Category: Tech

Belfast Isn’t Another Silicon Valley — And That’s a Good Thing by @StefanNandzik vp @signifyd

By Stefan Nandzik, VP of Communications at Signifyd

Stefan Nandzik, Signifyd’s vice president of corporate communications, was present in Belfast for the initial opening of Signifyd’s research and development centre and as the company’s main liaison to the local community will return for Digital DNA in June. At a previous company, he was responsible for aligning marketing strategies around the world to corporate goals while considering local resources and cultures. He believes business is a creative pursuit that requires a relentlessly agile approach.

The road to becoming the next Silicon Valley is littered with the carcasses of failed economic development marketing campaigns: Silicon Glen in Scotland, Silicon Prairie in Illinois, Silicon Gulch in Texas, Silicon Tundra in Canada and Wisconsin. Not to mention Silicon Alps, Bayou, Beach, Fen, Freeway and Forest.

Belfast figured out something the Silicon wannabes didn’t — and that is at the core of why Signifyd decided to open its global R&D centre in Northern Ireland’s capital. What Belfast knows, is that it isn’t what you call yourself that’s important; it’s what you are.

Belfast is a building culture. Throughout the city’s history, it’s been known for building and producing, whether it is linen, rope, whiskey or ships. You know it by its skyline, punctuated by the enormous cranes of Harland and Wolff. You know it by its world-class museum, The Titanic Experience, which chronicles the construction of its namesake ship — in its time, the largest human-made moveable object on Earth.

So, what does all that has to do with Silicon Valley startups arriving in Belfast to do work that is core to their futures? It has everything to do with a common culture. Silicon Valley is a building culture. It embraces creativity, curiosity, agility, industry and a hunger for scale.

Speaking for Signifyd, when we went looking last year for the place to locate our global research and development centre, we were looking for a building culture. A building culture is a culture that thrives on tackling problems that have never been solved in ways that have never been tried. Think of what it took for the innovators of Harland and Wolff to build the Titanic and its sister ships.

It’s not just the physical construction of the 52-tonne passenger liner that’s amazing. It’s the vision and determination to design the ship and the audacity to believe you can build it. It’s the flexibility to change course when things don’t go as planned. It’s the awareness and persistence to accept failure and learn from it.

Building cultures are not simply manufacturing cultures. Manufacturing is about repeatable processes and scale. Nothing wrong with that. But building cultures are about pioneering; about finding a new way — and not just in theory.

There is no need for Silicon Valley startups to sour the world to find the next Silicon Valley. Those companies have already been molded by Silicon Valley; they have Silicon Valley in their DNA. What they need is a complementary culture. We see that in Belfast.

Why Belfast? The tangible benefits are easy to list:

  • Top universities: Queen’s University is a global leader in cybersecurity and home to the UK’s prestigious Centre for Secure Information Technologies. Ulster University offers its world-renowned Computer Science Research Institute.
  • Eager investors: Belfast is the top investment location for U.S. cybersecurity development projects, according to fDI Intelligence, a foreign investment analytics organization.
  • Tolerance for failure: The sinking of the Titanic in 1912 was a terrible tragedy. But the scale of the vision and the scale of the engineering required to build and launch the ship was a triumph of the human spirit that serves as an inspiration even today.
  • Dissatisfaction with the status quo: Belfast is filled with thinkers and innovators who know there is a better way.
  • Cooperation coexisting with competition: Incubators like Ormeau Baths, the burgeoning meet-up and hackathon scene and a roster of hundreds of startups that allow for cross-pollination as workers move between jobs, creates a culture of constant learning.
  • Critical mass of skilled employees: See top universities and hundreds of startups above.

And while those attributes are generally measurable, Belfast also includes some intangibles that appeal to the builders, to the startups that endeavor to solve a problem in a unique way. In a lot of ways, Belfast itself embodies the characteristics that are vital to the success of any startup.

Throughout its history, it’s a city that has shown itself to have vision, a killer work ethic, optimism, perseverance, purpose, a firm grasp on reality and a willingness to take big chances.

Recycling your Twitter trash for Pride month. #PrideMonth #Twitter #ReCycleYourThoughts

In honour of Pride month, Greyhound Recycling and Recovery is launching an online tool called the ‘Bin of Old Behaviours’  It is designed to help people recycle themselves, to own up to their past behaviour and move forward making the internet a less toxic place.

 

The recent growing trend of ‘Call-out culture’ or more specifically, ‘Cancel Culture’ has taken the internet by storm. Cancel Culture refers to a collective moment of “cancelling” or boycotting an offending person for problematic behaviour on Twitter.

Around the world, celebrities like Stormzy, Jack Maynard and Zoella, to name a few, made headlines due to tweets they wrote in the past. Some posts are from over ten years ago and long forgotten until someone goes looking for offending behaviour to call out.  These tweets containing controversial terms and slurs they had used, resurfaced recently and was widely criticised in the Twittersphere for the racist, sexist and homophobic content.

 

“Greyhound believes that everyone should be given the chance to recycle their thoughts and be more open and loving. We believe the current culture does not allow people to learn and grow.
Being involved in recycling, this tool seemed like a wonderful opportunity for us to use our expertise to make the world a better place,” says Michael Buckley, Owner, Greyhound Recycling and Recovery.

 

Developed to combat this trend which promotes an unhealthy witch hunt by holding people accountable for ideas that don’t reflect who they are anymore, this tool allows people to quickly find and review their old problematic tweets.  This is done with a custom search facility which trawls your old tweets for certain keywords associated with racist, sexist and homophobic behaviour.

 

In order to delete the tweets and move forward, people have to share a personalised image owning up their previous thoughts and a link promoting healthy information sources to combat prejudice.  

 

Try the tool for yourself here www.binofoldbehaviours.com

Airthings – Clean Air Day Thursday 20th June. #CleanAirDay #Airthings #Tech

Clean Air Day take place on Thursday 20th June and, with the announcement from the organisers that the components of indoor air are even more severe than those found outside; monitoring indoor air quality is becoming more and more important to households across the country.

The experts in indoor air quality, Airthings want to educate the nation on how the air we breathe at home, work and school can have a long-term impact on our health. Research by Clean Air Day, commissioned by environment charity Global Action Plan, has found that indoor air pollution is 3.5 times worse than outdoor air pollution and 55% of parents have said their children spend more time indoors when they are not at school/college than they did at a similar age.

The Airthings Wave Plus is the first wirelessly connected and battery-operated indoor air quality monitor with radon detection and sensors which measures VOCs, CO2, temperature, humidity and air pressure.

Not only are the components of the air that have been highlighted by Clean Air Day of concern but the lesser known radon is no less serious. The long-term health implications of being exposed to radon can be life changing as it has been identified as the single biggest contributor to causing  lung cancer for non-smokers.

The Airthings Dashboard interprets the room’s indoor air quality data with alerts and tips to reduce air hazards, optimise ventilation leading to the potential saving on energy costs. The Wave Plus comes with a free mobile app which is simple and easy to set up and brings indoor air quality data and radon levels to user’s fingertips. Versatile for offices, schools, homes or any public space, the Wave Plus is a great addition for recognising what could be impacting indoor air quality and the resolutions to put in place.

Airthings Wave Plus Smart Radon Detector– Available for £239.00 from Amazon

First look and unboxing of Cololight by Lifesmart. #Cololight #Tech #Lifesmart #SmartLight

Fancy something to cheer the mood up in your house or just give it a totally new look? Well this could be the trick.. Cololight by Lifesmart is a modular smart LED system and you can basically go large with this and be creative and design your own set up here which is really cool which also has Alexa and Google Assistant to help you along.

This comes with an app and works on Android and iOS devices and you also need Wi-Fi and you can pick and choose from 16 million colours and three modes so there is no shortage of customization here which is something many of us like. RGB fans will also like this in their setup at home.  You can pick between preset effects,customize your own effects and use your phones mic to create lighting effects that react to sound, all sounds good? We will have our review soon but check out the unboxing below and the link to buy is just below. Any questions hit us up.

http://cololight.co.uk/

Flexi-Fi Survey – Technology and clothing top popular gifts for Father’s Day #FathersDay #Tech

Consumer finance company, Flexi-Fi has today released the results of a recent survey in time for Father’s Day.  Father’s Day takes place this weekend and the survey asked consumers about their planned gifts for their Dad. Socks n Jocks will be still present for many..LOL..I know how you feel…

Over 2,300 people took part in the exercise and of those surveyed:

  • 86% of people surveyed will give their Dad a card on Father’s Day
  • 75% of shoppers will purchase their father’s gift in-store
  • 22% of people will purchase technology gifts as a present
  • 24% of people surveyed will purchase clothes for their Dad
  • Aftershave maintains its position as a popular gift for Dads!
  • Over half of those surveyed will spend €60 or less on a gift

Speaking about Flexi-Fi’s Father’s Day survey, CEO PJ Byrne said: “With Father’s Day happening this weekend we were curious to know what was on consumers shopping lists this year.  While it isn’t surprising that technology is up there as one of the top gifts that will be purchased for Father’s Day it is great to see traditional gifts, like aftershave still featuring strongly. The ever reliable aftershave remains a firm favourite for shoppers while most Dads are guaranteed to receive a greeting card to mark the occasion”.

Strencom invests €250K in VMware cloud-based disaster recovery service. #strencom #cloud

Strencom, the Irish managed connectivity and cloud computing provider, today announced that its Point ‘N’ Click public cloud service has attained VMware Disaster Recovery as a Service™ (DRaaS) Powered status. Strencom has invested €250,000 in the service – building an advanced technology infrastructure as well as investing in new staff and employee training.

Point ‘N’ Click Disaster Recovery (DR) from Strencom reduces the cost of disaster recovery by up to 80%, enabling organisations to affordably recover files and resume normal operations in as little as five minutes. The cloud-based solution is built specifically for on-premise VMware environments and to be easy for organisations to operate and adopt.

The solution records and documents failover and failback testing, which is critical for compliance requirements, especially in regulated industries, such as healthcare, financial services, and legal.  Strencom is predicting strong demand for the service from organisations in these highly regulated sectors.

Tim Murphy, CEO, Strencom commented: “We are already seeing strong interest for the service from our channel partners who have an existing base of VMware deployments that they are managing on behalf of their customers. As well as this, we are also actively looking for new partners for the service.”

Strencoms CEO, Tim Murphy announcing that Strencom has signed cloud and connectivity deals totalling 2 million with 140 credit union branches across Ireland.

As an accredited VMware DRaaS provider, Strencom can now enable greater availability, performance and scalability for its customers. The announcement also aligns well with Strencom’s growth strategy, as the company seeks to double its overall cloud business, in addition to continuing to grow its connectivity and unified communications offerings.

Strencom’s disaster recovery (DR) service offers Irish businesses peace of mind that potential downtime and loss of data resulting from a natural disaster, equipment failure or cybercrime can be minimised. The subscription-based service removes the need for capital expenditure, meaning businesses can put in place a reliable disaster recovery solution for minimum cost.

Tim Murphy said: “Businesses are beginning to understand cloud better and are making more informed decisions about which workloads are best suited to which cloud. Strencom’s cloud offering will make up a growing part of our overall business and evolving our disaster recovery service is an important element of this. As a designated VMware DRaaS service provider, we can now deliver true disaster recovery for our customers to ensure their applications, systems and data are all protected”.

Data Solutions – The Secure Computing Forum is back and bigger than ever! #SCF #Cybersecurity

DataSolutions, the specialist IT distributor, will host the seventh annual Secure Computing Forum in partnership with INM Events at the RDS, Dublin, on Thursday, 12th September 2019. With more than 500 delegates expected to attend, it promises to be Ireland’s largest cybersecurity event.

Keynote speaker John P Carlin, former assistant attorney general for the US Department of Justice’s (DOJ) National Security Division (NSD), will speak about national security matters, crisis management practices and espionage threats. The other keynote speaker is Mustafa Al-Bassam, an ex-hacker previously affiliated with Lulzsec and Anonymous, who will discuss the importance of fostering transparency and protecting against malware.

Mary-Jo De Leeuw, “Co-Founder and Vice President of the Women in Cyber Security Foundation and former Director of Cybersecurity Advocacy Europe Middle East & Africa (ISC), Other speakers include Jamie Bartlett, technology journalist and author of The Dark Net; Paddy McGuinness, recent Deputy National Security Adviser in the UK’s Cabinet Office responsible for intelligence security and resilience; Jamie Woodruff, Europe’s leading ethical hacker; and Helen Dixon, Data Protection Commissioner for Ireland.

The event – which will be hosted by David Keating, group security sales director at DataSolutions, and Adrian Weckler, technology editor at Independent News & Media – will also cover topics such as the most dangerous new cyber-attack techniques, the impact dark net technology is having on cybercrime and cybersecurity challenges associated with obligations to privacy.

Speaking about the conference, Michael O’Hara, Group Managing Director, DataSolutions, said: “When we first thought of the concept for the Secure Computing Forum, we never expected it to reach the heights it has. It’s terrific, after seven consecutive years, that the interest continues to grow and it’s great to partner with INM Events for this year’s conference.

Pictured at the announcement of the 7th Secure Computing Forum that is taking place at The RDS in Dublin on Thursday, 12th September 2019: Roberta McCrossan, Group Marketing Director, DataSolutions and Michael O’Hara, Group Managing Director, DataSolutions

“Cybersecurity is an issue that remains at the top of the agenda for Irish businesses and we are very excited about the line-up of speakers for 2019. We’ll be covering every angle, from company-wide data breaches and individual risks to the dark net and espionage threats. It’s going to be bigger than ever.”

Organised and operated in partnership with INM Events, the event will offer senior business and IT professionals from organisations of all sizes the chance to network with leading providers and cybersecurity experts from across Europe and further afield. For more information and to register for the Secure Computing Forum, visit: www.securecomputingforum.ie. Tickets are priced at €100 (excl. VAT). Refreshments will be provided throughout the day.

Hedkayse One – Now on sale.- The world’s toughest, safest and most durable bicycle helmet. #Cyclists #Cycling

The Hedkayse One is a foldable bicycle helmet with Enkayse technology. Using Enkayse makes the helmet much safer than classic polystyrene helmets as it is capable of withstanding multiple drops and impacts unlike the usual one or two before it starts to deteriorate.

So confident were Hedkayse in its new creation, they ran it over in a car (video here), threw it off a cliff (video here), jumped on it (video here) and it remained unscathed, demonstrating how it is virtually impervious to blunt-force trauma, hardly leaving even a scratch.

 

Easy to fold and carry in a bag and with tests showing that the Hedkayse One is much safer than other helmets on the market, it provides cyclists peace of mind in case of a fall and also prevents repeat purchasing of helmets after damage making it ideal for any bike lover.

Available for £149.99 from Hedkayse

Wix.com Opens Dublin Customer Support Centre. #Wix #ICT #Jobs #IDA

WIX, a leading cloud-based web development platform, has added a Customer Support Centre in Dublin, Ireland to further enhance its global support infrastructure and international footprint.

Wix has already recruited and trained a staff of approximately 100 support specialists and office operations personnel ahead of the office’s formal opening. The Dublin support team caters to Wix customers in multiple languages, including English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Italian, and Russian. Operations in Dublin officially began in September 2018, initially with a staff of nine. Beyond the Dublin location, Wix announced during their latest earnings report an additional growth investment into the next phase of its Customer Solutions organization.

“Our customer support teams are at the frontlines of our product growth and the work they do is invaluable to our company,” said Nir Zohar, President and COO at Wix. “We have significantly increased our global customer support team headcount since 2016, and with the addition of the team in Dublin, we’ll be able to better serve our European customers, and further support our millions of customers around the world. We were delighted to work with IDA Ireland who were wonderful partners in Dublin. Their team provided meaningful connections throughout the city making the process of creating our space there very easy to accomplish.”

Welcoming the announcement, the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Ms. Heather Humphreys T.D., said “I am thrilled by this news and Wix’s decision to establish an office in Dublin. Wix is one of the most popular platforms used by both individuals and businesses to create websites, with over 150 million users worldwide. They will be a great addition to Dublin’s already thriving ICT sector.”

Executive Director of IDA Ireland, Mary Buckley also welcomed the news, stating: “Ireland has the youngest population in Europe with a third of the population under 25 years old and almost half the population under the age of 34. Companies such as Wix benefit from the wealth of multilingual talent, with more than 535,000 non-Irish nationals living in Ireland. Wix will service its European customer base from Dublin due to the multilingual and technological skills available here.”

About Wix

Wix is leading the way with a cloud-based website development platform for over 150 million registered users worldwide today. The Wix website builder was founded on the belief that the Internet should be accessible to everyone to develop, create and contribute. Through free and premium subscriptions, Wix empowers millions of businesses, organizations, artists, and individuals to take their businesses, brands and workflow online. The Wix Editor, Wix ADI, a highly curated App Market, Ascend by Wix and Corvid by Wix enable users to build and manage a fully integrated and dynamic digital presence. Wix’s headquarters are in Tel Aviv with offices in Be’er Sheva, Berlin, Dnipro, Dublin, Kiev, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Francisco, São Paulo, Tokyo and Vilnius.

The Wix office address is The Reflector Building, Grand Canal Dock, Dublin 2

Interested candidates should refer to: wix.com/jobs/locations/dublin/positions.