Thames Tech Wire

U.K.-Based Midasplayer.com Secures £23-Million Investment

London -- Midasplayer.com, a London-based skill-gaming company,
announced that it has secured approximately £23 million in venture-
capital financing. Midasplayer.com is an online games website where
players win cash prizes by participating in casual game tournaments.
Players join tournaments to compete against other real players of
similar skill levels to win money or points. The company -- which has a
development facility in Stockholm, Sweden, and a satellite office in
Hamburg, Germany -- said it planned to use the investment to fund its
ongoing global expansion.
http://www.midasplayer.com/support/about_us.jsp

Eircom to Raise 423 Million Euro for Meteor Acquisition

Dublin -- Eircom, the largest telecommunications company in Ireland,
announced that it expects to raise as much as 423 million euro (£289
million) in a rights issue that will be used to fund its proposed
acquisition of local mobile operator Meteor. Eircom said it planned to
issue about 313 million shares, representing about 29% of its issued
ordinary share capital. "Offering the rights issue at a subscription price
of 1.35 euro is a significant achievement and is underpinned by the
strong strategic rationale and the expected financial benefits of the
Meteor acquisition," said Eircom CEO Philip Nolan. Eircom originally
announced its intention to acquire Meteor and return to the Irish mobile
market in June.
http://investorrelations.eircom.net/

Report: Worldwide Server Sales Up by 5.6% in Second Quarter

London -- According to a new survey by market analysis firm IDC, the
worldwide server market is surging, with nearly all platforms
increasing shipments for the second quarter of this year. IDC said
server sales were up by 5.6% to 10 billion euro (£6.8 billion) compared
to the same quarter last year, marking the ninth quarter in a row of
increasing server revenues. Volume server sales increased by 11.1%
year-on-year, while midrange servers showed a 4.3% sales increase,
IDC said. Unix servers experienced an especially strong second quarter,
with sales increasing by 19.2%. "IT acquisition patterns are changing,
and we are seeing the product mix of server investments change over
time," said IDC's Matt Eastwood. "Strength in midrange servers and
Unix high-end servers shows that customers are balancing their scale-
out volume server deployments with scale-up servers to handle
business-processing workloads."
http://makeashorterlink.com/?B395524BB

BBC to Make TV Channels Available Online to U.K. Users

London -- The BBC announced that it is planning to make its U.K. TV
channels available on the Internet beginning next year. The
MyBBCPlayer application will allow U.K. viewers to download and
watch the previous week's TV shows on their computers, including live
simulcasts of channels like BBC One and BBC Two. The
MyBBCPlayer service will also add audio and video content from the
BBC's archive, which is currently in the process of being digitised. "We
believe that on-demand changes the terms of the debate, indeed that it
will change what we mean by the word 'broadcasting'," said BBC
director general Mark Thompson. The BBC said it would seek
partnerships to provide links to purchase songs and other media online
through the service.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?F5BA653BB

WDP Appoints Richardson as European Sales Manager

London -- World Data Products Ltd. (WDP), a U.S.-based independent
provider of refurbished server, storage and networking hardware
services, announced that it has appointed Will Richardson as sales
manager of its European operations. WDP said Richardson would be
responsible for spearheading operations and sales initiatives across the
U.K. and continental European markets as the company continues its
global expansion. Prior to joining WPD, Richardson was head of sales
at TDK Systems Europe Ltd. in charge of European and worldwide
sales operations and general manager of the PC division at Samsung
Electronics U.K., where he increased revenues from £7 million to £50
million in just three years.
http://www.wdpi.com/

CSR Opens New Hardware-Design Centre in France

Cambridge, England -- CSR Plc, a U.K.-based wireless chip specialist,
announced that it has opened a wireless-hardware design centre in
Sophia Antipolis, France. CSR said the new centre would be headed by
Stephane Boudaud and employ a team of experienced design engineers
to work on hardware projects, including the design of Ultra Wide Band
radios. "Sophia Antipolis is the ideal location for CSR SARL given its
concentration of advanced technology companies, which attract a
highly skilled workforce," Boudaud said. "CSR is growing rapidly, and
this new design centre will allow CSR to retain its substantial
competitive lead and continue to develop the best wireless solutions for
the market."
http://www.csr.com/pr/pr208.htm

Intelliden Appoints Nigel Oakley as EMEA Marketing VP

London -- Intelliden Corp., a U.S.-based provider of open, automated
networking technology, announced that it has appointed Nigel Oakley
as its new vice president of marketing for the EMEA region (Europe,
Middle East and Africa). Intelliden said Oakley, who boasts more than
25 years of experience in the computing and networking industries,
would be based at the company's office in London. Prior to joining
Intelliden, Oakley served as vice president of infrastructure business
and marketing at RadioScape, a supplier of DAB infrastructure and
receiver technology
http://www.intelliden.com/pressreleases.asp?year=2005

EU Approves Sun Microsystem Acquisition of StorageTek

Brussels -- The European Commission announced that it has approved
the proposed 3.4-billion-euro acquisition of Storage Technology Corp.,
a Colorado-based information storage company, by U.S.-based Sun
Microsystem. The Commission said its review of the deal showed the
overlaps between the companies were limited and that the combined
entity would continue to face several strong competitors with
significant market shares. StorageTek shareholders will vote on the
proposed acquisition on Aug. 30.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?K55B453BB

Fabless Semiconductor Group Sets Up Leadership Council

London -- The Fabless Semiconductor Association (FSA) announced
that it has established its European Leadership Council. The FSA said
the council was composed of key executives from leading fabless
semiconductor companies throughout Europe, including David Baillie
(CEO of CamSemi), John Hodgson (CEO of CSR), Svenn-Tore Larsen
(CEO of Nordic Semiconductor), David Milne (CEO of Wolfson
Microelectronics), Roland Pudelko (CEO of Dialog Semiconductor)
and Anthony Sethill (CEO of Frontier Silicon). The FSA said that one
of the council's first tasks would be to further define its European
strategy, identifying what support, tools and resources EU
semiconductor companies need. "I very much welcome the expansion
of FSA's activity in Europe," Wolfson's Milne said. "The creation of a
Leadership Council recognises the growing presence of fabless
companies in Europe and will provide a focus for discussion of issues
affecting the industry and an opportunity to share experiences."
http://www.fsa.org/association/eucouncil/index.asp

Report: Men More Vulnerable than Women to Online Risks

London -- According to a new report conducted by MORI on behalf of
StreamShield Networks, women are less likely than men to open
dubious emails. In fact, MORI said women experienced fewer
difficulties in every single online category they surveyed. For instance,
the report found that 46% of men surveyed reported that their PCs had
been infected by a virus, compared to 38% of women. More than half
of men said they received excessive amounts of spam, compared to
38% of women. Men also experienced more unwanted pop up ads, with
74% reporting the problem, compared to 69% of women. And about
8% of men said they had experienced some form of online fraud,
compared to 4% of women. "The research findings show there is a
clear difference between the male and female experience when online,"
said StreamShield's Geoff Bennett. "Men do appear to be more
vulnerable than women when online and are laying themselves open to
falling victim to fraud scams and other annoyances."
http://makeashorterlink.com/?G3FA12EAB