European business leaders lag behind their US counterparts in understanding the Internet and the impact it will have over the next three years. Also, the introduction of the euro, combined with rapid technological change, means greater threats for European businesses than at any time in the past. Those are the key findings of a study commissioned by the British Institute of Directors and Oracle Corporation.
The study, conducted by the Bathwick Group, surveyed over 500 business leaders in the US and 11 European countries, including Ireland. It asked about the technological threats and opportunities of globalised trade and the Internet, effectiveness of IT and the changing landscape in the euro zone. The report found that only 5.8 per cent of respondents in France, Germany, Britain and Ireland strongly agreed that the Internet would enable their business to reduce costs, compared with three times that number in the US.
A BUG'S LIFE: Microsoft has confirmed a security vulnerability in Windows NT that could allow unauthorised access to sensitive information in administrator files. The news comes days after the company acknowledged that a feature in Windows 98 can be used to collect information on authors of electronic documents without their knowledge. The NT problem is triggered by malicious software that allows a user to get into protected files on an NT system via the screensaver.
JOINING FORCES: 3Com is to join forces with Microsoft to develop a line of home networking products to help consumers to connect to the Internet and to network computers in their homes. The companies claim that their new products will include software that automatically configures computers without complicated instructions or technical jargon.
SIMONE SAYS: A call centre software package, developed by Irish company IT Solutions, has entered the European market following the appointment of resellers in Germany and Holland. The package, called Simone, simulates the operation of a call centre to enable managers to test the effect of changes.
FORCE IS WITH YOU: The Force swept through the Net last week as Lucasfilms released the second trailer for the much-anticipated Star Wars prequel movie. In keeping with its policy of managing fans' growing excitement, the studio has made this trailer longer than the original "teaser trailer", including more detail of the film's full story. But this time around, the Force is with Apple as the trailer is available at www.starwars.com/episode-i/news/trailer/ only in Apple's QuickTime format.
INTEL INVESTIGATION GOES ON: The broader US Federal Trade Commission investigation of Intel is alive and active despite the settlement of a narrow set of antitrust charges. Commission investigators are expected to proceed on a couple of key issues, such as whether the chip maker is using its market power in microprocessors (see main story, left) to force its way into ancillary markets and whether Intel misuses control over important technical standards to the detriment of competing makers of semiconductors and other PC parts.
IN BRIEF...Bull Cara Group's Networking Division has been awarded a contract to supply and support a LAN and WAN network for Ulster Bank. . . Iona Technologies and Dassault Systemes in France have announced an original software development partnership agreement. . . Intel and Nortel Networks have announced a broadening of the latter's use of Intel's architecture as the foundation for the company's voice products . . . Dublin will become one of a number of support centres set up by Compaq to help create services and programs which will allow large enterprises to take advantage of the Microsoft application server technologies for Windows NT. . . Raven Computing has launched, Tempus Pro for Windows, a new version of its time management system, Tempus. . .TInet now supports the new V.90 standard for 56k modems nationwide, enabling faster and more stable access to the internet. .