NEXT-GENERATION INTERNET AN OPPORTUNITY FOR IRELAND - While politicians talk about what they would do to stimulate the economy and create jobs in the future, a high-level group of scientists, academics and business people has met to talk about the next-generation internet and what it could mean for the economy and jobs. They want to make a plan to place Ireland at the forefront of future internet initiatives.
Dr Graham Love, director of policy and communications at Science Foundation Ireland, says that a new wave is about to explode on the internet. He says that even a few years ago people were not able to bank online or do other things we take for granted now. He says that smart meters are now being installed in people's homes to monitor their use of electricity - just one example of the latest phase of business applications using the internet.
Dr Love says that Ireland is in a perfect position to capitalise on the next generation internet opportunities. He says the country's 'eco-system' for high tech companies is perfect to blend the transition from the labs to the market. He adds that Ireland would then export the new technology as it is developed here.
He says the infrastructure of the internet is clogging up as the amount of information on the world wide web doubles every 11 months. Experts are saying that a new network system will be required for the London Olympics in 2012 as it is feared the current system will crash with the amount of heavy video-data being too much for it to bear.
He says it is key that Ireland now charts a path which identifies its capacity to excel in the next-generation internet and articulate the business opportunities that exist. To this end, a major conference is being planned for the summer, Dr Love says.
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MORNING BRIEFS - Paper maker Smurfit Kappa says that in the financial year its earnings before tax grew by 22% to €904m. A statement says that while the group's energy costs were broadly stable in 2010, raw material costs were significantly higher. In 2010, recovered paper prices more than doubled compared to 2009 levels, while wood costs were 13% higher on average. Its chief executive said there had been better than expected demand and further progress on pricing recovery, both in Europe and in Latin America. He said current business conditions will support continued price recovery with input costs rising and demand remaining strong.
*** The London Stock Exchange and TMX Group, Canada's major exchange company, are in merger talks. The combined group, which would be worth £5.5 billion sterling, would be the biggest platform for mining company listings. It would also be the biggest exchange by numbers of companies traded in the world, and the world's seventh-biggest exchange by market value. In a statement last evening the two groups said their talks of a 'merger of equals' were at an advanced stage.
*** Four international accountancy groups have joined forces to call for changes to the audit market in Europe, and say that there is a need for new rules to dilute the power of The Big Four, or the profession's biggest firms. The world's fifth, sixth and seventh-biggest networks by fees - BDO International, RSM International and Grant Thornton International, along with Mazars, have put aside their differences to lobby the EU's internal market commissioner, Michel Barnier. They want him to take steps to reduce the dominance of Deloitte, Ernst and Young, KPMG and PwC in auditing listed companies, saying market-based attempts to reduce industry concentration had failed.
*** On the currency markets the euro is trading at $1.3645 cents and 84.92 pence sterling.
