A digest of the top business technology news stories from the past week, beginning with mobile operator Vodafone expanding 4G coverage across Ireland.
Vodafone expands 4G coverage to six cities and 31 towns across Ireland
Vodafone has switched on 4G for smartphone users in six cities and 31 towns across Ireland, the mobile operator said this past week.
4G delivers data speeds of up to 10 times faster than 3G. At the same time, Vodafone is bringing 3G coverage to anywhere in Ireland that currently has voice coverage.
The six cities include Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway, Waterford and Kilkenny. The towns include Bagnelstown, Ballincollig, Bunclody, Carlow, Carrigaline, Carrigtohill, Cloyne, Cobh, Dungarvan, Dunmanway, Enniscorthy, Fermoy, Gorey, Kanturk, Kenmare, Killarney, Killorglin, Kinsale, Lismore, Listowel, Mallow, Midleton, Millstreet, New Ross, Newmarket, Rosslare Harbour, Rosslare Strand, Thomastown, Tralee, Tullow, and Wexford.
Accelrys acquires Qumas in US$50m deal
Life sciences software player Accelrys Inc has acquired cloud-based quality management software firm Qumas in a deal understood to be valued at around US$50m.
The acquisition of the Cork company will enable Accelrys to help its customers manage the scientific innovation lifecycle by reducing regulatory risks and improving compliance effectiveness.
Qumas integrates content, processes, people and systems into enterprise compliance programmes that eliminate the cost and complexity of managing paper-based as well as disparate or legacy document management applications.
IBM wins US$115m server contract with European Commission
IBM and business partner Bechtle AG have won a US$115m contract with the European Commission to provide servers to European Union institutions and agencies in the 27 member states.
The contract is the largest and most comprehensive awarded by the European Commission for office and application servers.
IBM and Bechtle AG have already provided more than US$2.6m in systems and services to date and expect to deliver more than 6,100 System x and Flex System servers and supporting services over the course of the contract.
93pc of firms worldwide plan to beef up IT security measures
With cybercrime threatening businesses today, 93pc of companies globally plan to maintain or increase their investment in cybersecurity.
A global study by Ernst & Young (EY) of 1,900 senior executives in 64 countries found that despite half of the participants planning to increase their budget by 5pc or more in the next 12 months, 65pc cite insufficient budgets as their No 1 challenge in order to operate at the level business expects.
This challenge exists against a backdrop where 65pc of Irish organisations cite an increase in external security threats and 35pc of Irish organisations cite an increase in internal vulnerabilities in the past year.
Advertisers will have spent US$5.6bn on YouTube this year
Video site YouTube will bring in about US$5.60bn in gross ad revenues this year, according to eMarketer’s first-ever analysis of how much advertisers spend on the platform.
“YouTube doesn’t get to keep all its gross revenues, of course,” eMarketer pointed out.
After paying back advertising partners and video content creators, eMarketer still expects the company to net US$1.96bn in ad revenues worldwide this year, up 65.5pc over 2012.
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