An overview of the week in deals in the Irish technology sector, including Google’s deal with NextEra Energy Resources to power data centres, and Irish firm Azotel’s expansion into the US as a result of a partnership with ImageStream, an American company.
Google Energy in wind-energy deal
Google is to power several data centres in a 20-year deal with NextEra Energy Resources, as part of its greening strategy.
Google Energy has entered into a 20-year power purchase agreement with NextEra Energy Resources. It will purchase 114MW of clean, renewable energy from NextEra Energy Resources’ Story II Wind Energy Center. The wind farm has been in operation in Iowa since 2009.
NextEra Energy Resources is a subsidiary of NextEra Energy and it has more than 9,000 wind turbines in operation at 77 wind farms in 17 states and Canada.
Irish broadband tech firm expands into US Linux market
Cork-headquartered technology company Azotel is to expand in the US as part of a partnership with US player ImageStream, a manufacturer of Linux-based routers for ISPs.
Azotel Technologies develops integrated customer and network management solutions that help internet service providers improve their business operations, services and profitability. Azotel also has regional offices in Canada and Poland.
ImageStream Internet Solutions, Inc. manufactures Linux-based routers for business premise and broadband service provider networks. ImageStream routers are purpose-built to provide a flexible services delivery platform that supports a wide range of services and revenue streams.
The two companies will partner to deliver a network provisioning solution for wireless broadband operators using ImageStream routers and the Azotel SIMPLer Platform (OSS – Operations Support System).
The companies are also discussing options to support DSL provisioning and other advanced features. Azotel recently announced partnerships with leading US distributors to broadband operators, reinforcing its presence in the US market.
Chip firm S3 in set top box R&D deal with BSkyB
Irish chip design firm S3 Group has revealed it has been collaborating with Sky and electronics giant Broadcom on the development of Sky’s latest high-definition (HD) low-power set-top boxes (STBs), the DRX890 and the DRX895.
These boxes include highly integrated and advanced STB technology from Broadcom Corporation. Both boxes boast enhanced features, increased storage capacity and energy saving capabilities. And as with Sky’s existing Sky+HD STBs, the boxes have also been designed to support future services launching in 2010 such as broadband-enabled video-on-demand and 3DTV.
Broadcom’s BCM7335 HD DVR satellite system-on-chip (SoC) solution features a high level of integration and performance to enable broadcasters such as Sky to offer advanced features and low power consumption. Furthermore, S3 Group’s coLinkTV software product helped Sky get these products to market faster. S3 Group also used its own automated testing solution, StormTest, to test the functionality of the boxes throughout the entire development and system test cycle. Sky has been routinely utilising StormTest for in-house testing of their boxes since early 2009.
Airtricity and Musgrave in green electricity deal
Airtricity is to supply Musgrave with green electricity to power its depots and sites on the island of Ireland.
The overall deal is worth circa €25m to Airtricity, which will supply green electricity to all Musgrave Group-owned facilities both north and south of the border and via an affinity scheme to its SuperValu, Centra and Daybreak stores in the Republic of Ireland and SuperValu, Centra and Mace stores in Northern Ireland.
The contract with Airtricity will allow Musgrave to further reduce its carbon footprint as well as its operating costs
The Airtricity deal will allow Musgrave to displace more than 130,000 tonnes of CO2, equivalent to removing 60,000-plus cars from Irish roads annually.
