Dublin is on the brink of cyber saturation. Most city centre streets now sport an Internet cafe or access centre - Temple Bar alone has seven such outlets.es. "The city centre has pretty much reached capacity levels," says Nuala Roche, of Planet Cyber Cafe.
Five years ago, cyber cafes were featured only on the pages of American technology magazines - but now Internet cafes are opening at a rate of almost one a week across the State. The service that fills this market niche has sprung up almost overnight, following a similar pattern to the mushrooming of video shops in the suburbs during the late 1980s.
Offering Internet access, email, office bureau facilities and coffee, Planet Cyber Cafe on North Great George's Street was Ireland's first Internet cafe. "When we opened five years ago, we were pioneers in the Irish market and take up was slow. I think we were before our time," says Nuala Roche, who opened a second outlet in the last few months.
The original cafe has 17 computer terminals, and the new premises on Andrew Street has 20 at present, but that number will increase when the outlet is complete.
Speed, location and the number of terminals are the three key ingredients to success in the Internet access business. Revenue is generated by turnover according to Gary Clowry of Does Not Compute, one of Dublin's newest Internet outlets, located in a ground floor retail unit at Pudding Row, Temple Bar.
Opened in April of this year, Does Not Compute has 20 terminals, is open from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. and claims to charge the lowest hourly rates in Dublin.
Prices are fairly standard from shop to shop - 10 minutes on the terminal will cost around £1.25, with an hourly rate of £5, although Esat's Access Centres charge £6 an hour. Does Not Compute operates a tariff system, with peak hourly rates of £3.75 and as little as £2 an hour during off-peak times.
Initial start-up costs are high and require substantial capital investment. Finbarr Clarkson, owner of Global Internet Cafe on O'Connell Street and Central Cyber Cafe on Grafton Street has just upgraded his equipment at considerable cost, installing iPac PCs and 17 inch LCD monitors (flat screens) at a cost of £2,000 each.
The O'Connell Street outlet is open almost three years, and in this business having up-to-date equipment is a big factor in attracting customers.
"It's important that the equipment is top of the range, speed of access is a big factor for customers. This is equipment that the average person cannot afford to have at home, so there is a novelty factor there also."
Terminals equal money, so the more computers in the outlet then the greater the potential is for generating revenue.
Overheads are high and owners tend to recruit `techie' staff - usually undergraduates in computer science or web design. Assisting customers and troubleshooting are as much a part of staff duties as making coffee and sandwiches.
Mr Clarkson employs 24 staff between the O'Connell Street and the Grafton Street stores, the majority of them undergraduates in computer related disciplines. "It helps if the staff know what they are talking about so as to assist the customers," he says.
"Finding a suitable premises in Dublin can be quite difficult, you need a location that will see good passing trade volumes, from students to tourists," says Nuala Roche of Planet Cyber Cafe. Tourists and non-nationals resident in Ireland account for a high percentage of customers.
Temple Bar is obviously a key location, as are the main thoroughfares off Grafton Street and Henry Street. Premium rent streets are not an option, although Mr Clarkson has situated both of his cyber cafes here; one above the Bus Stop newsagent on Grafton Street, the other in the basement of 8 Lower O'Connell Street.
Mr Clarkson says that 76 per cent of his customers are tourists; Esat estimate a 50:50 split and Does Not Compute calculates that only one-third of its customers are Irish. For this reason, advertising tends to concentrate on tourist publications.
Initially the majority of Internet outlets also operated as cafes, serving sandwiches and lunch fare aimed at the more leisurely Web surfers or those on lunch breaks. Finbarr Clarkson estimates that the cafe business accounts for 20 per cent of group turnover. "We serve the full range of coffees in addition to cakes and sandwiches and while this side of the business does generate extra revenue, we regard it as a complementary product. If a group of tourists come in where only one or two want to use the Internet, then their colleagues can sit down and have a cup of coffee." Planet Cyber Cafe also has a food and coffee menu and according to Ms Roche, this adds to the overall atmosphere of the outlet. "Our Internet cafes are social places, we didn't want to create an office environment, I wanted a friendly space where people could come to meet as well," says Ms Roche.
Telephones offering preferential rates on long distance calls are a core service at the Esat Access Centres. Marketed as a one-stop communications shop, Esat's first access centre on Fownes Street in Temple Bar opened in July of last year; Esat opened a second outlet at Heuston Station last August. There are 10 terminals in both centres, which also stock a range of telephone calling cards, mobile phones and accessories.
General Manager of Esat Open Access Service, T J Malone, predicts that the future will see increased competition among Dublin's Internet outlets. "As home access and WAP technology prices are becoming more affordable, demand for such services will drop, and prices will have to come down. I think that we'll see bigger outlets, with greater capacity and more ancillary services. E-commerce partnerships may also be a possibility, bringing a big name on board and for an annual or monthly fee offering customers free access to their sites."
