I Network

Mr Dara Calleary T.D., Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment with responsibility for Labour Affairs, today (18th January 2010) officially opened the new EMEA Headquarters of on-demand translation technology and service provider, Sajan, Inc., in Dublin.

Sajan Software, Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Sajan, Inc., plans to generate 35 high skilled jobs over a three year period at the operation, creating opportunities for software engineers, localization engineers, testers, project managers, quality personnel, sales executives and accounts personnel. The Dublin operation will drive and support the continued evolution of Sajan’s leading-edge translation management system (TMS), and its broader suite of localization solutions.

Speaking at the announcement today, Minister Calleary said:

“I am delighted to officially open the new EMEA headquarters and R&D centre for Sajan in Dublin today. The establishment by Sajan of a Headquarter Operation of this nature demonstrates the strength of Ireland’s reputation as a location for software investments, linguistics and translation. Sajan Software, Ltd. will play a strategic role in Sajan’s overall operation and Ireland will be a vital element”.

Shannon Zimmerman, CEO, Sajan said:

“The launch of our new European Headquarters in Ireland represents Sajan’s longstanding commitment to the future of cloud-based translation technology”

“Ireland was a natural location of choice for our EMEA Headquarters and R&D Centre, due to the availability of a highly skilled workforce and Ireland’s commitment to research, development and innovation (RD&I). We look forward to counting Dublin as a pivotal hub of our European presence,” he added.

Sajan is the innovative way to obtain language translation solutions. Sajan’s language translation technology provides not only a Translation Management System, GCMS, to serve as the operating platform, but also provides users with flexible delivery models and a transparency to all aspects of the Localization process while delivering previously unrealized business results.

Website: www.sajan.com

Taken from the IDA Ireland website – http://www.idaireland.com/news-media/press-releases/sajan-inc.-officially-ope/index.xml

BizcampNewry is a free business conference taking place in the Southern Regional College  Newry on Saturday the 6th of February 2010! There will be talks ranging from entrepreneurs actively working to professionals ready to share their knowledge and skills.

How much will it cost?

Its free! There is no charge to attend and lunch will be free on the day

What is a “bizcamp”?

bizcamp is short for business camp which follows the ideas of a barcamp. Its a user generated conference, a few people get together and organise facilities to allow talks, networking and innovation.  We expect close to 1/3 of all people attending to give a presentation, if you fancy talking, just include it  on the registration form, there is no fee to talk.

Who will talk

We cant predict who will talk at an event like this, as who ever turns up on the day and wishes to talk will be allowed to do so, but judging by other similar events held elsewhere, talks can range from bootstrapping a business to taxation and VAT.

Why Newry

Newry has the great geographical location to be located almost an hour from each of the two largest cities that the island of Ireland has. About an hour from Belfast and an Hour from Dublin. Therefore we are expecting to draw crowds from both unlike other conferences which usually just draw from the city that they are located in and the surrounding area

Why will I benefit from attending?

Maybe your a student interested in gauging the employment market? There will be business owners attending that you may wish to talk to. Maybe your interested in learning about building a facebook application. Hopefully there will be a mix of both business talks and technology talks and some talks that may just inspire to follow the ambition you always had to start a business.

Ok, I’m in..

You can register here http://www.bizcampnewry.com/register/

The cross border networking event which took place on the 21st December 2009 between Belfast and Dublin was a test to see if a cross border networking event would work and find out if there would be any problems with such an event.

Well, we definately had problems but it still worked to a point. Some of the problems we had included:

Bad Weather

A lot of people that were meant to be attending both sides of the border were unable to make it because of the bad weather conditions. However, thanks to Jackie from Whats On NI www.whatsonni.com, she made the link from Belfast possible but instead of the arranged location, it was done from her own home.

Faulty Equipment

Some of the equipment which we used was faulty such as the web cameras, but thanks to Janet Cavanagh www.twitter.com/janetcavanagh for bringing a web cam ready netbook which allowed the Belfast location to see what was happening in Dublin.

What was discussed?

Once everything was up and running, the following ideas were discussed:

• Get other business networking groups involved such as the Digital Circle, open coffee and business camp events.
• To use a normal business networking event which is taking place and link to it from another location.
• The use of large screen projectors and speakers to allow a large number of event attendees to see and hear what is happening at another location and visa versa.
• To have guest speakers at two locations who would be able to answer any questions which are asked from more than one location.

What Next?

We are now looking for any business events which will be taking place in Northern Ireland and link to it from a location somewhere in Dublin. If you have a business networking event or seminar taking place in Northern Ireland and would like us to arrange a live link to it from Dublin, please feel free to contact us.

Thankyou to the following:

What’s On Ni: For arranging the location in the north and spending time before the event doing small tests to make sure that it was working. Then spending time do the link up from Belfast from her own home.

Digital Hub Dublin: For providing a location in Dublin completely free of charge and providing an excellent setup and internet facility.

Grounded Graeme: For providing a location in Belfast which no one attended due to the weather. Sorry!

Janet Cavanagh: For attending the event in Dublin and providing her thoughts and ideas.

Contact Us

If we have not mentioned anything here or have your own thoughts and ideas about a cross border networking event, please feel free to contact us.

Data centre and managed services company, Interxion have announced the construction of a new Data Centre in Dublin which will create 90 new jobs with StructureTone, who will be responsible for the construction project

The new Data Centre which will cost an estimated €12m, we be built to meet the growing customer demand for energy efficient yet high-power-density data centre infrastructure and outsourced managed services.

Due for completion in early 2010, the centre will will more than double Interxions current footprint in Dublin.

Tanya Duncan, Managing Director of Interxion Ireland stated that:

“We are excited to see construction already underway and have already geared up our team to handle in-bound enquires on space availability and the new site.”

“We have also strengthened our operations team so that we are ready for the installation of new customers when the first phase of data centre space goes live in early 2010,” Miss Duncan added.”

Mike Kavanagh of StructureTone Ireland also said:

“This is our second data centre project for Interxion in Ireland, and we have also delivered a facility for them in another European location.

“StructureTone has delivered over 3 million sq ft of datacentre ‘white space’ in Europe, which demonstrates our pedigree as one of the foremost mission-critical contractors.”

Taoiseach Brian Cowen speaks to Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Eamon Ryan during the launch of the report of the High Level Action Group on Green Enterprise in Ireland at Government Buildings. Photograph: Eric Luke Irish Times

Energy Minister, Eamon Ryan today launched the Green Economy Report in Government Buildings which outlines what has been achieved so far as well as targets that Ireland will be achieving in the future.

The report covers a wide range of schemes such as investment by bodies such as ESB as well as changes in rules that will allow anyone to produce their own energy and sell whatever they have left back to the grid.

According to the energy minister, the report outlines a truly transformational approach to how Ireland will be able to achieve it’s renewable energy targets with new guaranteed support for offshore wind, ocean energy and further renewable technologies.

As well as this, Eamon Ryan also stated that

“Next year, I will prioritise the implementation of the Green IFSC, a new model of insulation, press ahead with electric vehicles and expand support for business to make the right choices.”

“We are greening this economy, providing jobs, cutting costs and carbon at the same time. The semi-state sector, private industry and the people are all facing in one direction led by Government.”

The green report highlights that through the green economy, 80,000 jobs will be created which will be a much needed boost for Ireland with the potential of bringing inward investment.

There are an increasing number of security threats to the IT and e commerce systems of Businesses. However, there are a number of different solutions available.

As a business owner, it is important to put appropriate measures and systems in place to ensure that the security of your IT systems is secure and up to date.

The following guide will provide you with some basic advice to ensure that your IT systems remain secure through a combination of technologies, procedures and user awareness.

• Install a properly configured firewall for your internet connection.
• Ensure that you have virus, spyware and email attachment scanners installed.
• Make sure that any IT systems are updated on a regular basis with the required packs, patches and fixes to stop the latest known intrusion methods.

In order for you to minimise the risks of viruses to your IT Systems, you should:

• Install anti-virus software on all desktops, laptops and servers and update it on a regular basis.
• Treat any email attachments from unknown senders with caution, as they are a common means of spreading viruses.
• Consider restricting the use of USB flash drives but include security measures if they need to be used within your business.
• Consider subscribing to a hosted email spam and virus scanning service.

If your business uses wireless technology such as WiFi and Bluetooth, it is important to protect files and information with appropriate security. For example:

• Wireless equipment often has security settings turned off by default or default settings that may not be meet your requirements. Always ensure that such settings and configuration files are checked and changed where appropriate.
• If you are handling sensitive information across a mobile connection, consider using a virtual private network (VPN) to allow for privacy.

If you require further information about IT security, please feel free to contact us for further advice.

According to a report by NCB, Ireland is becoming more competitive relative to its eurozone counterparts.

The core Consumer Price Index is falling by approximately 1% year on year compared with the eurozone core inflation rate of +1.1%.

However, Ireland needs to improve and maintain a competitive advantage given the Weakness and instability of domestic demand.

The stockbrokers report uses evidence and data from the second quarter earnings which only covers 18% of the private sector workforce to suggest that the private sector is reducing Unit Labour Costs (ULCs) which has allowed for increased competitiveness.

Chief Economist at NCB, Brian Devine said that,

“Firms in the private sector have become more competitive by becoming leaner (i.e. reducing workforce) and/or cutting pay in order to reduce unit labour costs.”

Increases in productivity (stemming from employee and hours cuts), sharp falls in irregular bonuses (as firms pare back margins) and steady hourly wages rather than deep cuts in basic hourly pay are the ways in which ULCs are falling in Industry and the Financial services sector.

The second quarter earnings data show that there was a large 4.8% quarter on quarter fall in earnings in industry and in the Financial & Insurance sectors which was -6.1%.

NCB said that a ‘large part’ of the fall was seasonal and related to irregular earnings declining.

Devine said,

“On a year to year basis hourly earnings in Industry were still up +4.2% while they were down -11.6% in the Financial sector,”

As of the second quarter in 2009 there were 1,938,500 persons in employment in the State, with approximately 1,581,900 of those in employment in the private sector and 365,600 in employment in the public sector.

“For the second quarter of this year, we now have employment and earnings data for 254,000 public sector employees and 295,700 employees from Industry and the Financial Services,”

The 295,700 employees are largely in the private sector but the data does include 14,600 workers from the Electricity, Water Supply & Waste management sectors.

NCB’s chief economist then added,

“Thus, we have earnings on 69% of the public sector employees and approximately 18% of private sector employees, ”

Lynch Hotel Group which is one of Ireland’s largest hotel operators, has successfully emerged from its examinership process.

This afternoon, the hotel group who operates a chain of large and popular hotels across Ireland, received a positive outcome at a confirmation hearing following the issuing of the Examiner’s report to the High Court.

In order to protect the the seven hotels it currently owns and it’s employment of over 500 employees, the hotel chain voluntarily entered the process.

Due to the hearing, the group is now able to remain in full operation and continue to trade as normal.

A Dublin based information security consultancy and services company called Sysnet is to invest in a major expansion programme worth €1.27m which will create 60 new jobs over the next four years.

The expansion, which is being supported by Enterprise Ireland will see the company target markets in countries such as Russia, the Ukraine, Africa and the Middle East.

Sysnet was established in 1989 and has since diversified into the payment card data security market. It has developed an online payment product called Securus which is used by banks and other organisations handling payment card data.

Gabriel Moynagh, the company’s general manager stated that:

“This latest investment demonstrates our commitment to our international expansion goals, it will enable Sysnet to fully exploit the many opportunities identified in both new and high-growth markets.”

Enterprise Ireland’s head of Internationally Traded Services, Kevin Sherry also stated that:

“Sysnet’s track record of investment in innovation and product development positions the company for its next wave of growth and Enterprise Ireland is delighted to support its expansion and drive for further growth,”

With clients in over 30 countries worldwide, the move will be a welcome boost for Ireland.

I Network is a business networking initiative which is aimed at organising and establishing business networking events across Ireland.

The aim of the networking initiative is to create a wide range of open and honest networking events that are available to anyone who currently owns a business, or is interested in establishing their own business.

The I Network website will provide free advice regarding the day to running of a business so that you can improve how you manage your current business or get an insight into what is involved, if you are thinking of taking the big jump into self employment.

If you have any questions, queries or require some further advice, please feel free to get in touch and we will aim to help you anyway we can.

If you want to get involved or feel you have something to offer I Network, please feel free to get in touch.