Telecom Eireann customers can cut online costs by 10 per cent, in a scheme which Telecom admits it has been downplaying. Under the "Circle of Friends" scheme, you can nominate five numbers for discounts, including your Internet service provider. In April Telecom promised to launch the scheme in July, and it has been available since then on "a low-level manner to make sure we are not deluged". A spokesman said: "During 1998 we will be implementing it in a more pro-active manner." Instead of nominating numbers, the five numbers which contribute most to your bill will automatically receive a 10 per cent discount. He said the scheme is still in a pilot phase, and systems work is needed before it can be automated. Meanwhile you can request it by calling sales on 1901.
Network Halted: ESat had to stop laying its fibreoptic cable network in Dublin on Friday, after the corporation was granted a court injunction until a full hearing this week. The corporation claims digging operations could affect its "Operation Freeflow" traffic scheme. Meanwhile Esat has appointed Sean Corkery from AST Computer as its chief operations officer. He is a member of the Information Society Commission.
Merchants Of Ennis: The Bank of Ireland, AIB and Telecom Eireann have joined forces to test an "electronic purse" in the public marketplace. The trials will take place in the "Information Town" of Ennis, Co Clare.
ISO Approves: Widely used programming language C++ has been passed at committee stage by the International Standards Organisation (ISO) - expect full ISO approval soon. Last week the ISO's Joint Technical Committee also approved Sun's application to become a Publicly Available Specifications (PAS) Submitter. Sun may now begin to submit Java specifications for standardisation. In the final ballot, 20 countries including Ireland voted for, while China and the US voted against.
EMC Degree: EMC Computer Systems is introducing a new part-time degree in electronics manufacturing, in association with Cork Institute of Technology. EMC employs over 800 people in Ovens, Co Cork. "Our senior engineering personnel will have an input into the course content," says EMC Ireland's general manager, Veronica Perdisatt, "and we are providing funding for the project, which includes the provision of a fulltime lecturer/course co-ordinator."
3COM Routers: 3Com has launched its OfficeConnect Remote 5x1 series of ISDN routers, targeting the inter-office LAN-to-LAN communication market. Much of the OfficeConnect range is manufactured at 3Com's Dublin factory in Blanchardstown.
Latest Results: Hewlett-Packard's net earnings in its latest financial year were $3.1 billion, up 21 per cent on a year ago. Revenue in the Republic of Ireland was up 20 per cent to £57 million, while its Irish consultancy business grew by 75 per cent. Search engine/index Lycos's revenues for its latest quarter were $9.3 million, up 154 per cent on 1996. But Wired Digital has cut 33 staff and will pare staff by another 20 per cent to 115 positions to turn a profit by the end of 1998. Sega's pre-tax profit fell 5 per cent to 12.1 billion yen (IR£63.6 million) in its latest half year after weak console sales.
Certs Robbed: Masked robbers tied up employees at a Scottish factory and got away with 200,000 authentication certificates for Microsoft software, and other equipment worth IR£10 million.
In Brief . . . Microsoft acknowledges that Windows NT 5.0 won't ship as promised in the first half of 1998 . . . Marlboro College in Vermont is to offer an MA in teaching with the Internet from next January . . . Stanford University has acquired thousands of pieces of memorabilia chronicling Apple's 21-year history, including documents, software and hardware prototypes . . . Olivetti's computer services division will merge with Wang before January . . . China is to receive its first European-made telecommunications satellite . . . Alcatel Telecom has installed a voice and data network for engineering consultants Ove Arup & Partners, linking 240 staff in offices in Dublin, Cork and Limerick . . . Oracle and its affiliate Network Computer Inc are to license Lotus's eSuite Java-based applets; much of eSuite's localisation is being carried out at Lotus's Dublin plant.
YEAR 2000EMU Delay? Software consultancy Capers Jones has advised President Clinton to press for the postponement of European monetary union to 2005 - because EMU's implementation on top of the Year 2000 problem could cause global financial chaos. Its confidential report was leaked to the Sunday Times. Meanwhile the EU's Esprit Web site has just posted Directorate General III's background document on the Year 2000 problem at http://www.cordis.lu/esprit/src/y2keuro.htm
MICROFILEPredicted compound annual growth rates of the 16 IT markets in Western Europe, 1996-2001: Greece, 11.6%; Portugal 10.7%; Belgium, 10.4%; Ireland, 10.4%; Netherlands, 9.4%; Germany, 9.3%; Spain, 9.1%; UK, 8.8%; Finland, 8.7%; Austria, 7.9%; Denmark, 7.9%; Switzerland, 7.8%; France, 7.5%; Italy, 7.7%; Norway, 7.5%; Sweden 7.2%.
Netscape's share of the Web browser market at the end of September: 57.6% (in nine months Microsoft's market share has jumped from 20% to 39.4%)
Sources: 1 International Data Corp.'s new report, Western European Information Technology Spending Patterns, 1995-2001; 2 Dataquest.
MODEM WORLDwww.focusireland.ie
A home page for the homeless.
www.jod.ie
Consulting engineers Jennings O'Donovan in Sligo have a corporate site with a difference - it also has plenty of information and photographs about the town.
www.inept.com
"Ept aspires to be a gormful publication for the immaculate readership." Dublin-based Ept has a classy design and goes from culture and sport to even agriculture (well, chicken-keeping).
www.glasnevin-cemetery.ie
Includes a map of the cemetery and some of its more famous graves. www.psion.com
Free copies of Psion Messaging - send email, web browsing and fax software on a Psion Series 5.
www.ukfootballpages.com
This natty one-stop directory of soccer Web sites kicked off on Friday, with listings for all English and Scottish teams. It promises links to Northern Ireland clubs shortly.
www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Field/9496
Chicago Celtic Soccer Club, mostly Irish ex-pats - a game earlier this month was forfeited due to a player's wedding!
TEXTBITES"It's like buying a can of Coca-Cola and finding ginger ale in- side. The customer trusted the brand and was deceived. . . We are making a simple demand: because these Microsoft products do not pass Sun's compatibility tests. . . Microsoft must be stopped from using the `Java Compatible' logo." - Sun's Vice President and lawyer Michael H. Morris. Sun has gone to court to stop the use of its "Java Compatible" logo on Microsoft's Explorer 4.0.
November 25th: Access Accounting and Microsoft's free half-day seminar on version 3.4 of Access Accounts. Red Cow Morans Hotel, Dublin, 2 p.m. - info: tel 01-668-4991, email accessac@indigo.ie
November 26th: Irish Internet Association event on digital terrestrial TV, 12.30 p.m., Herbert Park Hotel, Dublin 4. Buffet lunch and address by RTE's Technical Director, Peter Branagan. Admission free (members), £20 (non-members). Ongoing: Advanced training on Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit by Priority Data Systems, aimed at people who have attended the introductory course or are familiar with the products.
- info: Una Kelly 01-284 5600, email ukelly@prioritydata.ie
Novembert 28th: "Closing the Gap" - half-day conference on ways to overcome labour supply problems in the electronics industry. Berkeley Court Hotel, Dublin, 8.30 a.m.-lunchtime. - info: Eileen Goold, Electronics Department, RTC Tallaght, email Eileen.Goold@rtc-tallaght.ie
Computimes is edited by Michael Cunningham. Email only (no faxes please) to computimes@irish-times.ie (private correspondence should be marked NOT FOR PUBLICATION)