Launch of the Forfas Wireless Report and the CommSoft Ireland website

The official launch of the CommSoft Ireland website

Michael Adams, CTO of Cape Technologies, launched the new CommSoft Ireland website (this site) and spoke about the CommSoft Forum, established in 2002. The aim of the site is to facilitate information sharing among the Wireless/Telecommunications community in Ireland and to serve as a free online resource for all members of this community in Ireland.

Launch of the Wireless Communications Report: An Area of Opportunity for Ireland

"The value of the mobile data services market is currently estimated at $55 billion and is set to grow to $235 billion by 2010. Such growth offers a strong opportunity for Ireland to establish a robust wireless cluster based on its existing strengths in the sector."

Martin Cronin: Chief Executive, Forfas.

This report, published by Forfás, examines the global wireless landscape and analyses the future growth potential of the industry.

Providing an overview of the Irish wireless sector and outlining its current strengths and weaknesses, the report focuses on recommendations to promote wireless communications as a sustainable, internationally-traded sector in Ireland.

The wireless sector in Ireland comprises over 60 enterprises and employs 4,300 people, (employment is split evenly between foreign and indigenous firms). Funded by a resilient venture capital sector, Irish companies have built a strong knowledge base in key growth areas such as messaging and mediation. Internationally, the wireless sector continues to show strong growth rates. The report forecasts a cellular subscriber growth rate of 7 per cent per annum over the next seven years and the emergence of a wider range of data applications. The sector is expected to grow faster than GDP in all regions globally, with cellular revenue remaining the largest contributor to a $529 billion market by 2010.

The combination of a strong knowledge base and a progressive market means that Ireland is well positioned to take advantage of developments in this sector. The report recommends that Ireland should focus its future development on existing established strengths in operations support systems (OSS), security and billing and transaction management and that there is potential to expand these core strengths into certification and hosting activities which would enable Ireland to establish itself as a European hub for the emerging mobile application hosting industry.

Commsoft Meeting

The next Commsoft meeting will take place at the IDA on the 28th of January next.

There will be a discussion and wine reception, chaired by Vincent Wade F.T.C.D. The discussion will be among members of a specially invited panel of guests. The disucssion will then be opened to the floor. Watch this space for more details, or contact us.

Commsoft Website

The commsoft website is part of an initiative on the part of the IDA to catalyse the development of Ireland as a premiere location for telecommunications software industries.