SAP opens mission control centre in Dublin
A digest of the top business technology news stories from the past week.
SAP opens mission control centre in Dublin
Business technology company SAP has opened the doors to its latest regional mission control centre, in Citywest, Dublin, which will support SAP implementations around the world.
This past week’s opening builds on SAP’s growth plans announced last year. The company had said it would invest €110m in the creation of 250 new jobs at its Dublin and Galway facilities, as SAP gears up for its next wave of technology innovation to meet business needs.
Dublin is now home to SAP’s sixth mission control centre. Other control centres are in Brazil, China, Germany, Mexico and the United States.
Old PCs cost employees more than a work week annually – study
Employees of small businesses lose more than one work week per year as a result of old PCs, a study commissioned by Intel Corporation suggests.
The multi-country study conducted by Techaisle, titled The Intel Small Business PC Refresh Study, surveyed 736 small businesses in Brazil, China, Germany, India, Russia and the United States to gauge the state of their PC equipment.
On average, employees lose 21 more hours by using a PC that is four years or older, due to time needed for repairs, maintenance and security issues, compared to PCs that are less than four years old. Repair and maintenance is 1.5 times more frequent on PCs that are four years or older, the study reveals.
Dell is now officially a private company
Computer-maker Dell’s founder, chairman and CEO Michael Dell and technology investment firm Silver Lake Partners have completed their US$24.9bn leveraged buyout of the company, which is now private.
Dell stockholders will receive US$13.75 in cash for each common share and a special dividend of US$0.13 per share for a total of US$13.88.
Dell’s stockholders approved the transaction on 12 September and the buyout was completed on Tuesday.
The company has now begun the process of delisting its common shares from the NASDAQ stock market.
Apple reports Q4 revenues of US$37.5bn – 33.8m iPhones sold during quarter
Apple has reported fourth-quarter revenues of US$37.5bn, up 26pc year-on-year, after selling some 33.8m iPhone smartphones and 14.1m iPad tablet computers during the quarter. The tech giant posted a quarterly profit of US$7.5bn for the fourth quarter.
iPhone sales were up from 26.9m sold this time last year while iPad sales were only up slightly from 14m sold last year.
Apple sold 4.6m Mac devices, down from 4.9m a year ago.
The company’s board declared a cash dividend of US$3.05 per share of common stock, payable on 14 November.
Facebook generates 60pc boost in Q3 revenue to US$2.02bn
Social networking titan Facebook ended its third quarter with US$2.02bn in revenue, reflecting an increase of 60pc from US$1.26bn in the year-ago period, and an average of 728m daily active users for September 2013, a boost of 25pc year-over-year.
The company also reported third-quarter net income of US$425m, compared to a net loss of US$59m in the year-ago quarter.
Diluted earnings per share amounted to US$0.17, compared to a loss per share of US$0.02 in the third quarter of 2012.
Realex Payments’ revenues grow 45pc to €14.2m as overseas expansion accelerates
Pan-European e-payments enabler Realex Payments has reported a 45pc increase in revenues to €14.2m, up from €9.7m last year. Profit after tax amounted to €1.24m.
The Dublin-headquartered company is now processing more than €24bn a year in transactions on behalf of more than 12,000 retailers.
Realex Payments said the rise in revenues is due to its strategic overseas expansion, with overseas retailers now representing 60pc of the company’s business.
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