Ireland has long been destination of choice for the biggest and the most ambitious companies in Information Technology and Software to set up major subsidiaries. Ireland has quietly made significant improvements in the startup environment and supports for its own growing number of locally originating high tech start ups. It now has some of the best soft supports along with probably the greatest amount of early stage funding, per capita, in Europe and one of the best in the world.
We in Ireland are now working to attract entrepreneurs with software and other innovative start ups to relocate here to benefit from the start up supports that have been put in place- the same advantages that have attracted the big companies. This new visa scheme is yet another building block in making Irealnd Europe’s go to location of choice for innovative start ups.
I am delighted that the Department of Justice has introduced this new visa programme. It shows the full commitment there is right across the different parts of government to making Ireland a destination of choice for innovative entrepreneurs.
The main criteria are:
Have access to funding of €75k through business angels, venture capital providers or a financial institution regulated by the Financial Regulator. Personal funding transferred to the State or a grant from a relevant State agency would also be acceptable.
The business must have a strong innovation component. Projects will be evaluated by an Evaluation Committee based on those who demonstrate a good idea or the potential to be a winner.
What is the benefit of taking a student for you as an Employer?
The Work Placement Program at The National College of Ireland is looking for industry partners within Software and Service companies immediately. The students attending the BSc.(Honours) in Software Systems and BSc. (Honours) in Business Information Systems degrees have a solid theoretical base, which they are keen to put into practice.
Placements provide the ideal opportunity for employers to foster links with the National College of Ireland.
The opportunity to trial a potential recruit without obligation or target ‘highflyer ’ recruits early.
Your team can benefit from skilled assistance for specific project work at lower cost.
Placements can also provide your staff with some valuable people management and mentoring experience.
Where could a student fit into you team?
Some samples of the projects our students worked on in 2011 include:-
IT development projects
IT support
Network administration
Software development
Software programming
Testing
Web design and development
Database development
How do I sign up?
The Placements start in late January 2012 for 6 Months. Our 3rd year IT students are (again) likely to be in high demand for IT related work experience in any sector of industry.
Having successfully launched the Post-graduate diploma in Product Management with DIT & Software Skillnet, the ISA team is now busily preparing for the Software Industry Awards 2011. This for me has to be one of the key industry events of the year. I find it is a great time to catch up with fellow colleagues in the industry who I don’t get a chance to meet from end one of the year to the next. This industry changes so fast, there is always a lot to talk about!
Celebrate this year’s best technology companies, people, products and services at the ISA Annual Awards ceremony and gala dinner. Previous winners who have gone on to enjoy great success include Changing Worlds, Havok & Openet.
This is an unparalleled networking event for the digital technology & software sector and the place to showcase your companies achievements with an anticipated audience of over 400 senior industry executives as well as leading investors and analysts.
The Award categories will include:
Company of the Year
Emerging Software Business of the Year
Technology Software Start up of the Year
Sales Achievement of the Year
Technical Innovation of the Year
Collaboration of the Year
Corporate Social Responsibility Software Business of the Year
Student Award for the Most Commercially Viable Software.
The GTEC Conference attracts the key IT decision makers from all the Canadian Federal, Regional and local governments. The 2011 Conference stretches over 4 days, alongside a major exhibition of technology products and services.
For the first time, Enterprise Ireland is at GTEC. Along with the rest of the EI Toronto office, I’m looking forward to hosting six leading Irish technology companies at an ‘Innovation Ireland’ stand. As well as the stand, PR activities and setting up key one to one meetings, The Irish Ambassador to Canada, Ray Basset will also host a networking event on the evening of the 18th, inviting influencers within the government and public sector to meet with the Irish companies.
pTools delivers powerful enterprise web content management solutions that enable their customers to generate and grow rich online websites, intranets and extranets. pTools software solutions are currently deployed across Government Departments (Ireland & UK), Local Council Authorities, Government & Health Service Providers. pTools have a local North American manager in Toronto.
NetFort’s LANGuardian product is software that analyzes your network traffic. LANGuardian gives a unique level of visibility into everything that is happening on your network, including user activity, file and database monitoring, intrusion detection, bandwidth usage, and Internet access. Netfort has a North American manager based in Canada. They have sold their products into the public sector in Ireland, UK and Australia.
Daonprovide an open software platform that enables governments and large service providers manage the biometric and biographic identities of its citizens, visitors, employees and criminals. Applications include areas such as immigration, border management, critical infrastructure protection, background checking and citizen identity schemes. 4 of the top 6 border management systems in the world have deployed or are in the process of employing Daon’s platform (Japan, UK e-Borders, US-VISIT, European Union Biometric Matching System – Visa Information System).
iQuate has developed iQSonar; a powerful discovery platform built to handle highly complex infrastructure. Deployed agentlessly across the largest and most challenging of networks with multiple platforms, protocols, devices and applications, it delivers visibility of all physical, virtual and cloud-based assets, thanks to its extensive technical breadth and depth. They are a certified Oracle partner. In Canada they work with Softchoice and OnX.
Spanish Point Technologies is an innovative software company working with Microsoft technologies to provide business systems which remove complexity, increase productivity and connect users to critical business information. They employ technologies such as SharePoint, Microsoft Office, BizTalk, SQL Server and LookupPoint™ to build great solutions.
FlexTime is an Irish company that designs and implements software solutions for all types of issues related to time in the workplace and in the classroom. Flextime has clients across healthcare, financial services, education and construction in Ireland, UK and Holland. Clients incluye Irish government departments and local authorities in the UK.
12 Irish Companies are Exhibiting on the Enterprise Ireland Stand@ Oracle OpenWorld 2011 in San Francisco. Watch the video to see why LookupPoint, CampusIT, Qumas, Structure 101, Vordel, Ocuco, iQuate, Mapflow, Rockall, FeedHenry, Openet and WhiteHouse are investing their time in coming to the event.
This is a guest post by Barry Stokes, from Engineers Ireland , who are actively looking to reach out to more software companies.
Engineers Ireland are looking for entries for the Engineering Project of the Year. The awards showcase and celebrate the invaluable contribution the engineering profession makes to society. The competition is open to software and engineering firms based in Ireland from all disciplines and is a valuable opportunity to showcase your expertise through our media partner The Sunday Business Post. The winners will be chosen by members of the public through online voting with the winning company announced on the night of the awards which take 4thNovember in The Four Seasons Hotel, Ballsbridge . Last year over 6,000 Irish people voted for their favourite project which was won by Dublin City Council’s Samuel Beckett Bridge.
We’ve heard of 7/11 and 24/7 before, but what about the 18-hour challenge?
No, it isn’t a fast, and it’s nothing to do with undertaking grueling marathons, either.
Organised by Irish/Welsh partnership Inventorium, the Open Data 18-Hour Challenge – which takes place in Dublin July 4th/5th – is all about asking important, socially conscious questions (for example, what level of support for senior citizens is there in your area? Is there a safe cycle route to school for your children?) and trying to come up with the right answers.
The development of solutions to questions such as these (or, indeed, even an interest in the development of solutions) is what the Open Data 18-Hour Challenge constitutes. Just in case you’re not certain about what ‘Open Data’ is, it’s part of a new global wave of transparent governance whereby governments are presenting themselves as more accountable and responsive to the needs (and questions) of their citizens.
There is a neat twist to this event, though: during Ireland’s inaugural Open Data 18-Hour Challenge, there is an emphasis on practically demonstrating how Open Data can be used to develop viable businesses. Participants will work in mixed teams of Inventorium facilitators, graphic designers, commercial developers and local council experts to not only brainstorm but also generate and prototype new ideas based on Dublin City Council and Fingal County Council open data sets.
The event takes place on July 4th/5th at NDRC, Crane Street, Digital Hub, Dublin 8, and you can register for it here.
Previously we looked at how to manage internal threats by means of physical security, controlling access and creating complex passwords. In this issue, we’ll share some email security tips to help safeguard your systems from within and introduce some tools that can monitor your network for suspicious activity.
First, an interesting IT security statistic: 52 percent of data breaches arise from accidental leaks and vulnerabilities, according to a recent global study by International Data Group. Only 19 percent of insider threats were considered deliberate, while 26 percent were a combination of intentional and accidental breaches of security. (more…)
Software licensing may not be the most glamorous aspect of the IT world, but non-compliance with your software vendor’s licensing requirements could see your company hit with costly legal action, potential fines and much embarrassment.
In August, for example, the BSA – the international body representing the world’s leading software companies – took legal action against four manufacturing companies in the UK, which it claims were guilty of using illegal software. Highlighting a discrepancy between the software installed across the companies’ computers and the number of licences held for each product, the BSA action resulted in charges of software piracy on the basis of copyright infringement. Three of the firms ended up paying STG32,000 in settlement costs, and two jointly spent STG18,000 on acquiring the appropriate licences. (more…)
Worldwide revenue from open source software was USD2.9 billion in 2008, and even with Western economies in the midst of recession, IDC expects that figure to grow by 34 percent this year. A compound annual growth rate of 22.4 percent will take the figure to USD8.1 billion by 2013, according to IDC’s July report.
Meanwhile, the open source OpenOffice.org productivity suite has captured nearly 13 percent of the Windows PC market, according to real-world PC usage data from the Exo.performance.network published in September. In contrast, 35 percent of Windows PCs now run some variant of Microsoft’s Office 2007. (more…)
