M2M deal with Telefónica o2 and Jasper Wireless brings ‘internet of things’ to Ireland
Telefónica forges M2M deal with Jasper Wireless to bring ‘internet of things’ to the business world of Ireland.
The machine-to-machine (M2M) world of connected devices and sensors communicating data wirelessly – also known as the ‘internet of things’ – has arrived in Ireland via a deal between Telefónica Ireland (O2) and Jasper Wireless.
Machina Research has estimated there will be 2.1bn cellular M2M connections worldwide by 2020 and that the addressable global market for mobile operators in M2M will total US$373bn.
Technology market research company Beecham Research projected M2M network connections in Ireland growing by more than 50pc between 2011 and 2014.
Jasper Wireless’ Control Centre is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform that provides customers with global visibility of all SIMs connected to the mobile network. It allows customers to quickly distribute connected devices with self-service tools which allow real-time diagnostics and usage controls. It provides powerful intelligence with a live view of how devices are connecting to and using the mobile network.
“The uses of M2M technology are huge and growing across almost every industry, from point-of-sale connections to smart meters to utilities device usage,” commented Alan Brown, business director at Telefónica Ireland.
He added that the new partnership between Telefónica Ireland and Jasper Wireless will allow organisations to bring to the market powerful and innovative M2M applications and services in a robust and secure way.
The partnership is part of a global M2M strategy supported by Telefónica Digital, Telefónica’s new global business division, and has already been rolled out in Spain and the UK.
“The Irish agreement sees Jasper expand its existing relationship with Telefónica,” added Cindy Patterson, executive vice-president, worldwide sales, Jasper Wireless.
“With our platform, Telefónica in Ireland can provide device partners with a highly configurable M2M management solution that can accelerate market entry of connected devices.”
Sligo Senator Marc MacSharry wants health officials to apologise to PAC over bad manners
Steps should be taken to prevail on two senior officials to apologise to the Irish people for the “flippant and disrespectful way” in which they had addressed the Dáil Public Accounts Committee last Tuesday, Fianna Fáil health spokesman Marc MacSharry said.
Party colleague Jim Walsh said that how people like that got to these positions must raise questions about the whole selection and recruitment processes within our public services.
Mr MacSharry said what had been witnessed at the PAC meeting was an affront to the Oireachtas, the political system and, ultimately, the people of Ireland. Two individuals whose combined salaries amounted to almost €400,000 a year had tried to manipulate a process in advance of a committee hearing to give information they chose to disclose but not information that was being sought.
Their attitude was “Look, lads, we run the health service and we’ll let you know what we want you to know when we want you to know it.” That was unacceptable behaviour, and it was imperative that Minister for Health James Reilly be required to make a statement on it, Mr MacSharry said.
It was highly likely that the HSE cost overrun would reach €500 million, said Mr MacSharry. Politicians had learned from RTÉ, not the people who supposedly ran the health service, that Tallaght hospital was getting a €12 million overdraft. Who would fund the many other hospitals with substantial over-runs, he wondered.
The overall deficit was growing at €45 million a month. “We have a Minister in absolute denial who continues with his headless chicken approach to the management of the finances of the HSE,” Mr MacSharry said.
Calling for a debate on what constituted good governance, Jim Walsh said they had seen an example of appalling governance at the PAC meeting.
Two men charged after Gardai seize up to 50 cute puppies in car boots
Two men are to appear in court next month after gardai found 36 puppies in the back of two cars.
The cars were stopped on the Old Malahide Road in the Coolock area of north Dublin on Tuesday night and gardai found the puppies when they searched the vehicles.
The men, in their 20s and 30s, who were arrested and taken to Coolock garda station have been charged with breaches of the Animals Act. They were released on bail to appear before Dublin District Court on November 1.
The trade in puppies is a lucrative one, with animals trafficked from Ireland to the UK market selling as family pets for up to €700 each.
The illegal trafficking of puppies in dreadful conditions is now widespread due to the lucrative illegal profits involved, according to the Dublin Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (DSPCA).
Some puppies rescued by the DSPCA from traffickers require special care as they are too young to be taken away from their mothers.
Inhumane: Anyone convicted of inhumane treatment of animals faces fines and a possible prison sentence.
Popular breeds trafficked for sale abroad include Jack Russells, as well as Labradors, Springer Spaniels, Cocker Spaniels, and Beagles.
DSPCA spokeswoman Gillian Bird said with forged papers for dogs traffickers could get between €600 to €700 per puppy.
“We suspect this is widespread,” she said.
Since July, dog breeders in Ireland with more than six breeding bitches are legally obliged to register with their local councils to protect animal welfare. However, there is concern that smaller operators will operate illegally.
New laws regulating puppy farms have been introduced to prevent hundreds of animals being raised in horrible conditions.
And while it is now compulsory for dogs bred in such centres to be microchipped, the DSPCA wants to see compulsory microchipping of all dogs.
DSCPA chief executive Brian Gillen called on the public to be vigilant when considering buying a puppy, particularly with the increase in online sources.
“Do not buy from the boot of a car or van and always arrange to meet the puppy with its parents at the breeder’s home — the conditions the mother is living in is a good indication of health and welfare.”
The Ceann Comhairle Seán Barrett rules that Minister Reilly failed to answer a Dáil question
On the primary care centre locations
Minister for Health James Reilly failed to answer a Dáil question about the controversial primary care centres he announced earlier this year, Ceann Comhairle Seán Barrett has ruled.
Mr Barrett has found that the Fine Gael Minister failed to answer a question about the criteria he used to identify the 35 priority centres that were announced as part of a Government stimulus package announced last July.
He was also found to have failed to detail the process that led to his decision, which resulted in the inclusion of two locations in his Dublin North constituency in the list, as well as other locations which were the subject of lobbying by Government backbenchers.
Mr Barrett was ruling on a complaint made by Sinn Féin health spokesman Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin over a question he asked the Minister in late September. This was shortly after controversy broke over Dr Reilly’s addition of 15 locations to the primary care list originally drawn up by his then minister of state, Róisín Shortall.
Mr Ó Caoláin asked Dr Reilly to detail the “exact criteria” used to identify the 35 priority centres; to detail the process which led to this decision; and the criteria used by the HSE to draw up an original long list of 200 potential locations. He also asked the Minister to provide both the short and the long lists.
Dr Reilly gave a lengthy response in which he listed the original three criteria used by Ms Shortall to list locations by priority. These were deprivation, an accommodation assessment in each area, and a service priority identified by local officials.
He said additional criteria were then added. These were competition; GP co-operation and GP to population ratio; existing health facilities; pressures on services; funding options; and implementability of a centre by public private partnership.
Mr Barrett has written to the Minister and his response will be included in the official Dáil record.
Providence Resources shares climb higher as oil recovery estimates from Barryroe increases
Providence Resources, the oil and gas explorer, climbed in Dublin trading yesterday after saying it now estimates that it can recover 280 million barrels in oil from its Barryroe prospect off the south coast of Ireland.
Providence rose as much as 4.6 per cent in Dublin.
“It’s a very big field,” said chief executive Tony O’Reilly jnr.
Davy analyst Job Langbroek said it was still early in the process. “The study publically confirms that Barryroe offers recovery rates that make for significant economic value and development potential.”
He added: “In fact, the type of development is not so much the issue; rather it is that an economic quantity of oil exits in a secure north European context, close to markets and in relatively shallow water.”
New study sees a rise in young stroke sufferers ‘Lifestyle likely to blame’
Strokes are most common in old age, but an American research suggests that lifestyle is putting younger people increasingly at risk for suffering strokes too.
In their study of two U.S. states, researchers whose report appeared in the journal Neurology found that the rate of strokes among adults younger than 55 nearly doubled between 1993 and 2005.
Among whites aged 20 to 54, the rate rose from 26 strokes for every 100,000 people, to 48 per 100,000. Among African Americans, it climbed from 83 to 128 per 100,000.
The researchers said they could only speculate on possible explanations. One might be that doctors are detecting strokes in young people more often, both as a result of better brain-imaging technology and being more vigilant.
“But I really don’t think that’s the major reason,” said lead researcher Brett Kissela, of the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. “We’re definitely seeing a higher incidence of risk factors for stroke now.”
Those risk factors include obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure.
“And if you’re developing them at the age of 20, then you may have a stroke at a younger age too,” Kissela said.
But a researcher not involved in the study agreed that better diagnosis and a real increase in young people’s risk of stroke are both probably at work.
“Now MRI allows us to detect smaller strokes,” said Mitchell S.V. Elkind, of Columbia University in New York, who co-wrote an editorial published with the study.
These include subtle symptoms like mild degrees of blurry vision, weakness or numbness. In the past, doctors might not have thought “stroke” when a relatively young person had them – and MRI scans were not used often back in the 1990s.
The study was based on nearly 5,900 Ohio and Kentucky adults who suffered a first-time stroke between 1993 and 2005. Over that time, 20 to 54-year-olds accounted for a growing proportion of strokes – from 13 percent in 1993 to almost 19 percent by 2005.
The study group came from only two U.S. states, but both Kissela and Elkind said the findings likely reflect what’s happening nationally. A government study last year found a similar pattern nationwide.
Kissela’s team found that in 1993-1994, only 18 percent of all stroke patients in their study had an MRI. By 2005, that figure had risen to 58 percent.
“But that probably doesn’t explain it all,” Elkind said, noting that drug abuse can also cause strokes. “We know there’s been an increase in obesity and diabetes.”
Kissela said the findings underscore the importance of a healthy lifestyle and that younger adults shouldn’t see themselves as “invincible” and get to the doctor if they do in fact have health problems like high blood pressure or cholesterol.
“It’s a small percentage of young people who have strokes, but it can happen,
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