An overview of the week in deals in the Irish technology sector.
Chinese firm acquires Irish tech company Firecomms
Firecomms, the Co Cork-based transceivers and semiconductors firm, has been acquired by Chinese corporation the ZJF Group and has garnered a €5m R&D investment.
The deal with the Chinese company guarantees €5m investment in Irish R&D for plastic optical fibre (POF) technology and is the first-ever technology acquisition of an Irish high-tech firm by a Chinese corporation.
As well as the €5m investment, the deal will see the expansion of Firecomms’ engineering team from 18 to 30 people over the next 12 months and will also facilitate the rapid expansion of Firecomms’ operations in mainland China.
“This increased investment in R&D, coupled with access to the broad resources of the ZJF Group, will be hugely advantageous for our customers. In addition to giving us the ability to offer complete integrated networking solutions to our customers, the investment and access to a fast-growing marketplace will result in rapid development of POF solutions, and reduced costs for this reliable, easy-to-use technology,” said Firecomms CEO Declan O’Mahoney.
ZJF Group said the acquisition of Firecomms was to tap into the company’s expertise as well as to focus on plastic optical fibre, which is a construction focus in China.
Webroot strikes deal with The Email Laundry
An Irish email filtering firm, The Email Laundry, has struck a deal with the first internet security service, announcing a partnership.
The Email Laundry and OEM Webroot will enter into a partnership that will see Email Laundry’s install base offered to Webroot’s web security service as part of an expanded range of services their resellers can offer to customers.
The Email Laundry says it has experienced a demand for a web service offering recently, citing increased web threats and employee misuse of social networking sites as reasons.
O2 and Click team up for online movie rental store
O2 and Click magazine have launched a new online service, letting people rent, buy or pre-order games and movies to be delivered to their doors.
The service, called O2Click, allows customers to select their movie or game title of choice through an app or the website and it will be dispatched in 48 hours.
Delivery includes a freepost envelope to let customers return rented titles when they are finished with them at no extra charge.
The site also includes movie and game reviews and features preview clips of each title.
It’s a monthly subscription-based service from €7.99 a month.
