribution outlet for customers based in the Benelux and across Western Europe, selling a broad range of IT components, as well as ASBIS’ own Canyon and Prestigio branded products.

ASBIS NL BV is the successor to Canyon Technology BV, the European sales branch of ASBIS’ subsidiary Canyon Technology Ltd. , an international vendor of consumer electronics products. ASBIS NL BV will operate in conjunction with ASBIS Europe BV which manages the regional distribution hub at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport.

ASBIS NL BV will offer its customers the immediate benefit of direct round-the-clock access to its online B2B Marketplace at www.asbisnl.com with a comprehensive product catalogue and the ability to reserve products, place orders and track product delivery. Furthermore, the company has introduced the possibility for E-tailers to make a live link to its warehouse database thus allowing them to make drop shipments directly to their customers.

www.asbis.com.

Cubic Telecom raises 5 million Euro

Cork-based Cubic Telecom, the international telecommunications operator, announced plans to become the world’s first truly global mobile service provider.

Cubic Telecom’s service aims to eliminate the high cost of international roaming charges by focusing on introducing simple, high-quality telecommunications services. Their breakthrough technology intelligently uses existing mobile phone network resources to drive down costs. Its core target market is aggrieved customers across the globe who don’t understand why they can’t get value for money when making international calls and roaming. Cubic is working towards free speech.

The company was founded in 2005 by telecommunications blogger Pat Phelan, and is headquartered in Cork with offices in Vancouver, Canada and offers service in 160 countries. To date, he has backed his vision of “working towards free speech” by raising a EUR3.5M investment from private backers in order to develop a suite of innovative global mobile and home phone products under the Cubic Telecom brand, together with its own international virtual carrier network. A further EUR1.5M has been raised to fund a series of international launches of products and services in the coming six months.

Cubic has just completed its first round of telecommunications partnerships, which will see its services becoming available in 160 countries. It is now commencing its marketing partnership round, which sees it seeking wholesale and resale partners. Its initial focus will be on Europe, North America and Australia.

Cubic Telecom’s chief executive officer, Pat Phelan, commented, “We want a world in which you can pick up your mobile phone anywhere and call anyone for as long as you like and not worry about the price. When most people think about driving down the cost of telephone calls, they think of calling from computer-to-computer. We don’t. We deliver simple, high quality, high value telephone services direct to the devices that people like to use - their mobile phones.

There’s no software to download, nothing to configure, nothing new to learn. Our service is straightforward and our network caters to all.

www.cubictelecom.com

Enterprise Ireland funded start-up signs €10m deal with Canadian investors

Eirzyme Ltd., which has been founded on technology developed at The National University of Ireland, Galway and a €10m investment from Canadian company Micromill System Inc., is set to be a major player in the biofuels sector.

The new compnay has incorporated in Ireland and has set up initial R&D laboratories at the Enterprise Ireland funded bioincubator facility at NUI Galway.

It will produce low-cost enzymes to convert biological materials such as brewers' grains into bioethanol and biogas. These renewable fuels produce environmental benefits by reducing overall emissions of greenhouse gases and are sustainable alternatives to petrol and diesel. The ultimate goal for Eirzyme is to set up a large scale enzyme production facility which will manufacture specific enzyme cocktails to work on a range of raw materials.

Dr Daniel O'Mahony, Director of Technology Transfer at NUI Galway said, "There has been considerable industrial interest in the patented technology developed by Dr Maria Tuohy and her research team at NUI Galway. The formation of Eirzyme is the first step towards unlocking the inherent commercial potential of their breakthroughs. Eirzyme will have global reach and we are confident that the company will make a valuable contribution to addressing future energy needs."

He also added, "In the past 12 months the university has executed 8 license agreements across different industry sectors and looks forward to executing a number of other licensing agreements on other technologies later this year."

ISA welcomes approval of Business Expansion Scheme

The Irish Software Association welcomed the European Commission’s approval to expand the Business Expansion Scheme (BES) and Seed Capital Scheme (SCS), but expressed concern at some of the conditions the Commission has made.

ISA Chairman Pat Brazel said: “There are many small firms, particularly in the software and technology sector, that depend on BES investment to survive the difficult start-up and development phase. The approval of the extension and expansion of the BES and Seed Capital Scheme, will give a boost to the indigenous technology industry, which is a highly productive and knowledge intensive sector.”

Mr Brazel, however, expressed concern about the conditions that the Commission attached to the approval of the schemes: “Companies that raise funds under either the BES or Seed Capital Scheme will see the amount offset against most other state aid that they would otherwise be entitled to. The purpose of the BES is to inject much needed funding to early stage companies and is part of a range of supports available to companies. If Commission conditions mean companies cannot avail fully of other state supports, such as employment and training assistance, this will restrict their development."

The maximum aid levels will be reduced by 50% for companies located in non-assisted areas (Dublin, Kildare, Meath and Wicklow) and by 20% for companies located in assisted areas (other 22 counties).

http://www.software.ie

IL&P beats market expectations

Irish Life & Permanent plc has reported a rise of 33% in operating profit for the first six months of the year. Operating Profit for the period was €321 million – up from €242 million for the same period in 2006.

This rise was secured on the back of strong performances in both the life & pensions business and in the banking business of permanent tsb bank.

Life & Investment sales rose by 66% to €594 million [including sales in retail, corporate business and Irish Life Investment Managers]. Operating Profit in the life & pensions business rose by 45% [€194 million].

Within the bank, the value of the permanent tsb loan book rose by 23% during the period with a strong performance by the bank in terms of “retention” of existing mortgages and very strong growth in new mortgage lending in the UK.

In Ireland the value of the loan book rose 21% in value despite a reduction in new mortgage lending of some 19% compared to the same period last year. Operating Profit in the bank was up 23% to €111 million.

IBM Showcase builds on 'Second Life' Virtual hospital ward

MSoft e-Solutions' clinically acclaimed blood tracking solution has taken the virtual centre stage in IBM's latest innovation centre in Dublin.

Virtual Reality is used to replicate a clinical hospital scenario showing how blood can be tracked from IBM kiosk controlled fridges to transfusions on the ward using hand held devices to guide staff through the process and providing the audit trail demanded by recent EU legislation.

“Clinical scenarios are notoriously difficult to demonstrate which makes them ideal to showcase what we can deliver with 3D Internet and create a safe, controlled environment where people can actually use the technology in practice. It's also a good example of how our kiosks can help develop real time supply chain solutions in clinical environments.” said Chris Howard, IBM Innovation Centre Manager, Dublin.

Anyone familiar with Second Life will recognise the virtual, computer generated environment that has been developed and plans are underway to develop the system into a fully functioning blood transfusion system complete with virtual patients, blood bags and barcodes.

“This kind of immersive visualisation environment can help address issues such as training and the promoting the development of a Global user community on issues such as best practice across a range of clinical areas. Apart from the kudos and increased exposure our participation in the innovation centre has brought us, there's also some very tangible benefits from being involved from working with a company with such a strong presence as a Golbal healthcare solutions provider, ” added Matt McAlister, Managing Director of MSoft e-solutions.

In April 2002, MSoft was awarded the contract to supply the Greater Glasgow Independent Living and Equipment Service (GGILES) with an asset management and ordering system, saving Glasgow City Council and Glasgow NHS millions of pounds for the return and re-use of assets in the community. More recently, in April 2006, MSoft and Glasgow won a Government Computing Award for the "best project delivering efficiency" based on asset tracking, recovery and recycling.

http://www.msoftblood.co.uk