Senior Irish and British executives are seriously lagging behind their US and Singapore counterparts in IT usage, according to a survey published by Oracle. It found low Internet use among European respondents - only one in 10 respondents in Ireland and Britain (the study says Net access by Irish executives could be lower again) and only 4 per cent in Germany. By comparison, 68 per cent of Singapore managers and 88 per cent of US ones are on the Net.
"Ireland prides itself on being a major European hi-tech centre," says Oracle Ireland's Kevin Jones. "This study suggests that the actual use of IT by the Irish business sector is less than our major competitors." The survey was conducted by the Bathwick Group for the Institute of Directors and Oracle last November/December.
Micropayments: Digital has begun the first free public trial of its MilliCent microcommerce system on the Net. Users are being enticed with $10 of "e-cash". Microcommerce is a system for buying and selling data - from online articles to music, computer games or film clips - in tiny increments, from one tenth of a cent up to $5 or more. The free trial only works on Windows and at least Explorer/Navigator 3.0. Sign up at www.millicent.digital.com
The £40m Man: Senior College Ballyfermot's principal, Jerome Morrissey, is to head the new National Centre for Technology in Education. He will be in charge of the Department of Education's £40million scheme to put information technology into Irish schools. One of his last acts as principal was to oversee the opening of the college's Centre for Creative and Emerging Technologies.
Microsoft TV Deal: Bill Gates's effort to break into the British broadcasting market moved a step closer after negotiations with Granada and Carlton TV to develop a new digital service. His WebTV subsidiary's software could be at the heart of a set-top decoder box used by the two major ITV companies in their digital TV joint venture, British Digital Broadcasting. BDB is planning an autumn launch, while rival BSkyB aims to launch its 200-channel digital satellite service in June.
Jobs Losses: Microsoft has made 73 workers redundant at its European HQ in Sandyford, Co Dublin. It is outsourcing their work to turnkey contractors. Meanwhile Compaq's acquisition of Digital also puts question-marks over Dell's alliance with Digital, and Apple is to lose 300 Claris employees and rename its software subsidiary "FileMaker"; 125 of the workers will lose their jobs at the Claris Ireland factory at Blanchardstown in Dublin. On the plus side, Irish Internet consultancy and Web site developer Nua has opened an office in the heart of New York's "Silicon Alley", headed by Niall Swan. - info: tel 212-358-1775, email nswan@nua.ie
Info Town PCS: Gateway 2000 and Dell have won the contracts to supply Telecom Eireann with 10,000 PCs for its "Information Age Town" projects. Ennis's 11 schools are to get some 700 PCs by the end of the month, when the delivery of subsidised computers into the town's 4,000 homes should also be under way.
Digital Gaeltacht: While Tesco Ireland launched its "Computers for Schools" offer last Friday, some schools are already way ahead of the pack. Cork-based Irish computer manufacturer PC-PRO has "adopted" Kilnamartyra National School in the Macroom gaeltacht to develop its curriculum and enhance pupils' computer skills. PC-PRO will donate eight high-spec computers per year for three years to the three-teacher school.
Novell Betas: Novell has released its GroupWise gateway for Lotus Notes and the beta version of a Novell GroupWise gateway for Microsoft Exchange. They provide a "seamless inter-operation" between Novell GroupWise and Lotus Notes or Microsoft Exchange.
Prepress: Digital-Net (www.digital-net.com) has launched Virtual Pre-Press, a real-time Internet and Intranet desktop publishing and automatic print pre-press program. It gives printshop customers online access to layout, design, edit and proof their corporate documents.
Java Listserv: Sockem Software's SockMail 1.0 is a 100 per cent Java client/server mailing list management system. The SockMail client, loaded from a Java enabled browser, manipulates mailing lists stored on the SockMail server. It costs $295. - info: www.sockem.com
Cara Gone: The UK and Ireland operations of Groupe Bull have completed their acquisition of the Cara Group, with the purchase of the remaining 49 per cent shareholding.
In Brief...Intel has introduced the 333 MHz Pentium II processor, its first Pentium built on advanced 0.25 micron process technology. . . The Irish Times on the Web upgraded its 0.5MB link to a 2MB link last week. . . Apple has released Mac OS 8.1 (download it for free from its Web site) but it won't be pre-loaded on new Macs until later this month. . . Motorola is to embed Sun's Java programming language in many of its products, from semiconductors to smart cards. . . Major Irish software company Iona Technologies had record results for last year - revenue was up 118 per cent in the fourth quarter. . . Ernst & Young and Forbairt have published Computing Skills and the Job Market, a guide for recruiters and graduates. . . A popular freeware package from Excite that adds search capabilities to Web sites has a security hole, but patches are now available for Webmasters (see www.excite.com/navigate/patches.html). . . A US federal judge has ruled that a US navy investigator's actions to identify a sailor as homosexual by obtaining information from an America Online technician were "likely illegal" under the 1996 Electronic Communications Privacy Act. . . Oracle has released Reports 3.0 for low-cost, enterprise-scale report publishing to intranets and the Web. . . Work Stations Training is the first Irish-owned firm to achieve accreditation as a Microsoft Authorised Technical Education Centre. . .