It was all hands on deck at the official launch of the Irish Technology Share Index (ITSI) on Tuesday afternoon in the National Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire. Employees of Technology Investment and Underwriting Research (TIU), the company behind the index, showed up in full force and made sure all attendees paid close attention by serving only coffee and mineral water until after the formal presentation, when wine and canapes sailed forth.

Following hearty cheerleading on behalf of the new geek-industry index by TIU managing director Garrett Hickey and intrepid index backer and computer publishing mogul John McDonald of CPG, an off-the-record speaker from off-the-record technology company Trintech took to the podium. He announced that all his comments during his lengthy talk were not for publication since Trintech was still in the closed period following its initial public offering in Germany and the US. It was rather unusual then that he should deliver the address at all.