The technology business week: Dublin threatens London’s IT real-estate dominance, HPSUs to create 1,850 jobs


24 Feb 2014

Dublin poses threat to London's IT real-estate dominance

A digest of the top business technology news stories from the past week, beginning with the news that the pace of corporate property deals in Dublin is close to surpassing the IT real-estate market in London.

Dublin poses threat to London’s IT real-estate dominance

Move over, London – Dublin is poised to overtake the city as the IT real-estate capital of Europe, according to international property agents Colliers International.

The Irish Independent reported Colliers International as having revealed in a report, Media and Technology iQ, that the pace of corporate property deals in Dublin – the result of the city’s increasing tech market – is close to surpassing the IT real-estate market in London.

The Colliers International report examined commercial property development across Europe and found the IT sector accounted for 30pc of office take-up last year.

High-potential start-ups to create 1,850 jobs over three years

Some 122 high-potential start-ups will create 1,850 new jobs over the next three years, said Richard Bruton, Ireland’s Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation.

Bruton made the announcement this past week, when Enterprise Ireland revealed the results of its 2013 High Potential Start-up (HPSU) Funding programme.

Lisa Vaughan, Enterprise Ireland’s head of HPSUs and scaling, said those companies play a significant role in stimulating jobs and local economies. “The push now must be to help these young companies to realise their full potential to achieve significant scale and become major international businesses in markets across the globe.”

Irish Govt signs €3.3m deal with Microsoft to fix Windows XP security issues

The Irish Government’s Office of the CIO has signed a €3.3m memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Microsoft to handle security issues that could affect State departments when support for Windows XP ends in April.

The 12-month deal will prevent key offices of the State falling prey to hackers after 8 April, when the software giant officially pulls the plug on support for its 12-year-old operating system.

A spokesperson for the Office of the CIO at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform said that department, including the Department of Agriculture, and the Department of Social Protection, have moved to modern versions of the Microsoft products or found alternative solutions.

SuperAwesome acquires US start-up MobiGirl

Dylan Collins, Irish entrepreneur, has expanded his UK-based youth-focused discovery platform SuperAwesome into the US after acquiring MobiGirl Media, a mobile ad network based in Los Angeles, for an undisclosed sum.

Founded in 2012, MobiGirl Media reaches girls ages 6-16 via targeted campaigns on mobile and tablet devices.

SuperAwesome is the result of a merger between Swapit and Box of Awesome. Online trading community Swapit lets 6-18-year-olds swap items and earn rewards, whereas Box of Awesome sends boxes of digital and physical goodies to thousands of children in Ireland and the UK.

Google to simplify password protection with purchase of SlickLogin

In a bid to make accounts more secure but less complicated, Google has purchased Israeli start-up SlickLogin, a developer of audio password software, for an estimated US$7m.

Founded a little more than a year ago, SlickLogin was established to simplify the user-identification process in smartphones by using a two-factor authentication system in what is expected to be a much more secure system.

The SlickLogin method transmits an ultra-sonic frequency through a person’s smartphone, which can then be picked up by his or her laptop or PC, making the whole process faster and less susceptible to error.

Candy Crush developers want to make company public

King Digital Entertainment, the company behind the popular game Candy Crush Saga, has filed for its initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange.

The company has applied to go under the trading name ‘KING’ and must be approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission before it can raise a potential US$500m by entering the stock exchange.

With more than 1bn plays of Candy Crush Saga each day in December last year, the company made profits of US$568m in 2013 and sees its entrance to the stock exchange as the next step in developing on from a sector known as ‘casual gaming’ to one considered as big as some of the more established gaming platforms, like Sony and Microsoft.

O’Connell Street in Dublin image via Shutterstock

Stay informed – get daily updates on the latest happenings in technology directly to your inbox.