The Internet may be already responsible for considerably more product sales than it is credited with, according to a study produced by IT services consultancy Cap Gemini in association with the research group Datamonitor. Covering over 500 respondents in Britain and Ireland, the research estimates that online commerce is set to explode across Europe, with consumer shopping revenues reaching $3.2 billion over the next 18 months.
Depending on the sector, between 50 and 80 per cent of consumers polled said that they intended to use the Internet within the next 12 months as a channel to contact companies. Almost half consumers polled cited convenience as the main reason for using the Internet, while 10 per cent expressed the belief that they would see benefits in terms of lower prices.
NET TAX: Telecom Internet (www.tinet.ie) has launched TaxCheck, an online payslip checker for PAYE sector employees. TaxCheck establishes the appropriate tax-free allowance and calculates and prints the exact sum which should appear in the payslip. It can also print out a corrected Form TFA1 for submission to the tax office.
E-COMMERCE CENTRE: Cambridge Technology Partners, which employs 100 people in Dublin, is to fund a new centre for e-commerce and virtual organisations at the Graduate School of Business in UCD. The centre, to be launched in September, will be the first academic body in Ireland researching and providing reports on the state of the nation with regard to e-commerce.
MS ENDGAME: In their final pre-verdict arguments in the Microsoft antitrust case, the US federal government and 19 states accuse the software company of engaging in a pattern of unlawful conduct to maintain its lucrative "desktop paradise" in the software market. In its turn, Microsoft said the government failed to show that any of its actions hurt consumers. Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson is expected to base the first phase of his two-part verdict - expected later this year - on these lengthy filings.
WIDENING THE MARGIN, MAN: International Financial Systems (www.ifs.ie) has announced that Germany's Commerzbank has signed a global deal to take its MarginMan Version 2.0 web-enabled risk management system for collateralised trading. Commerzbank will initially roll out MarginMan for its operations in Europe and as part of the second phase the German bank intends to install MarginMan in its New York, Singapore and Tokyo offices.
CLEAR PROGRESS: The range of Internet access deals free of subscription charges continues to expand. Esat Clear is to launch three new packages for home Internet users at the beginning of September. Surf Free, Surf NoLimits and Surf PC are aimed at the needs of light, heavy and first-time users of the Internet respectively. Features will include free Net access, unlimited surfing at off-peak times and 10MB of webspace.
LINUX LINKUP: Corel unveiled its distribution of the Linux operating system Corel Linux to the public for the first time last week at LinuxWorld in San Jose. The system is based on the Debian/GNU distribution of the Linux OS. In Corel's distribution the graphical user interface has been enhanced and a new installation program that greatly simplifies the installation process has been created. A beta version will be available in September and the first release is planned for the end of the year.
GM MOVES: General Motors plans to offer voice-activated Internet access cars by the end of next year as part of a campaign to transform the world's largest car manufacturer into a "global e-business enterprise". GM has formed a unit called "e-GM" to co-ordinate and expand its global electronic commerce activities, with a focus on making it easier for consumers to buy new vehicles online and to package them with an array of on-board services.
SONY'S MUSIC MOVES: Sony has announced plans to launch an online music distribution service by the end of this year allowing customers to download music via the Internet and record it onto mini discs, CDs and flash memory chips. The company has yet to decide how much it will charge for the service, which will offer music from the firm's Japanese artists. The move is to support the coming launch of a new Sony Walkman, which will use a flash memory chip to store music rather than a cassette or CD.
EXPERT AGREEMENT: Xpert Technology, the Irish information technology group, has signed a commercial agreement with OKI Systems (Ireland) which will see Xpert provide the complete range of OKI Systems' products, including printers, scanners and flat screen monitors to its customers.
BIG BLUE WEATHER VIEW: American weather forecasters have turned to IBM to help them understand weather phenomena such as droughts, microbursts and global warming. They now have access to a $6.2 million IBM supercomputer, codenamed "Blackforest", which will model global climate patterns at the National Centre for Atmospheric Research. Twenty times more powerful than the system made famous during Deep Blue's 1997 victory over world chess champion Garry Kasparov, it is supposed to consider and solve every meteorological mystery under the sun.
SUITE DREAMS: Novell has launched a suite of programs that includes networking, Internet access and productivity. Its Small Business Suite 5 includes Netware 5 and GroupWise 5.5
IN BRIEF...Pixar Animation Studios is using 120 Sun Enterprise 4500 Servers and 4.5 terabytes of Sun StorEdge disk storage arrays to render Toy Story 2 due out in November. . . CBT Systems has announced that Whittman-Hart, a provider of IT consulting and systems-integration services for middle-market companies, has signed a $1.6 million expansion to its agreement with the company. . . Eircell is to introduce Wireless Applica- tion Protocol to enable its customers to browse the Internet via the mobile phone. . . Quarterly revenues were up 48 per cent at Cisco Systems as demand for Internet and other network equipment helped the company surpass Wall Street expectations . . . Ocean has announced a range of new services, including freephone (1800) numbers, local charge (1850) numbers and premium rate numbers. . . 3Com has cut the price of its Palm IIIx handheld to £300 and added Documents To Go software that allows the Palm to read a range of word-processor documents. . .
