Aug 10 2011
Unbelievable – Dublin lightning strike zaps Amazon, Microsoft data centres! Surely, having and testing a UPS is really basic data centre management!
This says an awful amount about the data centre in question, and it is yet another self-inflicted blow to Cloud Computing.
Aug 09 2011
Here is a video produced by Enterprise Ireland in order to promote careers in the software sector in Ireland.
It is a good video, but I think that the second level and third level educations systems really need to be improved! The quality of students that it is producing really is deteriorating!
Jul 01 2011
Despite the economic downturn US firms operating in Ireland are struggling to fill over 2,000 vacancies, according to new research published today.
The above quote is taken from Over 2,000 vacancies at US firms.
Unfortunately, I must admit that I am not surprised by this based upon my own experiences :| I have said it several times before, but I really think that the Irish education system needs to improve dramatically. Otherwise, it simply will not be possible to attract high-tech companies to Ireland.
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Jun 10 2011
The first of the two final state maths exams that students do at the end of their second level schooling is in progress right now. Apparently, there are fewer students doing the highest level of maths than ever before: Leaving Cert honours maths uptake hits record low – report.
Welcome to the knowledge economy Irish style – a place where maths is not important!
May 30 2011
I just read that Marketo is to setup in Dublin, and in the process create 125 new jobs. See Silicon Valley cloud player Marketo creates 125 jobs in Dublin. It is great news, although from what I have read I do not think that it is really a true cloud computing player.
The other thing that concerned me was the following motivation in coming to Dublin:
Phil Fernandez, president and CEO of Marketo, explained the company selected Ireland because it needed a European hub with a large talent pool of skilled people.
I really hope that Marketo does not experience the same problems as many other companies here are experiencing (for example, see Demonware boss warns of skills gap in Irish computer science courses in the media this morning).
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May 29 2011
I read a very interesting article about technology vacancies in Ireland. See While chips down in many sectors, IT struggles to fill jobs.
The technology industry has, according to some of its leading figures and industry groups, several thousand of jobs lying open. The sector has also created about 1,250 jobs since the start of the year, according to IDA Ireland. These are “smart economy” jobs, available from the big multinationals, established indigenous technology companies and hot new tech start-ups.
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For some reason, this serious issue is ignored – I suspect because the public has wanted to hear about new job creation schemes from a new Government, new initiatives and new vision. But to my mind, new vision means looking at the underlying reasons why jobs are not being taken up by the existing population, many of them graduates obviously qualified to do so, and why companies also cannot easily get the employees they need from outside.
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However, it also indicates the education system may not be producing graduates of the calibre or skillsets that companies here need. Google, for one, has said so. This is a serious education issue requiring deep examination.
My experiences fully support the arguments made here! Indeed, unless something is done to change things I think Ireland will not have any hope of being a knowledge economy!
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Mar 21 2011
Amazon, Microsoft, and many more see Dublin as an ideal location for their data centres according to Dublin Emerges as Cloud Computing Hub.
Some of the linked articles are also very interesting, such as Colocation Dublin that lists all of the data centres in the Dublin area.
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Mar 01 2011
I read an interesting article today that was making the case against merging the Irish Universities. I had been in favour of this, but based upon the numbers presented I think that I need to rethink!
The article is The claim that we have too many universities is simply wrong, but note that it is written by a former president of DCU.
Feb 08 2011
It is election time in Ireland at the moment, but I am not going to discuss politics. However, I can still write about the political manifestos as long as they relate to technology. The policies that caught my attention today come from the Irish Green Party, and they are contained in We will recover if we play to our strengths.
The first interesting policy is:
Transfer all public services to cloud computing
This really makes me wonder if the author understands what cloud computing means! “Public Services” in the election context generally means tangible services that are available to the public, such as policing, health, and education. I am unclear how health care will be provided by cloud computing :D
Seriously, is it meant that all government computing will be performed in the cloud? This raises many interesting questions:
If I was a cloud provider, I would probably be very excited about the opportunities here (as long as I ignore the political opinion polls).
Another policy that caught my attention is:
Invest €70m in web training for 20,000 unemployed people who can then work to web-enable Irish business
Hmmm… I think that I would instead focus on improving the take-up of science and computing for those already in education at all levels.
Provide access for the private sector to Government data
Interesting… Was the Green Party not involved in curtailing Freedom of Information rights during the last few years?
Finally, the last policy that caught my attention is:
Roll out ultra fast broadband Exemplar network nationwide
The Exemplar network is very exciting (see Exemplar Network), but I do not think that it is ready for a nation-wide commercial deployment yet. Also, I do not think that this would be the best usage of this technology.
I think that the cynics will wonder why the Green Party did not do these wonderful things during its time in power :|
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