A round-up of other technology stories in brief.

Trinity nets Microsoft internship

A student from Trinity College Dublin is the only person in Ireland to have been selected by Microsoft to participate in the computer giant's summer intern programme.

Serena Cameirano will spend 12 weeks at Microsoft's headquarters in Redmond, Washington during which time she will work alongside full-time employees as part of a team developing software.

Prof Jane Grimson, head of the department of computer science at Trinity, welcomed the selection, saying it demonstrated the close collaboration the college has with industry.

Fitzpatrick scoops Lenovo contract

Limerick-based Fitzpatrick Computer Group has won a contract to sell products made by US technology group Lenovo in Ireland.

Lenovo, which was formed as a result of the acquisition by the Lenovo group of the IBM personal computing division, develops, manufactures and markets PC products and value-added professional services.

DCU scholars win top competition

A combined team of MBA and PhD research scholars from DCU has won the inaugural all-island MBA Strategy Forum.

The aim of the competition, run by the MBA Association of Ireland and the Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering and Technology, is to bring the business and research sectors more closely together.

"The whole idea is to establish a leadership and policy level mindset . . . to involve fundamental research if we are to create a competitive and knowledge-based economy," said Denis McCarthy, chief executive of the MBA Association.

The five-strong team from DCU beat off groups from other leading business and research centres across Ireland by analysing a given case study and creating a new innovation strategy.

Warning issued on phone switching

Irish businesses were yesterday warned not to be too hasty in switching from traditional telephone lines.

Brendan Moran, chief executive of telecoms consultancy MinuteBuyer, said that, while advanced technology such as internet telephony services (VoIP) will be widely available in the future, the reality is that such developments are a long way off in some parts of Ireland.

"Make no mistake, VoIP is coming and in the future we will all be using the technology - but not today," he said.

Eddie Rockets goes wireless

American-style diner Eddie Rockets has signed a deal with Dublin-based Captiva Software to use the group's wireless waitressing system.

Eddie Rockets said it had decided to invest in the technology in order to enable accuracy of ordering, reduce errors, reduce dockets and also to speed up the payment process.

House of Fraser sale efficiency

The introduction of a new label printer, the HT200e, at House of Fraser in Dundrum has reduced sale preparation time for the group by about 50 per cent.

The new machine means that staff now have more time to spend with customers where previously they were forced to spend time writing labels, the company said in a statement. The machine was installed by PC Cubed, which acts for Sato, a specialist manufacturer of labelling, in Ireland.

Fallon & Byrne in stock-taking move

Fallon & Byrne, Dublin's new food hall, restaurant and wine cellar, is using technology developed by Leaders Enterprises, to manage its stock-taking.