For the record 8 October
08-10-2007
by Emmet Ryan

Sprint Nextel and Vonage make peace | Quadruple-play is on the way

US telecommunications giant Sprint Nextel has settled its long running patent infringement dispute with VoIP provider Vonage. Sprint has agreed to licence its VoIP portfolio to Vonage, which covers more than 100 patents, the two companies said today. The settlement payment to Sprint was valued at USD80 million, according to the statement. Vonage shares rose 37 percent, or USD0.42, to USD1.57 upon the announcement.

Trinity Biotech has decided to de-list from the Irish Stock Exchange. The delisting will come into effect on 5 November and will have no effect on the Nasdaq listing of the company where 98 percent of all trading in the Trinity Biotech's shares takes place. In August the firm posted a second quarter profit of EUR3.04 million, a staggering improvement on the loss of USD3.81 million it posted a year earlier.

The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) and IBM have launched a professional development scheme to benchmark standards in the IT industry and promote the importance of professional registration to employers. The new scheme will enable IBM employees around the world, who are already working towards gaining IBM technical professional qualifications, to fast-track to incorporated engineer registration through the IET.

Approximately 40 percent of queries to TheBusinessShop.ie are from the Irish diaspora looking to return to Ireland. The website, which offers a means to buy, sell or invest in businesses, is currently advertising over 330 business opportunities across the island at a total value of over EUR200 million. The website says it is aiming to become the primary port of call for businesses based in Ireland seeking funding.

A massive 79 percent of UK citizens are careless with personal details according to research carried out by Populous for the third annual UK National Identity Fraud Prevention Week. The survey found that 19 million households in the UK regularly place sensitive materials in their waste and recycling while 11 percent of people throw away whole credit or debit card numbers.

Quadruple-play packages, offering fixed line calls, mobile calls, broadband and television services are inevitable according to a new report entitled Quadruple-Play Bundling Strategies by researchers Analysys. The survey found that triple-play bundles of broadband, fixed line calls and TV services have proven popular and that the next step is Quadruple-play. The Analysys report said implementing a successful quadruple-play bundle would be challenging for operators but that they would find a way to make it work.