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EUROPEAN TECH WIRE - Dec. 1, 2004
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To Subscribe: http://www.europeantechwire.com
o European Commission Approves Rescue Package for Bull
o Report: European VC Continues Recovery in Third Quarter
o Telenor Mobile Launches Commercial 3G Services in Norway
o Lycos UK Offers Controversial Screensaver to Fight Spam
o Kingston to Acquire Omnetica from KKR for £169 Million
o U.K.-Based 3Way Raises £494,000 in Seed Funding Round
o Report: Three of Top 10 PC Vendors to Exit Market by 2007
o Briefly Noted: Telecom Italia-Warner Bros. International
Television Distribution, Novara IT-Paul Maguire, Pickering
Interfaces-LXI Consortium, Anam-Boston Hosting Centre
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o European Commission Approves Rescue Package for Bull
Brussels -- The European Commission on Wednesday approved a
controversial state rescue package for Bull, the troubled French
computer maker. However, the Commission gave the go ahead for the
aid only on the condition that the 517 million euro not be paid before
year's end, and that Bull repay all previous aid given between 2001 and
2002. Bull is to pay the French government 23.5% of its pre-tax current
profits over a period of eight years beginning next year, representing a
value of as much as 60 million euro. "Under these conditions, the
Commission believes the return to viability is sufficiently assured and
that the aid, despite the significant sum involved, is compatible with
(EU) rules, which stipulate that state aid must not create undue
distortions of competition," the Commission said. The EC has been
investigating the French government's proposed aid package since
March.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?N19E259E9
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o Report: European VC Continues Recovery in Third Quarter
Paris -- According to the latest report by VentureOne and Ernst and
Young, the European venture capital market, which raised slightly
more money in the third quarter this year than it did over the same
period last year, continues to show signs of recovery. The report
showed that 11 European venture capital, private equity and buyout
funds raised a total of £5.9 billion (8.5 billion euro), marking Europe's
largest fund-raising quarter since the end of last year. So far, European
funds have raised a total of £9.3 billion (13.4 billion euro) this year,
compared with £5.8 billion (8.4 billion euro) for the first three quarters
of last year. The report also found that fund raising in the third quarter
was dominated by two large buyout funds: 3i's £2-billion (3 billion
euro) Eurofund IV fund and EQT Partners' £1.7-billion (2.5 billion
euro) EQT IV fund. "The speed with which EQT IV was closed, in just
over six months, points to a greater appetite among institutional
investors for buyout than venture capital in the current market," said
Stephen Harmston, director of European research for VentureOne.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?A58A129E9
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o Telenor Mobile Launches Commercial 3G Services in Norway
Oslo -- Telenor Mobile, the wireless unit of Norway's largest
telecommunications company, announced on Wednesday that it has
opened its 3G network in Norway for commercial use. Telenor said the
UMTS network would reach 70 cities and densely populated areas and
cover about half of the country's population. The Nordic operator said it
planned to deliver full coverage to all areas in Norway that have more
than 200 people by 2007. "Norwegians are among the world leaders in
adopting advanced mobile services, and the potential of such services
has now been made significantly greater," said Telenor CEO Jon
Fredrik Baksaas. "At the time of launch, the new network covers
approximately half of Norway's population, and we are committed to
continue our network rollout as planned." Telenor also announced that,
for a limited time, it would offer free video calls free and that prices for
Internet access and video would be capped 0.61 euro a day.
http://press.telenor.com/PR/200412/970856_5.html
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o Lycos UK Offers Controversial Screensaver to Fight Spam
London -- Lycos UK announced on Wednesday that it is offering free
screensavers that counter-attack spammers by using their own
techniques against them. Dubbed "Make Love, Not Spam", the
controversial software is designed to use idle computers to launch
distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks against spammers'
websites. Trials conducted Sweden showed that many spam websites
could be slowed by as much as 85% using the software. Lycos's Wessel
Van Rensburg said the screensaver would not target the websites that
send out spam, which are often hijacked PCs, but rather the websites
that benefit from spam. "We have upped the ante," he said. "There's a
risk we will receive some denial of service attacks in the next few days,
but we are ready." Many analysts have questioned the software's
legality, but Lycos dismissed the possibility of lawsuits because the
screensaver stops short of bringing down websites completely.
http://www.lycos.co.uk/
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o Kingston to Acquire Omnetica from KKR for £169 Million
London -- Kingston Communications Plc, a U.K.-based
telecommunications firm, announced on Wednesday that it has agreed
to acquire Omnetica, a U.K.-based firm that that installs and manages
data networks for large companies. Kingston said it would pay
Omnetica owner Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), a U.S.-based buyout
specialist, about £169 million in cash and shares. With the acquisition,
Kingston will now be able to offer a full end-to-end service to
businesses that manages "everything inside their building, right across
their networks through to the carriage onto the public network," said
CEO Malcom Fallen. Fallen described the acquisition as a "unique
opportunity" for Kingston to differentiate itself from U.K. rivals Thus
Group, Cable & Wireless and Energis.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?X36C159E9
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o U.K.-Based 3Way Raises £494,000 in Seed Funding Round
Cambridge, England -- 3Way Networks Ltd., a technology firm based
in Cambridge, announced on Wednesday that it has raised £494,000
(715,000 euro) in seed funding. Prelude Trust, a firm that specialises in
early stage, technology-based companies, led the round with a
£346,000 (500,000 euro) investment. A number of undisclosed angel
investors also participated in the round, 3Way said. Under the terms of
the funding, Prelude Ventures's Russell Haggar will join the company's
board. 3Way, which is developing a product that will ultimately be
used in 3G networks, said it planned to use the funds to start product
development ahead of raising a full round of financing next year.
http://www.3waynetworks.com/
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o Report: Three of Top 10 PC Vendors to Exit Market by 2007
Stamford, Connecticut -- A new report from Gartner, a technology
market research and analysis firm, predicts that three of the world's 10
largest PC manufacturers will exit the market by 2007, driven out by
slow growth rates and reduced profit margins. Gartner said the growth
of PC unit sales would average 5.7% annually from 2006 through 2008
-- half the 11.3% average of 2003 through 2005. At the same time,
revenue growth will average only 2% annually from 2006 through
2008, less than half the 4.7% average of 2003 through 2005, Gartner
said. The Top 10 worldwide PC vendors, by unit shipment, are Dell,
HP, IBM, Fujitsu, Fujitsu Siemens, Toshiba, NEC, Apple Computer,
Lenovo Group and Gateway. Of these, only Dell has consistently been
profitable in the past several years, Gartner said.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?N1CA649E9
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o Briefly Noted:
(Milan) Telecom Italia, Italy's largest telecommunications company,
announced on Wednesday that it has signed a two-year deal with
Warner Bros. International Television Distribution (WBITD) for the
distribution of more than 100 movies each year via the Rosso Alice
broadband portal. As of Wednesday, all broadband users will be able to
purchase new movies and library titles, paying 2.99 euro for movies
released recently on home video, 1.99 euro for cult movies and classics
and 1.50 euro for children's movies and special offers. Alice customers
will be able to charge movies to their Telecom Italia bill or pay by
credit card.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?C11116AE9
(Dublin) Novara IT, a Dublin-based provider of services to the Internet
industry, announced on Wednesday that it has appointed Paul Maguire
as one of its directors. Novara, which offers services including domain
name registration, website hosting and e-commerce software, said
Maguire would serve in a non-executive capacity. Prior to joining
Novara, Maguire worked for 33 years with Guinness/Diageo. He comes
to Novara with a "wealth of experience across a broad range of
commercial functions", including IT, sales, supply chain management,
business process engineering and customer contact management, the
company said.
http://www.novara.ie/article.php?id=11
(Clacton, England) Pickering Interfaces, a U.K.-based supplier of PXI
switching systems and instrumentation, announced this week that it has
joined the LXI Consortium, a non-profit organisation that is setting up
a new LAN-based instrument standard. "The LXI environment will be
well suited to the development of instrumentation with the highest
parametric performance," said Pickering Interfaces's David Owen. "We
expect PXI systems and LXI based instruments will coexist in many
test systems, serving the functions that each is best suited to."
http://makeashorterlink.com/?H18C229E9
http://www.lxistandard.org/index.cgi
(Boston) Anam, an Ireland-based provider of messaging, content
management and delivery platforms, announced that it launched its
North American hosting centre in Boston this week. The Boston
hosting centre will serve wireless carriers in North America working
with Anam to manage and deploy messaging services, the company
said. "By launching this hosting centre, Anam enables carriers to
rapidly deploy new services easily and cost effectively, with a positive
user experience guaranteed to their subscriber bases, in a secure and
professionally managed facility," said Anam Chief Technical Officer
Triona Mullane.
http://www.mysan.de/international/article9118.html
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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.
Please apply online: http://makeashorterlink.com/?X19A12ED9
Closing date for applications is Friday 3rd December
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