The Government has allocated £7.7 million to kick-start a range of projects in a continuing initiative to create an information society. At the opening of a new Computer Applications Building at Dublin City University last week the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, said that the funding was the first part of substantial investment in the plan to create an information society in Ireland over the next three years. The money will be used in 15 government departments to develop technology infrastructure and electronic government, while raising public awareness.
Plans include developing Internet access and computer facilities in public libraries at a cost of £1 million, the electronic filing of tax returns and a secure intranet for the education sector. In addition, the Information Society Commission is to receive extra funding for its awareness raising activities, including the Netd@ys initiative which will run from November 13th to 21st.
Free Once More: The "traditional" Internet service provider Indigo has joined new provider Oceanfree and PC manufacturer Gateway in providing Internet access that is free of subscription charges. - Info: www.gofree.ie
Credit Clearance: Bank of Ireland is to offer full credit card clearance to Internet users with the introduction of Clikpay. From September, businesses will be able to accept secure, real-time credit card payments via Clikpay software, which was developed by IOL.
Bt Goes Faster: British Telecom has unveiled plans to roll-out a new high-speed digital data service which will use asymmetric digital subscriber lines (ADSL) to carry information at between 10 and 40 times the current speed on conventional modems. BT said the ADSL would improve existing services such as the Internet, video conferencing, online education and other information services. Four hundred telephone exchanges, covering about six million homes and businesses will be upgraded to carry the ADSL service by March next year.
Business Gets Competitive: Internet magazine Web Ireland has launched the Irish Business Internet Awards. Businesses will be able to enter in 14 categories, including best financial site, best SME site and web designer of the year. Winners will be announced on October 15th. - Info: www.internetawards.ie
The Word According To Gates: Microsoft is again under fire, this time for attempting to reinvent the English language with the Encarta World English Dictionary. Due to be released on CD-Rom and in print next week, the dictionary features "thousands of new words and phrases", including some rather bizarre ones. In the word according to Microsoft/Encarta, a chiphead (somebody who is very interested in computers) might tell one of his or her keypals (people who exchange regular emails) a little white gonk (a lie or embellishment of the truth, especially in an online conversation); an incident which they might LOL (laugh out loud) about afterwards.
Fastrack On Track: The government initiative to stem IT labour shortages appears to be on the way to meeting its targets, with news that almost 500 people have already signed up for its IT training programme. Fastrack to IT, or FIT, has accepted 470 trainees to date, representing 15 per cent of the workers required to ensure the growth of the IT industry in 1999. The agency aims to train 900 by the end of the year. Training is primarily geared towards providing workers in call centres, technical support services and PC maintenance.
What's In A Name? Hewlett Packard has launched and christened its new technology company, Agilent Technologies, amid much corporate fanfare and not a little bemusement. But the chief executive of the new company, Ned Barnholt, was quick to explain the choice of "Agilent", which is derived from the word "agile". "It's very difficult to find words in the dictionary not already used by somebody around the world," he said, without irony. Agilent now assumes responsibility for HP's test, measurement and communications divisions, serving electronics, healthcare and semiconductor markets.
Mockers On The Movie: Warner Brothers is reported to have pulled out of a (formerly) big-budget movie, to be called Y2K, allegedly because of fears that audiences will not be capable of suspending disbelief on the millennium problem. The film's producer has said that the decision reflects a lack of faith in public ability to distinguish between fictional and realworld computer disruptions. Last month, Polaroid agreed to pull a television ad after bankers complained that its portrayal of Y2K-related glitches in an automatic teller machine might lead to unwarranted fears about the banking system.
Bug Won't Bite Us: The millennium bug will not cause great damage in Bangladesh because of its limited use of computers, Bangladesh's Science and Technology Minister, Mohammad Nooruddin Khan, has said. However, the country has formed a 36-member Y2K national committee to look into likely problems and offer advice to fix them.
In Brief. . . . . . Telecom Eireann has announced the introduction of a reduced wholesale rate for frame relay to other licensed operators . . . Amazon.com is to use Widescreen Review magazine to provide technical data and disc reviews of DVD movies for its site . . . Intuition Publishing has released a slew of new and updated tutorials for its international financial markets training programme . . . Cap Gemini and Oracle have teamed up on their Customer Relationship Management programmes . . . Recruitment site The Irish Jobs Page has been sold to Denis O'Brien and Leslie Buckley . . . Resort Records has jumped aboard the MP3 platform to sell downloadable music in its online store . . . Sun has recorded a 33 per cent growth in server sales . . . Compaq has released the latest in its Armada line of notebooks, with the Armada M300 weighing in at just three pounds . . . Nortel has reported an increase of 37 per cent in profits for the second quarter of 1999, from $212 million in 1998 to $368 million this year . . .