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EUROPEAN TECH WIRE - Nov. 26, 2004
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Sponsored By: RealNetworks
http://www.realnetworks.com/
o QXL Ricardo Management Agrees to Take Company Private
o EU Ministers Agree on New Rules for Cross-Border Mergers
o BT Group to Sell Eutelsat Stake for £363 Million in Cash
o Group of Companies to Form European Open Source Alliance
o Programme to Help SMEs Improve Public-Contract Tenders
o Media Gateway and Softswitch IP Port Shipments Up 51.2%
> RealNetworks - Lawyer - Digital Music Business
o Briefly Noted: Wanadoo-U.K. Local Loop Unbundling, Deutsche
Bahn-Germany's Railway System, Napster-TM Retail, EEscape-
Exovus
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o QXL Ricardo Management Agrees to Take Company Private
London -- Shares in QXL Ricardo Plc, a London-based online
auctioneer, increased by as much as 40% in mid-afternoon trading on
Friday after management agreed to take the troubled company private
in a £12-million buyout deal. The management team of Tiger
Acquisition, the company formed to make the offer, includes QXL
Chief Executive Officer Mark Zaleski and directors Jonathan Bulkeley
and Robert Dighero. News of the buyout deal effectively ended
speculation that the company might be acquired by U.S. Internet
auction giant eBay, against which QXL Ricardo as struggled to
compete. Since QXL Ricardo first sold its shares in 1999, the
company's market value has fallen by 97%.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?V2CF32FD9
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o EU Ministers Agree on New Rules for Cross-Border Mergers
Brussels -- EU ministers on Friday came to an agreement on cross-
border merger rules after reaching a compromise on worker
participation rights. The legislation is designed to increase European
competitiveness by encouraging mergers between limited companies --
both multinationals and small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) --
by removing existing barriers, cutting costs and providing legal
certainties for both parties. The compromise was chiefly between
Germany, which has a long history of worker representation on
company boards, and Italy, which has no such history and was reluctant
to have such rules imposed. Employee participation in a newly created
company will now be negotiated by a special body to agree on
participation arrangements. The merger proposal will move on to
European Parliament ministers, who are expected to approve it early
next year.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?N23F36FD9
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o BT Group to Sell Eutelsat Stake for £363 Million in Cash
London -- BT Group Plc, the largest telecommunications company in
the U.K., announced on Friday that it has agreed to offload its minority
stake in Eutelsat, the third-largest satellite operator in the world, for
£363 million in cash. The decision to sell its 15.8% stake to GS Capital
Partners 2000, an investment partnership affiliated with Goldman
Sachs, effectively marks the U.K. incumbent's exit from the satellite
operating business. What's more, BT follows in the footsteps of several
of its European counterparts, as France Telecom SA, Deutsche
Telekom AG and Telecom Italia SpA all have sold their stakes in the
company within the last two years. BT said it expected to close the deal
by March.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?D5CD42FD9
_____________________________________________
o Group of Companies to Form European Open Source Alliance
London -- A group of more than 60 European open source service
providers announced on Friday that it expects to form an Open Source
Consortium (OSC) next week. The group described the OSC as an
"independent reference point to give an unbiased, 'proprietary-vendor
free' voice for all organisations deploying or contemplating the open
source alternative". The group said the idea for the OSC was "borne out
of a fusion of the open source movement and prime-mover demand
from areas such as the public sector" and that Consortium's aim was to
bring impartial clarity to the open-source debate. The official launch
will occur Nov. 29, at the NCC International Press Centre in London.
OSC Executive Director Mark Taylor; John Terpstra, co-founder of the
Samba Team and founder of the Open Standards Alliance; Bob Griffith
of International Secretary SOCTIM; and Graham Taylor, Programme
Director of OpenForum Europe are expected to attend the event.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?V32D22FD9
_____________________________________________
o Report to Help SMEs Improve Public-Contract Tenders
London -- A new report published this week by the U.K. government
should give a helping hand to small and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) wanting to do business with central and local governments,
officials say. The report was an evaluation of the West Midlands SME
Procurement Pilot Project, which has been helping regional SMEs to
access the government marketplace. At the launch of the project, about
14% of SMEs had successfully tendered for government contracts; by
the time of its conclusion, that figure had increased to 26%. "The West
Midlands Pilot was a great success in breaking down the barriers facing
SMEs when they try to do business with government and offering
practical help and advice," said Paul Boateng, U.K. Chief Secretary to
the Treasury. "This has led to SMEs winning more business." The
Office of Government Commerce and the Small Business Service led
the project, which could now be taken nationally, helping more than 3.7
million U.K. SMEs to win more government contracts.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?Q39915FD9
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o Media Gateway and Softswitch IP Port Shipments Up 51.2%
London -- According to a new report by market research consultancy
Dittberner Associates Inc., worldwide media gateway and softswitch IP
port shipments increased by 51.2% in the third quarter. The Worldwide
NGN Quarterly Shipments Analysis of more than 35 of the world's
largest equipment suppliers for Internet telephony (voice over Internet
protocol) found that Nortel, the Canada-based telecommunications
equipment maker, continues to lead the pack with 25% of the global
softswitch market. China-based Huawei Technologies came in second
with nearly 22% of the market. U.S.-based Sonus Networks (15%)
came in third, Germany's Siemens in fifth place (11%) and Italy-based
Italtel (10%) in fifth.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?A59F22ED9
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> RealNetworks - Lawyer - Digital Music Business
RealNetworks is looking to hire a lawyer in its London office to work
primarily on matters related to its digital music business, including
Rhapsody, RadioPass and mobile music services. The lawyer hired will
negotiate and draft content licensing agreements with record labels and
music publishers; distribution, marketing and promotion agreements
with broadband service providers, websites, retailers, audio device
manufacturers, and mobile carriers and handset providers; and various
types of technology and Internet agreements. The ideal candidate will
have the following credentials: lawyer 3-7 years qualified, with a focus
in digital music/media, licensing and distribution, knowledge of the
digital music industry and Internet law issues, excellent writing and
negotiation skills, excellent academic record, highly motivated and
independent worker excited by a fast-paced, cutting-edge environment.
Apply here: http://makeashorterlink.com/?X19A12ED9
Closing date for applications is Friday 3rd December.
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o Briefly Noted:
(Paris) Wanadoo, the Internet service provider (ISP) of France
Telecom, announced this week that it plans to build its own broadband
network in the U.K. using local loop unbundling. The announcement
comes after U.K. communications watchdog Ofcom published its
Strategic Review of Telecoms, which forced incumbent BT Group to
offer rival companies the same packages it offers BT Retail. Local loop
unbundling is the process by which incumbents make local networks
available to other companies, and regulatory authorities increase
competition for the so-called last mile.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?Q21A320D9
http://makeashorterlink.com/?F37152FD9
(Frankfurt) Deutsche Bahn, the company that manages Germany's
railway system, announced this week that it has migrated about half of
its servers to Linux. Detlef Exner, managing director of Deutsche Bahn
Systems, said his company decided to move to open source in a bid to
cut costs. "DB Systems has major targets to reduce costs and increase
the service levels," he said. "One of the main strategies to achieve this
is to implement Linux." More than 300 Linux servers will be in
operation by year's end, the company said.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?F23F24ED9
(London) Music download service Napster announced that it has
reached a deal with TM Retail to make its pre-paid music download
vouchers available at more than 1,000 newsagents across the U.K. TM
Retail is currently the largest chain of newsagents and convenience
stores in the country. Under the terms of the agreement, TM retail will
distribute Napster Music Vouchers -- ranging from £20 to £35 in price -
- in McColl's, Martin's, Forbuoys, RS McColl and Dillons shops.
http://www.napster.co.uk/contacts.html
(Glasgow) EEscape, a U.K.-based telephone services supplier,
announced on Friday that it has changed its name to Evoxus and will
now concentrate on Internet telephony and voice-data convergence.
Originally created to target high-value residential telephony customers,
the newly christened Evoxus was first established in 1999 as a joint
venture between BT Group, Unisys and Bank of Scotland. The
company currently has more than 50,000 consumer customers and
2,500 broadband-connected business customers.
http://www.eescape.co.uk/
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> RealNetworks - Lawyer - Digital Music Business
RealNetworks is looking to hire a lawyer in its London office to work
primarily on matters related to its digital music business, including
Rhapsody, RadioPass and mobile music services. The lawyer hired will
negotiate and draft content licensing agreements with record labels and
music publishers; distribution, marketing and promotion agreements
with broadband service providers, websites, retailers, mobile carriers
and handset providers. Require lawyer 3-7 years qualified, with a focus
in digital music/media, licensing and distribution, knowledge of
Internet law issues, excellent writing and negotiation skills, excellent
academic record, highly motivated and independent worker excited by
a fast-paced environment.
Apply here: http://makeashorterlink.com/?X19A12ED9
Closing date for applications is Friday 3rd December
_____________________________________________
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