€5 million investment by Government in Irish technology, 80 jobs to be directly created in Phase I

Dublin, 22nd April 2010

A partnership with Intune Networks to establish the first exemplar communications test bed was recently announced. The Exemplar Test Bed will utilise the technology invented in Ireland by two graduate students from UCD and developed by Irish company Intune Networks.

This technology can eliminate costly bottlenecks of data on networks. The dramatic reductions in the amount of energy they use make this technology an attractive prospect for major international companies.

The Government will invest €5 million in Phase I of this project. The aim is that companies will use the test bed for Research and Development purposes. Already, companies such as Eircom, EMC, Imagine, BT, IBM, ESB Telecom, Imagine, e-Net, Firecomms, Opennet and CeltixConnect have entered into discussions with the Department.

UCD, DCU, UCC Tyndall, NUI Galway and Science Foundation Ireland have also expressed an interest in using this technology for their research purposes.

The test-bed has 64 granted patents which secure the technology and which ensure that Ireland is the first country in the world to offer such a facility. The test-bed is 100% owned by the Government.

The Test-bed will be build in Parkwest Business Park in Dublin and will be open for business, on an open-access basis, in July of this year. 80 jobs will be created directly in Phase I.

ENDS