US data centre provider Digital Realty Trust has acquired a 10-acre site in West Dublin that will be capable of supporting a massive 193,000 sq-foot data centre requiring 11.5 megawatts of electricity.

The site at Profile Park is 24 kilometres southwest of Dublin Airport. It is part of a growing digital cluster in Clondalkin that includes Telecity Europe as well as Microsoft's US$500m data centre and the latest US$75m data centre built by Google.

“Dublin remains an important data centre market for both local and multinational corporations, including large technology and internet companies, as well as IT service providers," said Michael F Foust, CEO of Digital Realty.

“Using our phased development approach, this site will enable us to support our customers' expanding data centre needs by bringing data centre space online efficiently in terms of both time and cost."

US likely to OK Google acquisition of Motorola Mobility

The US Department of Justice is likely to formally approve Google’s acquisition of Motorola Mobility as early as this week.

Last year, internet search and advertising giant Google and Motorola Mobility entered into an agreement whereby Google was to acquire Motorola Mobility for US$40 per share in cash, or about US$12.5bn.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the US Department of Justice is poised to OK the deal.

Since beginning the acquisition process, Google has been clear that it does not intend to become a clone of Apple in controlling the hardware and software ecosystem of new devices like smartphones and tablet computers end to end, but would rather seek licensing agreements.

Govt and firms could save €240m through e-invoicing

The Irish Government and Irish businesses could save up to €240m a year by moving to electronic invoicing, it emerged as the State launches its first e-invoicing pilot. This will mean fewer administrative hurdles in Government agencies and firms will benefit by getting paid on time.

Brian Hayes, TD, the Minister for State with special responsibility for the Office of Public Works, has kick started a Government e-invoicing pilot involving a number of public-sector bodies and several technology companies.

The National Procurement Service will oversee the project and the Institute of Technology in Sligo will provide research and technical co-ordination.

Nokia to cut 4,000 manufacturing jobs globally

Nokia will cut 4,000 manufacturing employees at factories in Hungary, Mexico and Finland in order to shift device assembly to Asia, where most of its component suppliers are based.

The three factories in Komarom in Hungary, Reynosa in Mexico and Salo in Finland will now focus on smartphone product customisation for consumers in Europe and America. As a result, the amount of work carried out at these sites will decrease significantly, impacting 4,000 employees.

Staff cuts will be phased through to the end of 2012 and Nokia will offer a support programme for affected employees, such as financial support and assistance with local re-employment.

Microsoft appoints new corporate VP of Worldwide Public Sector

Laura K Ipsen is joining software giant Microsoft as corporate vice-president of its Worldwide Public Sector organisation.

Ipsen will lead the company's sales and marketing organisation serving government, public safety and national security, education and non-privatised healthcare customers in more than 100 countries.

She will report to Susan Hauser, corporate vice-president of the Worldwide Enterprise & Partner Group.

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Accounting software giant Sage’s payments division Sage Pay has acquired Dublin payments technology company Integral for €20m.

Integral will be rebranded as Sage Pay and will be fully integrated into the Sage Pay business. All of Integral's 40 employees will be retained within Sage Pay.

Integral was founded in 1989, and provides services to SME retailers that have either standalone or integrated electronic point of sale (EPOS) payments requirements. Its solutions are used at more than 30,000 points-of-sale in the UK and Ireland and its platform has processed 87m transactions in the last 12 months, with a value of €5bn.

Integral specialises in transaction processing/switching services for SMEs via a centrally hosted platform that is integrated with all UK and Irish acquiring banks.

Sage Pay works with more than 36,000 businesses, providing both e-commerce and mail order/telephone order solutions. The acquisition of Integral will give Sage Pay the capability to integrate cardholder present solutions with its current e-commerce gateway, opening up new possibilities to provide connected multi-channel services.

This will enable customers to accept card payments however and wherever they run their businesses - be it online, in-store, at a trade show or from a market stall.

Unified comms player ShoreTel buys M5 Networks

IP telephony player ShoreTel has acquired M5 Networks, a pioneer in hosted unified comms, in a cash and shares deal valued at US$146.3m.

Under the term of the deal M5 shareholders will receive US$84m in cash and 9.5m shares of ShoreTel stock.

A further US$13.7m in 'contingent payments' may be paid over the next two years if certain performance milestones are met.

“The acquisition of M5 positions ShoreTel as a leader in the fast-growing cloud UC market and delivers a suite of hosted telephony solutions that is unmatched in the marketplace," said Peter Blackmore, CEO of ShoreTel.

Irish online dating player snaps up Maybefriends.com

Webdev, the company behind Ireland’s largest online dating site Anotherfriend.com, has acquired another Irish dating site Maybefriends.com from Saongroup. The deals of the financial transaction have not been disclosed.

Gráinne Barry, managing director of Anotherfriend.com, said that the site currently has a 60pc market share of the Irish online dating market. She said that the acquisition of Maybefriends.com will enable Anotherfriend to provide a separate service offering to the Irish market.

Anotherfriend.com gets over 12.8 million page impressions and 290,000 unique visitors each month.

Oracle to acquire Taleo

Computer hardware systems and enterprise software products developer Oracle has entered into an agreement to acquire cloud-based talent management provider Taleo for about US$1.9bn, net of Taleo’s cash and debt.

The deal is expected to close mid-year 2012, subject to Taleo stockholder approval, certain regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.

Taleo’s Talent Management Cloud is designed to help organisations attract, develop, motivate and retain staff to improve performance and drive growth.

Through the acquisition, the companies expect to create a comprehensive cloud offering for organisations to manage their human resource operations and employees' careers.

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Writing in the Sunday Independent, technology entrepreneur Chris Horn echoed a previously made point that if you think technology jobs are booming in Ireland right now, we could still have generated a whole lot more - 13,000 more - if people studied the right subjects at college over the past decade.

Horn wrote how last year was one of the best years in the history of the IDA. A record 248 new investments were won, against fierce international competition and despite our generally negative economic commentary.

“There was a 30pc increase in the number of companies investing in Ireland for the very first time, choosing this country over alternative locations. Job losses from IDA-supported companies were at their lowest in over a decade, leading to the best net jobs increase in over 10 years.

“And yet it could have been so much better."

Horn pointed to a live interview on RTÉ's News at One on 5 January. The CEO of the IDA, Barry O'Leary, noted that "there would have been more than 13,000 new jobs last year if there had been a greater availability in the skills arena".

Horn said he was surprised the Government, the Opposition and the media did not focus on this critical observation.

“At a time of high unemployment, huge emigration and cancerous national disillusionment, the head of the major State agency for inward investment asserts that new jobs and employment were held back only because of the lack of available people - and yet few seemed to hear, comment or respond to his message."

Crazy paving around privacy issues disrupts Path's progress

The New York Times' Nick Bilton covered the fallout over revelations last week that social app Path uploads data from users' iPhone address books to its servers. Bilton emphasised how dangerous this kind of information can be. Think Arab Spring.

Bilton reported how last week, Arun Thampi, a programmer in Singapore, discovered that the mobile social network Path was surreptitiously copying address book information from users' iPhones without notifying them.

David Morin, Path's chief executive, commented on Thampi's blog that Path's actions were an "industry best practice." He then became quiet as the internet disagreed and erupted in outrage. Amid his silence, he did take the time to reply to the actress Alyssa Milano, who was one of hundreds who questioned Path's practices. (His reply to her via Twitter contained his personal e-mail address.)

Bilton says Morin seemed unconcerned about how people could be harmed by his company's carelessness. Consider this: Amira El Ahl, a foreign journalist covering the Middle East, said bloggers in Egypt and Tunisia are often approached online by people who are state security in disguise.

The most sought-after bounty for state officials: dissidents' address books, to figure out who they are in cahoots with, where they live and information about their family. In some cases, this information leads to roundups and arrests.

To understand cloud, understand Dropbox

The San Jose Mercury News' Chris O'Brien wrote a nice story that not only explained how cloud app Dropbox works but focused on how this simple-to-use utility lies at the heart of what cloud computing is all about.

Dropbox is the most deceptively simple of services. Place a Dropbox folder on each computer or gadget you own. Drag any file into that folder. A copy of that file automatically appears on every device where you put a Dropbox folder. It's idiot proof.

But don't let that simplicity fool you. Dropbox also epitomises a revolutionary shift that is transforming our relationship to technology and turning the technology industry upside down: Cloud computing.

The "cloud" has been one of Silicon Valley's biggest buzz phrases for a couple of years now. In the past year, it has moved from the talk of tech insiders into the minds of mainstream users, thanks to the launch of services like Apple's iCloud.

We are the network

The Observer's John Naughton wrote an interesting article about how networked the world has become and really, no one just surfs the internet anymore, they're always switched on.

Naughton wrote how David Weinberger has a new book out entitled Too Big to Know, in which he argues that one of the implications of a comprehensively networked society is that the nature of knowledge itself is changing.

"As knowledge becomes networked," he writes, "the smartest person in the room isn't the person standing at the front lecturing us, and isn't the collective wisdom of those in the room. The smartest person in the room is the room itself: the network that joins the people and ideas in the room, and connects to those outside of it ... Knowledge is becoming inextricable from - literally unthinkable without - the network that enables it."

Has the internet become a schoolyard for bullies?

The Sunday Independent carried the views of a 16-year-old who outlined how insidious and damaging bullying can be via social media, and while online bullying in Ireland hasn't reached the levels it has in the US or UK, it is something that needs to be watched.

“When I first went online, the level of abuse was minimal enough but certainly from third year onwards the level of bitchiness grew and grew.

“Often, the person would update their Facebook status and say something nasty. While it mightn't mention any names, the implication was clear. Those who would see the status update would know the meaning of the bitchy comment.

“I have seen girls in my year get upset by what was written about them, though rarely would it lead to a face-to-face confrontation in the classroom or in the schoolyard.

“In my experience, it is girls who are engaged in this nasty cycle of attacking each other. Boys of our age in our circle of friends don't do any of this, and certainly not to any of the girls.

“I have never had to get my parents involved but I know of several girls who had to delete their Facebook accounts because they were being attacked online," the teenager wrote.

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Tucows Inc

Tuesday, 14 February:

Zynga Inc

Wednesday, 15 February:

Blue Coat Systems Inc

Thursday, 16 February:

Baidu Inc

Friday, 17 February:

Opti Inc

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The company last year announced plans to create 125 jobs in Dublin with the support of IDA Ireland. So far, 20 Irish staff have been recruited.

“We are really impressed with the quality of people we are hiring in Ireland," said Phil Fernandez, co-founder and CEO of Marketo. "Ireland is an excellent launch pad into the European market and we view it as Europe's premier cloud computing centre."

The Silicon Valley Business Journal has described Marketo as Silicon Valley's fastest-growing private-held company, growing revenue by 1,486pc between 2008 and 2010 - with 80pc of that growth from the company employing its own marketing practices.

Marketo has raised US$107m since it was founded in 2006. Further funding rounds led by Battery Ventures gave the company a US$70m war chest.

Marketo's managing director for Europe Fergus Gloster said technology is helping firms to grow out of the recession and Marketo is a case in point.

“Marketo was born out of the recession," Gloster said.

“We have seen almost 1,500pc growth in the US from 2008-2010, proving that our technology can help businesses grow even in tough economic times. When there is nowhere left to cut, the focus must be on increasing revenues," he said.

Taleo’s Talent Management Cloud is designed to help organisations attract, develop, motivate and retain staff to improve performance and drive growth.

Through the acquisition, the companies expect to create a comprehensive cloud offering for organisations to manage their human resource operations and employees' careers.

The deal is expected to empower employees and managers to effectively manage careers throughout a staff member's entire employment, enable organisations to retain talent and optimise costs, and improve the employee experience through faster on boarding and better collaboration with team members via social media.

“Human capital management has become a strategic initiative for organisations,” said Thomas Kurian, executive vice-president, Oracle Development. “Taleo’s industry-leading talent-management cloud is an important addition to the Oracle Public Cloud.”

Michael Gregoire, chairman and CEO, Taleo, said Taleo’s integrated cloud-based talent-management solutions optimise how organisations hire, manage, develop and reward their employees and gives companies the information they need to capitalise on their most critical asset – their people.

“Joining forces with Oracle gives us the opportunity to better serve our customers," Gregoire said.

Bloomberg reported earlier today on a planning application that included plans to open a stand-alone retail operation at its new European headquarters at Dublin's Montevetro building.

Sources confirmed that as part of the planning application there's an option for a small space in the building to be used to sell T-shirts and other Google merchandise.

There had been speculation that Google was planning a retail experience to rival that of the Apple Store empire. Indeed, Google recently opened a store inside the London branches of Currys and PC World.

A spokesperson for the internet giant said, however, that the retail operation may not happen and no decision has been made. The spokesperson also said that to compare the retail option to an Apple Store would be off the mark.

In Google's headquarters in California, there is a store selling merchandise for Google employees only. There's also an online store selling various merchandise.

In a statement, Google said: "We already have an online store selling things like Google T-shirts and pens.

“We have the option of a small space doing the same in our Dublin office but we've not made any decisions, it's simply a planning application," Google said.

Last year, Google confirmed it bought the 15-storey Montevetro building - the tallest building in Dublin city - or €99.5m.

It also acquired the buildings that house its EMEA headquarters across the street on Barrow Street in Grand Canal Dock, Dublin 2.

The National Procurement Service will oversee the project and the Institute of Technology in Sligo will provide research and technical co-ordination.

Earlier this year, the EU set a target for all invoices sent between businesses to be electronic by 2020 in a move that could speed up the payment process.

According to a report from National Irish Bank in 2010, Target 2013: Modernising Payments in Ireland, e-payments can save the Irish economy up to €1bn each year.

The departments trialling the various technologies include the OPW, the Department of Defence, the Department of Justice, the HSE, Enterprise Ireland and the Local Government Computer Services Board.

“The full rollout of e-invoicing could lead to multi-euro savings for the exchequer in terms of reduced administrative and transactional costs, as well as providing savings to suppliers to the public sector," Hayes said.

“In addition, Irish service providers in this area could become leaders in this technology across the EU member states.

IT Sligo says the pilot has the potential to save both Government and business up to €240m a year. It is expected that the project will lead to widespread adoption of electronic invoices by public bodies and businesses throughout the country for the first time.

The benefits of e-invoicing

The Institute of Technology said the potential benefits of e-invoicing for buyers and suppliers include:

• Reduced costs - no postage costs, low error rates and reduced staff time re-keying
• Less confusion - a single standard model for all structured invoices
• Real-time data delivery - more information delivered and processed more quickly
• VAT compliant - new EU directive
• Environmental benefits - less paper and lower carbon footprint
• Accurate management information about purchasing, supplier and line items detail, and better stock analysis
• International reach - acceptable across the EU (PEPPOL) and further

The end of the old excuse 'the cheque is in the post'

One of the companies taking part in the pilot is eBox, a provider of e-invoicing software. The company's managing director John Larkin told Siliconrepublic.com that e-invoicing reduces costs in terms of automating efficiencies in business, saving paper and postage, reducing error and provides a boost to the economy because firms get paid more quickly.

“Receiving an invoice in electronic form means companies can take the information into the system and save on data-entry errors. A lot of companies have this capability on their ERP systems, but the key element is getting suppliers to send invoices in the right electronic format.

“The objective of the pilot is to create a standard format acceptable to all agencies in the State," Larkin said.

He acknowledged that Ireland is still behind a number of European countries when it comes to moving away from expensive and inefficient cheque-based payments.

“The Nordic countries, in particular, have been leading the way and it is envisaged the Government here may follow the Danish model which in the first instance mandates that all government agencies have to accept invoices electronically.

“For the public sector, the manual tasks associated with processing invoices and payments are reduced and they can focus on providing better frontline services.

“For businesses in an environment where transactions have fallen by 25pc, the speed and efficiencies enjoyed and being able to get paid on time help enormously," Larkin said.

The company says this new, flexible approach to working, involving a technology upgrade and complete revamp of Vodafone Ireland's offices at Leopardstown in Dublin has achieved a more efficient, modern environment where employees flexi-desk and are free to work anywhere in the building.

Across Vodafone Group, revenues were up 1.6pc to €11.6bn. The mobile giant spent €1.4bn on capital expenditure programmes during the quarter ended 31 December.

However, the performance was blighted economic conditions in Southern Europe, with revenues in Spain down 8.8pc and 4.9pc in Italy.

"We are continuing to make progress in the key strategic areas of data, enterprise and emerging markets," Vodafone CEO Vittorio Calao said.

“Despite the further deterioration of the southern European economic environment during the quarter, our broad geographic mix is delivering a resilient overall performance. Our improved value perception, strong cash generation and healthy balance sheet give us confidence that we can continue to execute well." 

Two-thirds of Vodafone Ireland billpay customers use smartphones

In Ireland, Vodafone added 22,700 customers during the quarter, bringing its total customer base to 2.47m, which includes 2.24m mobile users.

Smartphone sales increased by 50pc quarter on quarter and smartphone devices represent two-thirds of all billpay mobile sales, Vodafone said.

The company's drive into the fixed-line space is continuing apace, with 232,000 DSL and fixed-line customers.

Average blended monthly ARPU decreased to €32.20, down marginally by 1.1pc on the previous quarter, as customers continued to take advantage of the value offering in Vodafone's range of propositions.

The company said new customers are being attracted by value and greater data allowances.

The company said it recorded an 80pc rise in video traffic across its fixed customer base in the last 12 months.

Smartphone sales increased by 50pc quarter on quarter and smartphone devices represent two-thirds of all billpay mobile sales, Vodafone said.

She will report to Susan Hauser, corporate vice-president of the Worldwide Enterprise & Partner Group.

Before joining Microsoft, Ipsen worked at Cisco Systems Inc, where she most recently served as senior vice-president and general manager of Connected Energy Networks. She also established and managed Cisco’s Global Policy and Government Affairs division.

Ipsen worked in government affairs and international trade for Hitachi Data Systems Corp, Acer Inc and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP before joining Cisco in 1995.

She is currently a board member of Monsanto and of the GridWise Alliance, and previously served as board chair of both the Information Technology Industry Council and the Organization of Women in International Trade.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the US Department of Justice is poised to OK the deal.

Considering the drama caused by the patent battles between Apple and Samsung, it is not surprising the EU is cautious about approving the deal.

Europe has been the battlefield for most of the high-profile clashes between Apple and Samsung. Last week, Apple had to temporarily remove certain iPhone and iPad models from its online store in Germany following a court decision in December.

Since beginning the acquisition process, Google has been clear that it does not intend to become a clone of Apple in controlling the hardware and software ecosystem of new devices like smartphones and tablet computers end to end, but would rather seek licensing agreements.

To convince Europe of its sincerity, perhaps Google – which has significant operations in various European countries – would be wise to show how it intends for this structure to work.

“Dublin remains an important data centre market for both local and multinational corporations, including large technology and internet companies, as well as IT service providers," said Michael F Foust, CEO of Digital Realty.

“Using our phased development approach, this site will enable us to support our customers' expanding data centre needs by bringing data centre space online efficiently in terms of both time and cost."

Building the internet capital of Europe

Backed by a Californian pension fund, Digital Realty Trust has been buying more than 13m sq feet of data centres around the world, including two in Dublin.

Since establishing its HQ office in 2006, Digital Realty Trust has invested almost €120m in Ireland and employs 30 full-time staff across European marketing, IT, corporate accounting, portfolio management and technical operations.

“Dublin has an ideal climate for deploying an indirect air optimisation design. This significantly improves a data centre's energy efficiency by lowering its PUE (power utilisation efficiency) and therefore its total cost of occupancy.

“We expect to achieve PUEs of around 1.15 in our Profile Park facility, a substantial reduction from the electrical consumption typically required for cooling a data centre," added Adam Levine, vice-president in charge of sales for Digital Realty.

“The acquisition of this site enables us to provide customers with both large and smaller requirements through a variety of flexible data centre solutions to meet their needs. Our Turn-Key Datacentres have a six-year record of 99.999pc uptime. For our customers, this means they can focus on their operations while we maintain and operate the supporting power and cooling systems for maximum resiliency."

Ireland CEO Barry O'Leary said Digital Realty's proposal to provide a substantial new data centre footprint in Dublin will be a great addition to the existing infrastructure here and strongly enhances Ireland's attractiveness as a leading location for international services activity.

“The new site will deploy the latest eco-friendly technology, which when complemented with Irish weather conditions, will result in one of the most energy-efficient facilities in the world."

Staff cuts will be phased through to the end of 2012 and Nokia will offer a support programme for affected employees, such as financial support and assistance with local re-employment.

Niklas Savander, Nokia executive vice-president of markets, said the three sites will “continue to play an important role” in serving their smartphone customers, but that shifting its device assembly to Asia will help it improve its time to market.

"By working more closely with our suppliers, we believe that we will be able to introduce innovations into the market more quickly and ultimately be more competitive," said Savander.

"We recognise the planned changes are difficult for our employees and we are committed to supporting our personnel and their local communities during the transition,” he said.

Nokia has recently made major changes to its mobile strategy, after it struggled against strong competition from other smartphone vendors.

It changed its primary mobile operating system from Symbian to Windows Phone and recently released the first of these devices.

In its efforts to streamline its operations, it has already cut thousands of jobs across the globe in the last year.

The PC market in Western Europe has experienced four consecutive quarters of shipment decline.

"Despite aggressive pricing and special holiday deals for PCs, consumers' attention was caught by other devices, such as smartphones, media tablets and e-readers," said Meike Escherich, principal analyst at Gartner. "Even though we saw a drop in prices, consumer PC shipments could not match the levels of previous years."

In the fourth quarter of 2011, markets in Italy, Greece, Portugal and Spain were particularly hard hit, with year-on-year PC demand declining 30pc and more. The mobile PC market in Western Europe declined 17.5pc during the quarter, while the region's desktop PC market shrank 12.1pc.

"Uptake of professional PCs for migrations to Windows 7 remained subdued due to the troubled economic outlook," said Escherich. “PC shipments in the professional segment declined 13.5pc in the fourth quarter of 2011, but the consumer segment suffered a bigger decline, falling 18pc.”

Western Europe: PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 4Q11 (Thousands of Units)

^{Note: Data includes desk-based PCs and mobile PCs. Media tablets are excluded.Lenovo data includes historic Medion shipments.
Source: Gartner (February 2012)} 

Netwatch was one of the first companies in Ireland to combine specialist video transmission technologies with satellite communications to provide protection solutions for clients. It provides real-time remote security monitoring to businesses and private residences in Ireland and internationally. The Netwatch system uses advanced protection technologies, including GPS tracking, audio visual detection, personal protector equipment and wireless perimeter security cordons.

Back in November, Netwatch announced a €3m investment to facilitate its expansion into the US. At the time, the company said the move would spawn the creation of 15 jobs in its new Boston office by the end of 2012, as well as a further 15 jobs at its Carlow headquarters. In 2010, the company invested more than €5m in its communication hub in Carlow.

US expansion

Wash said the company already monitors US sites for some of Netwatch's Irish-based multinational clients, so the further US expansion would be a "natural progression" for the company.

As for Kathleen O'Toole, she is due to complete a six-year term as chief inspector of An Garda Síochána Inspectorate in April.

Stateside, O'Toole climbed through the ranks of policing in Massachusetts. She was the first female police commissioner of Boston, when appointed by the Mayor of Boston at the time, Thomas M Menino, in 2004. It was in 2006 that O'Toole departed the Boston Police Department and relocated to Ireland.

She was also a member of the Independent Commission on Policing in Northern Ireland - the Patten Commission.

'Foremost policing and security expert'

Walsh said O'Toole is one of the "foremost policing and security experts" - her knowledge and expertise will be invaluable to Netwatch as it expands in the US market.

O'Toole also spoke about how Netwatch has developed "very innovative crime deterrent solutions", which she said had "changed the face of the security industry in Ireland".

"The Netwatch managed service is ideally tailored to fit the US market and there are many opportunities for the company in Boston and beyond," added O'Toole.

Integral was founded in 1989, and provides services to SME retailers that have either standalone or integrated electronic point of sale (EPOS) payments requirements. Its solutions are used at more than 30,000 points-of-sale in the UK and Ireland and its platform has processed 87m transactions in the last 12 months, with a value of €5bn.

Integral specialises in transaction processing/switching services for SMEs via a centrally hosted platform that is integrated with all UK and Irish acquiring banks.

With about 600,000 card accepting merchants in the UK and Ireland, and the market still in growth, the card holder present market represents a significant opportunity for Sage Pay, allowing the company to broaden its customer offering by providing multi-channel payment solutions to customers. It significantly extends Sage Pay's potential market in the UK and Ireland.

The future of e-payments

"The team at Integral have established an outstanding point-of-sale card-processing service that will enable Sage Pay to provide best-in-class multi-channel payment services," Simon Black, CEO of Sage Pay Europe Ltd, explained.

“The two businesses share a passion for delivering a great customer experience founded on brilliant software. Sage Pay offers a unique service proposition in payments, and the acquisition of Integral offers even more value to our customers and business partners."

Sage Pay works with more than 36,000 businesses, providing both e-commerce and mail order/telephone order solutions. The acquisition of Integral will give Sage Pay the capability to integrate cardholder present solutions with its current e-commerce gateway, opening up new possibilities to provide connected multi-channel services.

This will enable customers to accept card payments however and wherever they run their businesses - be it online, in-store, at a trade show or from a market stall.

Sean Wilson, managing director of Integral, said, "This is an exciting new opportunity for our employees, customers and suppliers. The strong technology and cultural fit between the organisations will ensure our combined potential is achieved, which we believe is key for delivering on the opportunities and expectations in the payments ecosystem."

A further US$13.7m in 'contingent payments' may be paid over the next two years if certain performance milestones are met.

“The acquisition of M5 positions ShoreTel as a leader in the fast-growing cloud UC market and delivers a suite of hosted telephony solutions that is unmatched in the marketplace," said Peter Blackmore, CEO of ShoreTel.

M5 pioneered hosted UC in 2000 and today provides more than 2,000 companies with enterprise-grade communications on a subscription basis.

“This acquisition is a critical step in our evolution and enables the company to capitalise on trends in cloud computing and advance our enterprise communications strategy," Blackmore added.

For the fourth quarter revenues came in at US$3.4bn, yielding a profit of over US$300m.

Looking ahead to the first quarter of 2012 the company expects a 36pc fall-off in revenues of up to US$2.3bn.

“In 2011 we saw growth in the global strength of our brand, as well as earnings and revenue growth," said Peter Chou, CEO of HTC.

“While short term performance may not meet the results as expected, we have gained further experience and advancement in the areas of brand management and product innovation.

“These fundamental strengths and the groundwork we have laid will take us into 2012 with a renewed focus and determination," Chou said.

In what will go down as the biggest IPO in tech history, social networking giant Facebook last week filed for its flotation in May. In the filing, Facebook said it hoped to raise US$5bn initially and revealed it had 845m monthly active users.

The SEC filing also revealed a trove of information about Facebook, such as how dependent it is on online games firm Zynga, which accounts for 12pc of Facebook’s revenues.

In the filing, Facebook revealed that in 2011 it achieved revenues of US$3.7bn, up from US$1.9bn a year earlier. It derived a net profit in 2011 of US$1bn, up from US$606m last year.

Facebook has total assets of US$6.3bn and liabilities of US$1.4bn.

Ireland's incumbent telco Eircom to be sold

Eircom has appointed Morgan Stanley to advise it on the sale of the company, it revealed. The company is expecting to receive proposals from interested parties in mid-March.

"ERC Ireland Holdings Limited ('the company') today confirmed that the directors of the company have authorised the initiation of a process to assess the interest of third-party strategic and financial investors in a sale of the company," Eircom said in a recent statement.

“This process will be conducted as part of the wider balance sheet remediation process currently under way," Eircom said.

The move follows extensive negotiations between Eircom and its senior lenders.

Telefónica launches mobile network for youth market

O2’s parent company Telefónica has launched a new standalone operator called ‘48’ that will focus on the 18 to 22-year-old marketplace. The new operator will offer unlimited calls and texts to any other operator for €10 a month.

The standalone operator will sit within Telefónica Digital, which is a new global business division of Telefónica whose mission it is to seize opportunities within the digital world.

The company says 48 will become an important test bed for new products developed by Telefónica Digital, while lessons from 48 will be shared amongst the wider group. 48 joins other standalone, over the top businesses, including giffgaff, Terra and Tuenti, in the Telefónica Digital family.

Sony appoints Kazuo Hirai as president and CEO

Consumer electronics giant Sony has appointed a new president and CEO, Kazuo Hirai. Hirai takes the helm on 1 April, and current chairman, CEO and president Sir Howard Stringer will become chairman of the board of directors in June.

Hirai is currently executive deputy president, and Stringer recommended him as his successor, Sony said in a statement.

Stringer will continue as chairman of Sony Corporation until his ascension to the board chairmanship, which will become effective upon board approval following the annual shareholders' meeting in June, when the current chairman, Yotaro Kobayashi, will retire.

Hirai is also expected to be appointed to the board at the June shareholders meeting.

Nokia, Samsung, Apple are top 3 leading mobile vendors - research

Nokia is still the leading mobile phone vendor in the world, followed by Samsung and Apple, according to new research.

According to the IDC, Nokia was still the leader in global mobile shipments in the fourth quarter of 2011. It shipped 113.5m devices in the quarter.

Samsung came second, shipping a record 97.6m mobile devices within the quarter. It also shipped 300m units within the full year. The IDC said this was due to Samsung's high-end devices, - such as the Galaxy S II and the Galaxy Nexus – its mid-range models and its Windows Phone smartphones.

Apple reached third in global smartphone shipments, rising from fifth place in the last quarter, thanks to record-breaking shipments of its new device, the iPhone 4S.

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Technology giant IBM has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire mobile software provider Worklight in an effort to expand the enterprise mobile capabilities IBM offers to clients. Financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

Worklight is a privately held, Israeli-based provider of mobile software for smartphones and tablets. With this acquisition, IBM's mobile offerings will span mobile application development, integration, security and management.

Worklight will become part of IBM's mobility strategy, offering clients an open platform that helps speed the delivery of existing and new mobile applications to multiple devices. It also helps enable secure connections between smartphone and tablet applications with enterprise IT systems.

The deal is expected to close in 1Q12. Worklight will sit within IBM’s Software Group.

Cylon Active Energy wins cloud contract in US

Irish firm Cylon Active Energy has secured its first US contract following an Enterprise Ireland trade mission. The company will apply its cloud-based, real-time energy management technology to Raleigh Convention Center in North Carolina.

Cylon Active Energy itself is the energy management division of Cylon Group, an Irish provider of energy management services.

Via the new contract with the Raleigh Convention Center, Cylon will centrally monitor and analyse the energy consumption of the centre remotely from its Dublin-based 'Energy Bureau' in Clonshaugh.

Movidius allies with Toshiba to develop 3D system for smartphones

Dublin mobile multimedia processor company Movidius has signed a major deal with Japanese consumer electronics giant Toshiba to develop a high-resolution 3D system for high-end smartphones.

Movidius' MA1178 has been combined with Toshiba's 8 Megapixel EDOF (extended depth of field) cameras to enable 3D camera module manufacturers to deliver a compelling 3D imaging solution, ideally suited to top of the range smartphones.

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The Observer reported on the sudden celebrity of a playwright whose solo act casts a light on the conditions of workers in China who manufacture popular devices like the iPad and the iPhone.

Mike Daisey's latest work, The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, has triggered off a spasm of soul-searching about the sometimes appalling labour conditions in China under which many of America's most cherished products are made. Specifically, the shiny, sleek iPhones, iPods and iPads produced by Apple.

The Agony and the Ecstasy was devised after exhaustive research involving talking to allegedly exploited and abused workers in China, for almost 18 months. Daisey played to small but appreciative crowds across the US, winning critical praise but stirring little trouble, not even with the target of his ire: Apple itself.

Facebook IPO - tax burden or tax bonus?

The San Jose Mercury News reported on the tax implications for Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg ahead of the company's looming IPO.

Zuckerberg (27) one of the world's youngest billionaires, plans to exercise stock options with an estimated value of US$5bn ahead of the offering. That could create a stunning tax bill of US$2bn.

The taxes Zuckerberg and other Facebook shareholders pay on exercised stock options will translate into a big tax benefit for the company. The IRS allows companies to take a mirror deduction for the employees' option compensation. Facebook anticipates that the deduction will eliminate the tax bill on its US$1bn in 2011 profit, according to its regulatory filings. The company also expects the break to generate as much as US$500m in additional deductions, which can be used for refunds for 2009 and 2010 and for reductions in future years. Facebook declined to comment further on Zuckerberg's tax plans.

Near miss on Sky jobs

The Sunday Independent reported how 800 jobs announced last week by Sky could have been blown due to wrangling over office space.

The newspaper reported that the creation of more than 800 new jobs in Dublin by broadcasting giant Sky came perilously close to being scuppered after NAMA refused to back down on its demand that the company lease more office space than it actually needed.

Sky - unhappy with the terms being insisted upon by the State's 'bad bank' - was ready to bring all 800 jobs to the UK and reversed its decision only after Minister for Jobs Richard Bruton rowed in to ensure the deal was done.

The paper referred to informed sources who said Sky was on the point of giving up on plans to base its new employees in the Burlington Plaza building in Dublin in the face of the repeated demand that it take up more space than the 35,000 sq feet it required as NAMA sought to protect its own bottom line.

A leap from the edge of space

The Telegraph reported on what will be the ultimate in parachute jumps: from the edge of space, Felix Baumgartner will leap from a balloon, plummeting to the ground 120,000 feet below.

After 35 seconds he will break the sound barrier, and finally, at 5,000 feet he will deploy a parachute and - hopefully - land safely on the ground.

During his 10-minute journey to Earth, Baumgartner will travel at more than 1,110 km/h inside a special suit, which must protect him from temperatures as low as -94F.

He will rely on its oxygen tanks as the air is too thin to breathe - and hope the sheer force of the fall does not make him black out.

The team working with Baumgartner will this week announce an attempt to make the record-breaking jump will take place in August above New Mexico.

Europe's Facebook crusader

The New York Times reported that as Wall Street prepares for a record, multibillion-dollar initial stock sale from Facebook, the social networking site, a meeting with the potential to shape the economics of the deal was set to take place Monday in Vienna.

Richard Allan, a former member of Parliament in Britain who is the European director of policy for Facebook, and another executive from Facebook's headquarters in Menlo Park, California, will meet with Max Schrems, a 24-year-old college student.

Schrems, a law student at the University of Vienna and a user of Facebook since 2008, has led a vocal campaign in Europe against what he maintains are Facebook's illegal practices of collecting and marketing users' personal data, often without consent.

In less than a year, Schrems' one-person operation has morphed into a website, Europe Versus Facebook, and a grass-roots movement that has persuaded 40,000 people to contact Facebook in Ireland, where its European headquarters are located, to demand a summary of all the personal data the US company is holding on them.

Schrems and his crusade have become a cause célèbre in parts of Europe, attracting the attention of lawmakers in Brussels as the continent begins a lengthy debate over tough new proposed restrictions on personal data, which could affect web businesses like Facebook.

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“John is an outstanding leader with an unparallelled record of achievement,” said Dell. “He brings to Dell extensive experience in leading and growing software businesses, unique expertise in managing complex software organisations, and a passion for listening to and serving customers. I look forward to working with John as he expands our enterprise solutions and builds on our software capabilities.”

Most recently, Swainson was senior adviser to Silver Lake, a global private equity firm. Prior to Silver Lake, he was CEO and director of CA, Inc. from early 2005 through 2009. Under his leadership at CA, the company increased revenue, operating margins and customer satisfaction.

Prior to CA, Swainson worked for IBM Corp for more than 26 years, holding various management positions in the US and Canada, including seven years as general manager of the Application Integration Middleware Division, a business he founded in 1997.

During that period, he and his team developed the WebSphere family of middleware products and the Eclipse open source tools project. He also led the IBM worldwide software sales organisation, and held numerous senior leadership roles in engineering, marketing and sales management.

Swainson holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the University of British Columbia, Canada.

It has been a tough year for Sony, which has been impacted by earthquakes in Japan, floods in Taiwan and a series of major hacker attacks on its PlayStation, movies and other gaming and content sites.

But the overriding reason is the competitive landscape in which Sony operates, competing with fast-moving players like Apple and Samsung and performance issues in its LCD TV business.

The company loss of 159bn yen compares with a loss of 72.3bn yen a year ago.

Its Sony Ericsson division, which is being dismantled and brought back into Sony as its own mobile business, made a loss of €233m, compared with a profit of €29m last year. Revenues were down 15.7pc to €1.2bn compared with €1.5bn a year ago.

Hirai, who has taken over from previous CEO Howard Stringer, is a veteran of Sony's PlayStation division and is credited with turning that division's fortunes around through aggressive cost cutting.

Hirai has reportedly said he is not afraid of making painful decisions to restore Sony to its leadership position in the consumer electronics industry as the company brought breakthroughs like the Walkman and the PlayStation.

In the circa 2,000-word letter, the 27-year-old Zuckerberg spoke about the genesis of Facebook and its mission.

"Facebook was not originally founded to be a company," he wrote. "We've always cared primarily about our social mission, the services we're building and the people who use them. This is a different approach for a public company to take, so I want to explain why I think it works."

Zuckerberg added that he had began by "writing the first version of Facebook myself because it was something I wanted to exist."

After that, he said "most of the ideas and code that have gone into Facebook have come from the great people we've attracted to our team".

The hacker way?

So what did Zuckerberg mean when he alluded to "the Hacker Way"?

"We have cultivated a unique culture and management approach that we call the Hacker Way," he said.

"The word 'hacker' has an unfairly negative connotation from being portrayed in the media as people who break into computers. In reality, hacking just means building something quickly or testing the boundaries of what can be done. Like most things, it can be used for good or bad, but the vast majority of hackers I've met tend to be idealistic people who want to have a positive impact on the world."

"The Hacker Way is an approach to building that involves continuous improvement and iteration. Hackers believe that something can always be better, and that nothing is ever complete. They just have to go fix it - often in the face of people who say it's impossible or are content with the status quo."

Hackathons at Facebook

He said that every few months, Facebook runs "a hackathon", where employees work on building prototypes for new ideas they might have.

"Many of our most successful products came out of hackathons, including Timeline, chat, video, our mobile development framework and some of our most important infrastructure, like the HipHop compiler."

And Zuckerberg said Facebook requires all new engineers to share this type of hacker approach.

"We require all new engineers - even managers whose primary job will not be to write code - to go through a programme called Bootcamp where they learn our codebase, our tools and our approach. There are a lot of folks in the industry who manage engineers and don't want to code themselves, but the type of hands-on people we're looking for are willing and able to go through Bootcamp."

Other key segments of the letter include Zuckerberg's hope "to strengthen how people relate to each other".

He wrote: "Even if our mission sounds big, it starts small - with the relationship between two people ... At Facebook, we build tools to help people connect with the people they want and share what they want, and by doing this we are extending people's capacity to build and maintain relationships."

Then he said that the social networking site hopes to "rewire" how people "spread and consume information".

"We think the world's information infrastructure should resemble the social graph - a network built from the bottom up or peer-to-peer, rather than the monolithic, top-down structure that has existed to date. We also believe that giving people control over what they share is a fundamental principle of this rewiring".

Influencing people's relationships with governments?

Zuckerberg also wrote how he has aspirations for Facebook to alter how people "relate" to their governments and social institutions.

"We believe building tools to help people share can bring a more honest and transparent dialogue around government that could lead to more direct empowerment of people, more accountability for officials and better solutions to some of the biggest problems of our time," he said.

In the filing, Facebook revealed that in 2011 it achieved revenues of US$3.7bn, up from US$1.9bn a year earlier. It derived a net profit in 2011 of US$1bn, up from US$606m last year.

Facebook has total assets of US$6.3bn and liabilities of US$1.4bn.

In its filing to the SEC, Facebook revealed that on its social network there are some 2.7bn 'Likes' and comments every day, some 250m photos are uploaded daily and there are 100bn friendships on Facebook.

Facebook explained its business model and said it believes it is at the forefront of enabling faster, easier and richer communication between people.

It revealed there were 483m daily active users in December, up 48pc on the previous year, and that it had 425m users who used its mobile products in December.

The company also outlined that it sees a significant opportunity for e-payments, estimating the market to be worth US$14bn in 2014, and how it intends moving it from integration in games to other kinds of apps.

So who gets what when Facebook IPOs in May? Employees of Facebook hold 30pc in the company while founder Mark Zuckerberg holds 24pc of the company's stock.

Ireland’s own rocker Bono from rock band U2 is set to enjoy a Beautiful (pay) Day when Facebook goes public. The rock star is one of the lead investors in Elevation Partners, a venture capital firm that spent more than €156m for a 1.5pc stake in the social network. Elevation has seen its stake increase more than sevenfold in just more than two years. The shares are now worth between €1.1bn and €2bn.

Other investors include Digital Sky Technologies (10pc), Accel Partners (8pc), Dustin Moskowitz (6pc), Eduardo Saverin (5pc), Sean Parker (4pc), Goldman Sachs clients (3pc), Microsoft (1.3pc), Peter Thiel (3pc), Greylock Partners (1.4pc), Meritech Capital Partners (1.6pc), Chris Hughes (1pc), Li Ka-shing (0.75pc), Interpublic Group (0.5pc) and Goldman Sachs (0.8pc).

Threats to Facebook’s business model

The SEC filing pointed out risks to its business, most notably complex US and foreign laws regarding privacy and the impact of the loss of CEO Mark Zuckerberg or COO Sheryl Sandberg.

Facebook acknowledged its competitive risks, such as how it competes broadly with Google’s social network Google+, as well as the rise of social networks elsewhere in the world, such as Orkut in Brazil and India, Mixi in Japan and Cyworld in Korea.

But most interesting of all was how dependant Facebook is on its relationship with Zynga and how it could be harmed if it was unable to maintain the relationship.

In 2011, Zynga accounted for 12pc of Facebook’s revenues, derived from payment processing fees from Zynga’s sales of virtual goods and from direct advertising purchased by Zynga. In addition, Zynga’s apps generate pages on which Facebook displays ads from other advertisers.

Facebook also revealed it expects its rates of growth to decline over time. Revenues grew 154pc between 2009 and 2010 and 88pc between 2010 and 2011.

Incidentally, Andreessen Horowitz looks set to profit from the imminent Facebook IPO. In addition, Marc Andreessen himself has personally invested in Facebook and joined the company's board of directors in 2008.
 
It was back in 2009 that the duo first announced they were setting up the VC firm to fund technology start-ups with investments ranging from $50,000 to $50m. Since Andreessen Horowitz launched, it has raised US$2.7bn.

The third fund announced by Andreessen Horowitz yesterday is valued at U$1.5bn and can be used immediately.

"Software is the catalyst that will remake entire industries during the next decade. We are single-mindedly focused on partnering with the best innovators pursuing the biggest markets," said Andreessen in a statement yesterday.

And Horowitz posted on his blog yesterday about why and how such a new venture capital firm raised so much money.

"We are uniquely positioned to help the greatest technology entrepreneurs in the world build the best technology companies in the world, and that's just what we're going to do," said Horowitz.

Ireland's technology potential

On the Irish front, Irishman John O'Farrell, is also a partner at Andreessen Horowitz. Back in November O'Farrell was in Ireland for the Dublin Web Summit. At the time he spoke of Ireland's technology potential.

Said O'Farrell: "I have met some interesting companies ... It is really important, particularly for a small market like Ireland to focus on gigantic markets up front and that usually means the US.

“Having a Silicon Valley and Irish presence is better than being pure Ireland-based, so maybe put your management team or some of them out in the Valley where they can tap into that ecosystem and put their development back here - that would be a model that can work and become very big," he added.

Stringer will continue as chairman of Sony Corporation until his ascension to the board chairmanship, which will become effective upon board approval following the annual shareholders' meeting in June, when the current chairman, Yotaro Kobayashi, will retire.

Hirai is also expected to be appointed to the board at the June shareholders meeting.

"I am grateful to Sir Howard and to the board for their confidence in me, and I look forward to working with everyone at Sony more closely than ever before to build a strong future for our customers, shareholders, partners and employees," said Hirai.

"The path we must take is clear: to drive the growth of our core electronics businesses - primarily digital imaging, smart mobile and game; to turn around the television business; and to accelerate the innovation that enables us to create new business domains.

"The foundations are now firmly in place for the new management team and me to fully leverage Sony's diverse electronics product portfolio, in conjunction with our rich entertainment assets and growing array of networked services, to engage with our customers around the world in new and exciting ways," Hirai said.

“Our millions of third-party sellers had a tremendous holiday season with 65pc unit growth and now represent 36pc of total units sold.”

Amazon.com did not give exact sales numbers for the Kindle devices.

Operating cash flow increased 12pc to US$3.90bn for the trailing 12 months, compared with US$3.50bn for the trailing 12 months ended 31 December 2010.

Free cash flow decreased 17pc to US$2.09bn for the trailing 12 months, compared with US$2.52bn for the same period a year earlier.

Common shares outstanding plus shares underlying stock-based awards totalled 468m on 31 December 2011, compared with 465m a year ago.

The 35pc increase in net sales to US$17.4bn in the fourth quarter compares to US$12.95bn in fourth quarter 2010. Excluding the US$101m favourable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the quarter, net sales would have grown 34pc compared with fourth quarter 2010.

Operating income was US$260m in the fourth quarter, compared with US$474m in fourth quarter 2010. The favourable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the quarter on operating income was US$5m.

Net income decreased 58pc to US$177m in the fourth quarter, or US$0.38 per diluted share, compared with net income of US$416m, or US$0.91 per diluted share, in the previous year's fourth quarter.

Figures reported before Christmas indicated Facebook was hurtling towards a net income for 2011 of a stunning US$1bn based on US$4bn in revenues.

Between January and September 2011, Facebook racked up revenues of US$2.5bn and a net income of US$714m. According to the reported figures, Facebook by the end of September had assets of US$5.6bn and US$3.5bn of cash in the bank. It had an operating cashflow of US$1bn and shareholders equity stands at US$4.5bn.

Employees of Facebook hold 30pc in the company while founder Mark Zuckerberg holds 24pc of the company's stock.

Ireland’s own rocker Bono from rock band U2 is set to enjoy a Beautiful (pay) Day when Facebook goes public. The rock star is one of the lead investors in Elevation Partners, a venture capital firm that spent more than €156m for a 1.5pc stake in the social network.

Elevation has seen its stake increase more than sevenfold in just more than two years. The shares are now worth between €1.1bn and €2bn.

Other investors include Digital Sky Technologies (10pc), Accel Partners (8pc), Dustin Moskowitz (6pc), Eduardo Saverin (5pc), Sean Parker (4pc), Goldman Sachs clients (3pc), Microsoft (1.3pc), Peter Thiel (3pc), Greylock Partners (1.4pc), Meritech Capital Partners (1.6pc), Chris Hughes (1pc), Li Ka-shing (0.75pc), Interpublic Group (0.5pc) and Goldman Sachs (0.8pc).