Deals done this past week

16 Aug 2010

An overview of the week in deals in the Irish technology sector, including RedMere’s exclusive deal with RadioShack and TradeDoubler and Superquinn’s affiliate marketing deal

RedMere in exclusive HDMI cable deal with RadioShack

Irish technology company RedMere’s ultrathin Active Chip HDMI cable technology, which provides a 10Gbps data rate for cameras and camcorders, is to be exclusively stocked in the US at RadioShack.

Redmere has partnered with Auvio to launch new ultrathin HDMI 1.4 active cables with built-in booster for the camcorder and digital camera market.

Increasing video bandwidth for 3DTV and the emerging 4k x 2k ultra-HD resolution has meant that the typical HDMI cable has needed thicker copper and only short cable lengths could be achieved.

However, the Auvio brand Ultrathin HDMI Cable incorporating RedMere’s active cable technology booster allows for a cable design that is thinner, longer, more flexible, and more environmentally friendly, all while meeting the latest in HDMI 1.4 standards.

The Auvio Ultrathin HDMI cable is capable of 1080p, 3D and 4k x 2k resolution, with an Ethernet channel and audio return channel, and is light, flexible and therefore able to fit in your camera case or pocket. Capable of handling signals of up to 10.2 Gbps and guaranteeing optimum picture output with high-performance HDTVs and 3DTVs, these 10-foot cables can support resolutions higher than 1080p without an additional power supply.

TradeDoubler and Superquinn sign affiliate marketing deal

TradeDoubler has signed an affiliate marketing agreement with Superquinn in order to help drive the supermarket’s online sales.

The pan-European marketing company is aiming to attract new customers and boost online sales for the grocery store chain.

Superquinn operates 23 stores in Ireland is part of online shopping portal Buy4Now, which offers a number of Irish retailers internet shopping services.

The retail chain wishes to add this deal to their list of innovations, which includes the introduction of Ireland’s first loyalty card in 1993, now known as the Superquinn Reward Card.

“We were pioneers in the online grocery market in Ireland and our internet shopping portal represents a significant market opportunity for us,” said John Smith, head of Online Shopping for Superquinn.ie.

“Our agreement with TradeDoubler will help ensure we are driving high volumes of targeted traffic to our online site and provide us with instant access to qualified, high-trafficked publisher sites,” said Smith.

IBM installs cashless payment system at McDonald’s

Technology giant IBM has signed a three-year agreement with McDonald’s to provide a new cashless payment solution for 1,300 McDonald’s-owned and franchised restaurants across Ireland and the UK.

IBM will help McDonald’s cater to the growing number of customers using credit and debit card payments by introducing an improved system that will be operational by the end of 2010.

With McDonald’s restaurants serving millions of customers every day, the IBM solution will allow McDonald’s to continue improving customer experience at the counter by increasing the speed, flexibility and security of service. McDonald’s existing strong levels of security will be enhanced even further with anti-tamper and fraud detection software installed on hand held chip and pin devices to help protect customer card payments.

The solution will also help McDonald’s find smarter ways to run its day-to-day operations more efficiently by centralising business processes onto one database, enabling automated settlement and reporting.

By installing these new processes, McDonald’s is also empowering its franchisees, the independent businessmen and women who own and operate the majority of McDonald’s restaurants, to view and query their own customer card data so any issues can be quickly resolved.

IBM will provide business and technology consulting services to integrate and maintain the payment solution which is being designed and built around the McDonald’s point of sale terminal. Following the launch of the new solution, IBM will host and support McDonald’s entire payment system in a secure data centre.

The solution will be based around IBM’s StorePay and Sureswitch products to provide a complete payment service that extends from the hand held chip and pin device in the restaurant through to the back end processing on a pair of highly available IBM Series P servers which are monitored and managed by IBM’s UK Infrastructure Management Centre.

“With payment options becoming more numerous, consumers now expect a truly flexible, secure and efficient service”, said Jonathan Glencross, Retail client executive, IBM UK&I.

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com