The company with the busiest Web site in the world is considering moving a substantial part of its Web op- erations to Ireland.
Leading Web software com- pany Netscape already has a presence here. But an Irish- based Web site would circum- navigate the USA's strict export controls which regard encryption software as "muni- tions". The export ban has prevented Netscape from mar- keting Internet software with higher encryption levels. But Netscape is not yet con- vinced that Ireland's telecom infrastructure would be suffi- cient to support the site's traf- fic. Doug Dalton, its manager of network engineering and new technologies, says Britain and several Scandinavian countries are also on its shortlist.
Irish Internet consultancy Nua has won a major contract from the American Export Group to design a Web site for its database of 47,000 US export companies. "It was a dictionary definition of the virtual deal," Nua's managing director Gerry McGovern explains. AEG emailed Nua after seeing its Internet surveys email newsletter. Then Nua submitted its plans "and three months later the deal was signed without a single faceto-face encounter".
Microsoft is to launch its own search engine early next year - it will use Inktomi's search technology, which also powers Wired's HotBot engine.
Oracle has secured a deal with two of the New Zealand dairy industry's key players. The New Zealand Dairy Group and the New Zealand Dairy Board will use Oracle's CPG (consumer packaged goods) software.
The Spectrum Virtual Uni- versity (www.vu.org) has formed a "virtual partnership" with online books vendor Uni- versity Cybershops. Profits will fund the university's free online classes, which have in- volved half a million people from 128 countries since it set up its Web-based campus.
Latest Results: Gateway 2000 had a third-quarter loss of $107 million on revenues of $1.5 billion. Its sluggish performance comes as other major electronics firms have been surpassing industry expectations. Compaq and Sony posted record thirdquarter sales, and IBM had quarterly net earnings of $1.4 billion. But the board of Sili- con Graphics has discussed plans to sack up to five per cent of its workforce Netscape's quarterly net income of $11.7 million was up 53 per cent on 1996. WorldCom - still battling with rival MCI suitor British Telecom - had quarterly profits of $106 million (compared to a loss of $60 million a year ago). Meanwhile BT says it's considering buying MCI out of its 25 per cent share of Concert Communica- tions Services if the two companies don't merge.
Electronic Data Systems' third quarter profits fell almost 14 per cent but were better than Wall Street's expectations. Graphics software company Visio's quarterly revenues were $31.2 million, up 89 per cent on the same quarter in 1996. Visio employs 90 people in its software localisation operation in Dublin.
In Brief: EU competition commissioner Karel van Miert urged Austria's state telecom monopoly on Friday to cut the fees it charges competitors for access to its network: Post und Telekom Austria charges other telephone companies about 7p per minute for access to its fixed terrestrial network. . . the Gartner Group has invested $8 million in the Internet and interactive industry analyst firm Jupiter Communications. . . Meanwhile Jupiter researchers reckon businesses could improve relations with clients and market their products more effectively by sponsoring "chat rooms" on their Web sites. . . British publisher Scoot is teaming up with Web index Excite to make its business and entertainment info more UKoriented. . . Structural Dynamics Research has selected Iona Technol- ogies' Orbix as the underlying integration technology in its I-DEAS Master Series software, which will be the world's first fully CORBAcompliant industrial design solution. IT training organisation Global Knowledge Network has opened a custom-designed training centre in Fitzwilton House, Wilton Terrace, Dublin 2. It can handle up to 20,000 trainees a year. . . the Cork-based Job Options Bureau has won Microsoft Ireland's Small Business Competition, and will receive £15,000 worth of computers and software.