European Tech Wire - May 19, 2005

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EUROPEAN TECH WIRE - May 19, 2005
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To Subscribe: http://www.techwiremedia.com/europe

o eBay to Buy Gumtree.com, LoQUo.com for Undisclosed Sum
o ECI Telecom to Acquire Laurel Networks for 70 Million Euro
o German Court: ISPs Can Protect Privacy of File-Swappers
o Ireland-Based Software Firm CR2 Raises 10 Million Euro
o Ireland's Arantech Raises 10 Million Euro in Second Round
o Israel's Whole Optics Raises 4 Million Euro in Second Round
o Birmingham Launches Massive Open-Source Software Trial
o Briefly Noted: SAP-NetWeaver Partnership Expansion, BT
Group-Broadband Targets, BT Group-Drogheda Public Wi-Fi
Network, FileTek-U.K. Met Office, Nokia-N-Gage Mobile Games
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o eBay to Buy Gumtree.com, LoQUo.com for Undisclosed Sum

San Jose, California -- eBay, a U.S.-based online auction giant,
announced that its international classifieds group Kijiji has acquired
Gumtree.com and LoQUo.com, two separate classifieds websites
operating in select international cities. eBay said the deals would help
Kijiji expand its network. Gumtree.com, founded in London in 2000, is
a local classifieds site in the U.K. offering multiple city sites in
countries including Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
LoQUo.com, founded in Barcelona in 2002, is a community-focused
classifieds site in Spain. LoQUo.com also offers city sites in some
other European countries. Financial terms of the deals were not
disclosed.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/050518/185362.html?.v=1
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o ECI Telecom to Acquire Laurel Networks for 70 Million Euro

Jerusalem -- ECI Telecom Ltd., an Israel-based telecommunications
equipment maker, announced that it has agreed to acquire Laurel
Networks, a U.S.-based designer of Internet edge-routing technology,
for approximately 70 million euro in cash. ECI, which expects to close
the deal within a matter of weeks, said Laurel's edge routers would
expand its Internet service capabilities to include Internet TV, calling
and video on demand. "By acquiring Laurel, we add best-of-breed IP
edge routing products, technology and expertise to our overall portfolio
of IP solutions and strengthen ECI's position as a supplier of next-
generation IP solutions," said ECI President and CEO Doron Inbar.
http://www.ecitele.com/news/2005/pr_16052005.asp
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o German Court: ISPs Can Protect Privacy of File-Swappers

Hamburg, Germany -- A court in the German state of Hamburg has
ruled that Internet service providers (ISPs) there cannot be compelled
to reveal the identities of subscribers alleged to have traded copyrighted
songs, the German newspaper Heise Online reported. The Higher
Regional Court in Hamburg ruled that current German law protects the
privacy of ISP customers, although new federal legislation is in the
works in Germany that might change this. A lower court had ordered
the identities of the operators of an FTP server in Hamburg that offered
free downloads of songs from the band Rammstein turned over to the
band's label, Universal. But the recent ruling from the Higher Regional
Court overturned this decision, and the alleged file-swappers will
remain anonymous for the time being.
http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/59602 
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o Ireland-Based Software Firm CR2 Raises 10 Million Euro

Dublin -- CR2, an Ireland-based banking software firm, announced that
it has raised 10 million euro in venture capital financing. The round
was led by Trinity Venture Capital, which invested about 7 million
euro, and ACT Venture Capital, which invested about 2 million euro.
CR2 CEO Martin Dolan, CFO Ronan Murray, Sales Director Kieran
Kilcullen and Development Director Keith Holmes also invested
approximately 1 million euro in the firm. CR2 said it would use the
investment to fund market expansion into Asia and Europe and develop
new products at its Dublin-based development centre. CR2 has offices
in Dublin, Dubai, London, Bangalore, Perth and Johannesburg.
http://www.cr2.com/press_releases.php?id=149
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o Ireland's Arantech Raises 10 Million Euro in Second Round

Dublin -- Arantech, an Ireland-based technology firm, announced that it
has secured 10 million euro of second-round private equity financing.
Trident Capital, Ericsson, Cross Atlantic Capital Partners, Oyster
Investment Funds and Enterprise Ireland led the round. The company,
whose main product allows mobile network operators to measure
quality of service, said it would use the investment to fund a global-
expansion programme, increasing its presence in the U.S. and Asian
markets before concentrating on Latin America. Separately, Arantech
also announced that it has appointed Cathal McGloin as vice president
of its North America unit.
http://www.arantech.com/#
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o Israel's Whole Optics Raises 4 Million Euro in Second Round

Jerusalem -- According to a report in Globes Online, Whole Optics, an
Israel-based developer of optical broadband communications, has
raised 4 million euro in second-round venture-capital financing. The
company, whose broadband technologies provide access to networks
using fibre-optics, said it would use the funds to complete product
development and step up production and marketing. Carmel Ventures
led the round, with Israel Infinity Fund and existing investor Concord
Ventures also participating. "The field of access to optical networks is
growing rapidly in both public and enterprise networks," Carmel
Ventures Partner Ori Bendori told Globes. "Whole Optics has a unique
technology, which will enable it to supply important elements of this
access equipment."
http://makeashorterlink.com/?J18223B1B
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o Birmingham Launches Massive Open-Source Software Trial

Birmingham, England -- Birmingham City Council announced that it
has launched a massive trial of open-source software (OSS) on both
servers and desktops. Despite admitting to a "certain degree of
scepticism" about the benefits of OSS, the city council said it would
migrate about 1,500 desktops and associated back-end servers in its
library service to Linux, OpenOffice and Firefox for a 12-month trial.
The U.K. Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has given Birmingham a
grant worth hundreds of thousands of pounds under the e-Innovations
Programme to conduct the trial, for which a "neutral assessment" will
be given. Birmingham IT Director Les Timms said the council was
taking a "hard-headed" approach to the trial. "We want to know (if we
can) deliver this with a reasonable cost, including integration,
implementation and support," he said. "What is not proven is the long-
term sustainability of open source."
http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/
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o Briefly Noted:

(Frankfurt) SAP, a Germany-based business software giant, announced
that it has expanded the partner network for its NetWeaver software.
SAP said a group of global technology heavyweights including IBM,
Microsoft, Intel, Cisco Systems, EMC, Computer Associates
International, Macromedia, Mercury Interactive, Adobe Systems and
Symantec had licensed software from SAP to create SAP-optimised
products. Under the terms of the partnership, the companies will gain
access to the technical specifications, also known as Enterprise Service
Architecture (ESA), that detail the inner workings of SAP's products.
http://www.sap.com/company/press/press.epx?PressID=4629

(London) BT Group Plc, the largest telecommunications company in
the U.K., announced that it has reached its 5-million-connection
broadband target a full year ahead of schedule. BT said it made
825,000 connections in the first quarter of this year, or roughly one
connection every 10 seconds. "We have more than doubled the number
of broadband DSL connections in the year, hit the 5-million target a
year early and are increasing broadband speeds by up to four times,"
BT CEO Ben Verwaayen said. Separately, BT also announced that
broadband revenues for the year ended March 31 increased by 77% to
£292 million, while annual net profit jumped to £1.8 billion.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?A35121B1B

(Cork, Ireland) The Irish town of Drogheda announced that it plans to
build the country's first citywide public Wi-Fi network. Aiming to
boost inward investment in the region, Drogheda's Chamber of
Commerce said it would work with U.K. telecommunications giant BT
Group Plc to set up 10 Wi-Fi hotspots in key locations throughout the
town. Once the network is finished, users will never be more than a
five-minute walk from a hotspot, the Chamber said. "With BT, we have
added yet another critical piece of (telecommunications) infrastructure
to Drogheda's CV and will continue to lead the way in this and other
areas," said Chamber President Graham O'Rourke.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?F26F12A1B

(Rockville, Maryland) U.S.-based FileTek, a maker of data access and
management software, announced that the U.K. Met Office, a scientific
organisation renowned for its work in climate research and numerical
weather prediction, has signed a three-year deal to continue using the
company's system. The U.K. Met Office uses the StorHouse system to
support its 400-terabyte archive of weather modelling data. "StorHouse
has enabled the Met Office to create and perpetuate one of the world's
largest and most active scientific databases, and we are confident that
the system will foster and facilitate future database growth," said Met
Office Central Systems Manager Mike Boyd.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?D69E25A1B

(Los Angeles) Finnish mobile-phone maker Nokia announced that it
plans to make games for its N-Gage hybrid mobile phone/game deck
compatible with a range of Nokia smartphones. The company expects
to sell 25 million smartphones this year. Nokia also announced 13 new
titles for N-Gage that it has brought to the E3 Expo this week.
Upcoming N-Gage titles on display will include "Pathway to Glory",
"Ikusa Island", "ONE", "Rifts: Promise of Power", "Glimmerati",
"System Rush", "Civilization", "Mile High Pinball" and "X-Men
Legends 2: Dawn of Apocalypse", among others.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050518/lnw006.html

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> 2nd Annual Popkomm Innovation in Music and Entertainment
Awards (IMEA)

Popkomm is one of Europe's leading Music & Entertainment - Industry
tradeshows and conferences. IMEA is chaired by Music Futurist Gerd
Leonhard (ThinkAndLink). IMEA's mission is to find, select and
present the best new business ideas, the brightest entrepreneurs and
startups in the music-, media - and entertainment-technology sectors,
worldwide, and provide a new platform for their discovery. Apply now
(it's free)
Contact: http://www.popkommawards.com  or gleonhard@gmail.com
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> IDEAlliance's XTech 2005 and The Gilbane Conference on Content
Mgmt.

Slated for 24-27 May in Amsterdam, XTech 2005 is the premier
European conference for developers and managers working with XML
and Web technologies, bringing together the worlds of web
development, open source, semantic web and open standards. The
Gilbane Conference is for IT managers, system architects, technical
business and project managers. Topics include: enterprise and web
content management, knowledge management, collaboration, enterprise
search, and document management. For more info visit
http://www.xtech.org  or http://www.lighthouseseminars.com
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