. . . and some little things

IT WASN’T just hotels, bars and restaurants which did well from the recent Notre Dame-US Navy American football jamboree at the Aviva.

Irish wifi provider Bitbuzz recorded its most logins in one day on the eve of the college match on August 31st.

It registered 19,677 logins over the 24 hours, a 117 per cent increase on the same day in 2011.

Bitbuzz managing director Shane Deasy told me this was partly due to a number of new partnerships with coffee shops, hotels and restaurants here and in Britain, and the launch of its “freedom” outdoor wifi service on Grafton Street in June, where people can surf the web for free.

Deasy said it would be offering this service in other locations in Dublin and Ireland over the coming months.

CORK-BASEDoutsourcing company SouthWestern, which is planning to double its business by 2014, has appointed David Grindle as chief operations officer.

Grindle joins from HP International Bank, the financing arm of Hewlett Packard, where he was operations director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

He will divide his time between Clonakilty and the company’s Polish base in Lodz.

SIR MARTINSorrell, chief executive of global advertising and communications giant WPP, can't wait to return the company's tax domicile to London, having moved it here in 2008.

The move was designed to slash the group’s tax bill after changes to UK laws concerning the treatment of foreign earnings. These have since been reversed.

Sorrell told the Sunday Telegraph last weekend that the return to London would boost the group both psychologically and financially.

“I think we are all set,” he said. “I am very positive about our business here [the UK].”

It was nice while it lasted.