European Tech Wire - June 10, 2005

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EUROPEAN TECH WIRE - June 10, 2005
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To Subscribe: http://www.techwiremedia.com/europe

o EU Parliament Rejects Controversial Data-Retention Plan
o Russia's Rambler Media to Float Shares on London's AIM
o IPTC Elects AFP's Guerillot to Lead NewML Development
o Hasbro Reacquires Infogrames Assets for 53 Million Euro
o Report: Third of Britons Bringing Gadgets along on Holiday
o Report: U.K. Digital Penetration Reaches 61.9% in 1st Qtr
o Greenhill Completes Second Closing of £480-Million Fund
o Briefly Noted: Nokia-Intel, Point Topic-U.K. DSL Market,
Information Age Park Ennis, Benchmark Capital-Michael
Eisenberg, Innos-Malcolm Ace, Thomson-Technicolor Division
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o EU Parliament Rejects Controversial Data-Retention Plan

Brussels -- The EU Parliament has rejected a controversial data-
retention plan that would force European telecommunications
companies and Internet service providers (ISPs) to keep customer
information for as long as three years. The draft proposal, which aims
to help law enforcement agencies fight terrorism, would require phone
companies and ISPs to save personal customer information such the
time, date and location of emails and phone calls -- but not the content
of the messages -- for 12 to 36 months. "There are sizeable doubts on
the choice of the legal basis and the proportionality of the measures,"
the parliamentary committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home
Affairs said. "It is also possible that the proposal contravenes Article 8
of the European Convention on Human Rights." Despite Parliament's
rejection, the Council of Ministers has backed the proposal, which has
been passed on to an EU civil liberties committee.
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2002/aug/05datafd1.htm
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o Russia's Rambler Media to Float Shares on London's AIM

Moscow -- Rambler Media, a Russia-based language Internet firm,
announced that it will begin trading on the London Stock Exchange's
Alternative Investment Market (AIM) on June 15. With the news,
Rambler will become the first Russian Internet firm in history to make
an initial public offering (IPO). Valued at £84 million (125 million
euro), the company raised nearly £22 million (33 million euro), selling
more than 3 million shares. "We are very pleased with the positive
response that our company received from investors," said Rambler
CEO Irina Gofman. "Our AIM admission will enable Rambler Media
to continue to build on its favourable position as a provider of
integrated Internet, mobile content and TV broadcasting services to the
global Russian speaking community."
http://makeashorterlink.com/?O1DA21C3B
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o IPTC Elects AFP's Guerillot to Lead NewML Development

Paris -- The International Press Telecommunications Council (IPTC)
announced that it has elected Stephane Guerillot, head of France-based
news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP), as its new chairman. The
IPTC, which sets international technical standards for the media, has
been developing NewsML -- a common code language for the
information industry to identity, save and distribute multimedia
documents. NewsML also generates codes defining format, allowing
content to be mixed, adapted and switched automatically for use on
different Internet sites. The IPTC said Guerillot's chief responsibility
would be to oversee the establishment of the second version of
NewsML. Guerillot succeeds John Iobst of the Newspaper Association
of America.
http://www.iptc.org/pages/index.php
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o Hasbro Reacquires Infogrames Assets for 53 Million Euro

Paris -- Hasbro, a U.S.-based games and entertainment company,
announced that it has reacquired the digital gaming rights for its
properties from France-based Infogrames Entertainment for 53 million
euro. These rights were previously held by Infogrames on an exclusive
basis as a result of a license agreement entered into in connection with
its purchase of Hasbro Interactive and Games.com from Hasbro in
2000. As part of the new deal, Hasbro and Infogrames have entered
into a new licensing arrangement that provides Infogrames with the
rights for 10 Hasbro franchises, including Dungeons and Dragons and
Monopoly.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050609/nyth035.html?.v=14 
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o Report: Third of Britons Bringing Gadgets along on Holiday

London -- According to a new study conducted by Direct Line Travel
Insurance, U.K. consumers love their high-priced gadgets and toys so
much that they take them with them on holiday. Nearly 85% of British
tourists take their mobile phones with them, while about 74% bring
along their digital cameras. About 27% bring their CD players, 17%
their iPods and 10% their laptops. Direct Line warned Brits abroad to
avoid becoming easy targets for crooks after its study showed that, on
average, nearly a third of all U.K. holiday-makers carry more than £500
of gadgetry with them. "Europe's beaches will be a haven for thieves,"
a Direct Line spokesperson said. "Many people still don't take out the
necessary insurance cover to protect gadgets."
http://www.direct-travel.co.uk/Index.asp
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o Report: U.K. Digital Penetration Reaches 61.9% in 1st Qtr

London -- According to Ofcom's latest Digital Television Update,
digital penetration in the U.K. reached nearly 62% in the first quarter of
2005, a 2.5% increase compared to the previous quarter and up
considerably from the 53% recorded in the first quarter of last year. The
total number of digital TV households in the U.K. grew by 643,517 to
more than 15.4 million, Ofcom said. Top dog BSkyB added 87,000
subscribers alone in the first quarter, bringing its total number of
subscribers to more than 7.3 million. The popularity of Freeview,
which does not charge subscription fees, continued to soar as the
number of Freeview-only households passed the 5-million mark for the
first time ever.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?N19B25C3B
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o Greenhill Completes Second Closing of £480-Million Fund

London -- Greenhill & Co., an investment bank with offices in New
York, London, Frankfurt and Dallas, announced that has completed the
second and final closing of its second private equity fund, Greenhill
Capital Partners II, with total committed capital of £480 million (717
million euro). Greenhill said the fund would focus primarily on middle-
market investments in the energy, financial services and
telecommunications sectors. "The closing of our second fund is an
important milestone in the firm's stated strategy of further developing
its merchant banking fund management activities," said Greenhill CEO
Robert Greenhill. "We are particularly pleased to have significantly
exceeded our initial fundraising target of (£384 million) of capital."
http://makeashorterlink.com/?M23912C3B
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o Briefly Noted:

(Helsinki) Finland-based Nokia, the largest mobile-phone maker in the
world, announced on Friday that it has teamed up with U.S.-based Intel
Corp., the largest computer chipmaker in the world, to provide mobile
users with faster voice and data services. The joint project will employ
WiMAX, a standards-based wireless technology that provides high-
speed connections over long distances. "For mobile devices and
notebook platforms, Intel and Nokia will work closely to identify and
deliver the unique power and performance requirements of the
technology," Nokia said. "It will also create new opportunities for the
consumer and enterprise markets."
http://press.nokia.com/PR/200506/998014_5.html

(London) According to the latest research by market analysis firm Point
Topic, the U.K. was the fastest-growing major DSL market in the
world in the first quarter of 2005. The number of DSL lines in the U.K.
grew by 20% to reach more than 5 million lines, while the number of
DSL subscribers in China grew by 15% to more than 20 million lines
over the same period. Overall, the global DSL market grew by 10.5%
to more than 107 million in the first quarter. What's more, more than 37
million DSL lines were added since March 2004 last year, taking
growth to 54% for the 12 months ended March 31, 2005.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?M22B13C3B

(Dublin) Ireland's Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment,
Micheal Martin, has launched the first phase of a new a new technology
park in Ennis that could create as many as 3,500 jobs over the next few
years. Martin said the 30-acre Information Age Park Ennis was
designed to become a hub of technology, service and knowledge-
intensive companies, both indigenous and foreign-owned. Shannon
Development has already invested more than 11 million euro in the
project, which will involve an estimated 110 million euro of investment
from both the public and private sectors over the next 15 years.
http://www.entemp.ie/press/2005/20050609b.htm

(Jerusalem) Benchmark Capital, an Israel-based early stage venture-
capital firm, announced that Michael Eisenberg has joined the company
as a general partner. Benchmark said Eisenberg would help the
company to invest its 206-million-euro Benchmark Israel II fund.
"(Eisenberg) is among the few venture capitalists who really
understands Internet investing," said Benchmark General Partner Arad
Naveh. "With Michael on board, we intend to dedicate additional
resources for addressing Internet opportunities in Israel." Prior to
joining Benchmark, Eisenberg worked for PictureVision, Israel Seed
Partners and Jerusalem Global.
http://www.benchmark.com/#

(Southampton, England) Innos, a U.K.-based research and development
company with expertise in silicon, MEMS and nanotechnologies,
announced that it has appointed Malcolm Ace, Southampton
University's Director of Finance, to its board of directors. Innos said
that Ace would provide finance expertise as the company expands into
the commercial and academic sectors. Ace has more than 20 years of
experience working in senior financial management at universities
across the U.K. He has been Director of Finance at Southampton
University since 2004 and was Director of Finance at Portsmouth
University from 1999 to 2004.
http://www.innos.co.uk/news13.asp

(Burbank, California) Thomson, a France-based provider of equipment
and services to the broadcast and media industries, announced that its
California-based Technicolor unit has expanded its services to include
videogame design and high-end art production. Burbank-based
Technicolor recently provided Sony Computer Entertainment America
with game-related services on the development of its "God of War" title
and also aided in the production of games including "Spider-Man 2"
and "Ratchet & Clank".
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/050609/95291.html 
http://www.technicolor.com 

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