An overview of the week in deals in the Irish and global technology sector.
CMASS wins major dial plan change deal with global player
A telecoms services company set up last year near Belfast, CMASS, is using proprietary technology to provide dial plan changes for a global business information provider in 14 sites across 10 countries.
Due to be fully completed at the end of September 2011, these changes are part of a global rationalisation programme within the organisation (which cannot be named).
The project involves converting multiple-digit numbers to seven-digit numbers for more than 12,000 extensions on Meridian 1 and CS1000 telephone switches in the 14 locations, including Brazil, Australia, Canada, Germany and Japan.
CMASS, whose workforce comprises 30 former Nortel employees, is project managing and delivering this global operation remotely from its head office in Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland.
Irish firms secure contract to deploy net kiosks at UK airport
Two Irish companies – pay-as-you-go internet kiosk and printer Surfbox and Wi-Fi firm Bitbuzz – have won a deal to provide internet kiosks with printing and Wi-Fi access to customers at Leeds Bradford Airport, making it easier to check in or book cars and hotels online.
The two companies came together to win the contract to provide internet access to the UK airport, fending off stiff competition from their UK counterparts.
“By bringing the expertise of our two companies together we were able to offer a complete solution,” explained Thomas Marry, managing director, Surfbox.
HiberniaEvros in €500k cloud infrastructure deal with HP
HiberniaEvros Technology Group has signed an agreement with HP to acquire HP’s CloudSystem Matrix and HP 3PAR storage. The deal, valued at €500,000, will deliver the back-end technologies to drive the HiberniaEvros Infrastructure as a Service cloud solution.
The HiberniaEvros deal follows HP’s acquisition in September 2010 of storage company 3PAR. This is the first installation of the HP 3PAR storage system combined with HP’s CloudSystem Matrix in Ireland.
“This technology will enable us to deliver a cutting-edge Infrastructure as a Service to our customers,” said Brian Larkin, operations director, HiberniaEvros.
“It was an easy decision to invest in this solution as it offers a far greater level of integration, resilience and functionality out of the box than the alternatives available in the market today.”
Google acquires restaurant review company Zagat
Google has acquired Zagat, a business hosting consumer survey-generated reviews and ratings on restaurants, hotels and leisure activities.
Marissa Mayer, VP of Local, Maps and Location Services at Google said in a blog post that Zagat would become “a cornerstone” of their local offerings.
“With Zagat, we gain a world-class team that has more experience in consumer-based surveys, recommendations and reviews than anyone else in the industry,” said Mayer.
Zagat was founded more than 32 years ago, providing consumer survey-generated reviews across print, the web, mobile devices and television.
Accenture wins €12m IT contract with European Parliament
Accenture has signed a €12m IT application services agreement with the European Parliament to develop and support a variety of applications across the Parliament’s operations.
This contract, awarded after a competitive public procurement process, will provide application development, maintenance and support for the European Parliament.
Accenture will oversee the development and integration of new applications across functional areas, such as finance, logistics, human resources and administrative management.
Dell teams up with Baidu for China smartphones
IT giant Dell is joining forces with China’s top search engine, Baidu, to develop smartphones that would run Baidu’s new software platform for the Chinese market.
Dell has confirmed it is one of a number of companies that include developers and handset makers partnering with Baidu.
The new platform, Baidu Yi, is Android based, but a Dell spokeswoman didn’t say which operating systems the Dell smartphones would carry. She also did not give a release date for the smartphones.
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