NEWS IN BRIEF
For the record 8 July
08-07-2008
by Deirdre McArdle
Movie website Bigscreen.ie launches | Merriam-Webster dictionary adds malware to new edition
Research firm iReach has predicted that energy costs will become the second highest expense in half of Ireland's data centres by 2010, trailing staff/personnel costs, but well ahead of the price of IT hardware. The firm said that in most data centres, particularly those located in single-storey industrial-type buildings, electrical costs are already more than two to three times greater than the property costs, and many data centre buildings may be physically incapable of providing the higher levels of power and cooling that are now required.
Professional services firm Deloitte has chosen Nortel as a global managed services provider for telepresence, video conferencing and associated multimedia services. Under the agreement Nortel will provide Deloitte with its telepresence solution as well as a range of open standards-based video conferencing services. Nortel has offices in Dublin, Belfast and Galway where it employs around 975 people. The financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
The IE Domain Registry (IEDR), the organisation that manages Ireland's top level domain, said the volume of new registrations for dot-ie (.ie) domains showed strong growth during 2007, at 41 percent (net 29 percent). This growth was enough to offset the impact of a 13 percent price reduction for dot-ie registrations in 2007. The organisation posted its fifth consecutive year of profit -- EUR524,000 for 2007.
Bigscreen.ie, which has ambitions to become the most popular stand-alone film resource in Ireland, has been launched. The site, which comes from the same stable as entertainment.ie, features movie reviews, movies listings, trailers and film news. Users will also be able to search for films by title or genre and participate in a regularly updated blog.
IBM's Data Governance Council has highlighted a number of key changes to the way in which companies will deal with an ever-growing amount of data. The council predicts that data governance will become a regulatory requirement in an increasing number of countries and organisations, while the value of data will be treated as an asset on the balance sheet and reported by the chief financial officer. The quality of data will become a technical reporting metric and key IT performance indicator, according to the IBM council, which suggests that the role of the chief information officer (CIO) will change, making them responsible for reporting on data quality and risk to the board of directors.
Merriam-Webster has added more than 100 new entries to its new edition of the Collegiate Dictionary. A number of technology-related terms made the cut, including 'malware' and 'webinar', which have both been added to the dictionary, as has 'netroots', which is defined as "grassroots political activists who communicate via the internet, especially by blogs."
Wi-Fi service provider Bitbuzz has announced the appointment of Davey Farrell as Account Manager. Farrell will be responsible for managing and promoting existing and new partner locations for Bitbuzz in the Republic of Ireland as the firm expands.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 