Business Forum October 1983
CARA Data Processing Limited has won a major order from the Bank of Ireland to revolutionise the bank's data processing facilities.
Worth well over £lm, the moderniisation programme includes the largest installation in Ireland of RACALLMILGO'S PLANET LOCAL AREA NETWORK (LAN).
The PLANET System, a token passing ring based network, is being installed in phases at the Bank's Dublin headquarters to provide senior staff with direct access to a manageement information database on a DEC PDP 11/750 computer.
Twenty terminals are currently connected to the LAN with plans to add a further lOin the near future. A further phase will see terminals at the Bank's International Division connnected via a second PLANET ring to two mini computers - a DEC and a TANDEM - again providing staff with direct access to a shared database.
The data communications network will, by mid 1984, connect all the Bank's 350 Branches in Ireland and 25 in the UK to a central computer on the outskirts of Dublin. Controlled by a CMS2 network management controller, the system will be based on a mixture of high, medium and low speed links.
"Once we had identified the need to put our branches on line to Dublin, our major concern was choosing a supplier with a solid reputation. RACAL-MILGO and T-BAR products met our technical requirements and we were very impressed with the support capability of CARA", said Mr Pat McDowell, Assistant General Manager, Bank of Ireland Computer Centre, Cabinteely.
"Having evaluated the systems available, we felt that PLANET was really the only LAN ready for delivery that offered the facilities we needed in the short term."
The Bank has used its PLANET to connect three different types of DEC Terminals to its mini computer. "We believe that the trend will be towards the sharing of resources and more flexibility in inter-office communicaations. We are watching the developpment of PLANET's capabilities with interest", says Mr McDowell.
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AVAIR - Irish Independent Airlines is to establish a network of scheduled cargo air services between Dublin and the UK. The first of these services ˜which will be marketed under the name JETPAK - commenced on Sept em ber 26, when a nightly service connecting Dublin with East Midlands Airport began.
Commenting on the new service, Mr Peter Coyle, General Manager of Avair, said at a reception held in the Burlington Hotel, Dublin "JETPAK is designed to meet the needs of modern 'industry and commerce for the fast transportation of, generally, high value, low volume goods such as spare parts, computer printouts, etc. The new JETPAK service has many advantages to offer to both contract and 'ad hoc' customers. East Midlands Airport (EMA) is the cargo airport for the industrial North of England. It is located just a mile from the M 1 motorway and provides easy access to business centres such as Birminggham, Coventry, Nottingham, Sheffield, Derby, Leicester and Rotherham."
Mr Coyle went on to say "Our new JETPAK service from Dublin to East Midlands Airport is scheduled to provide optimum connections with air cargo services from EMA to Europe and, also, road trunking services to other points in the UK."
"JETPAK will be a fully integrated, overnight service and will be offered at keen and competitive rates. We will arrange' to collect customers' parcels and freight at their offices or factories, fly the consignments aboard our jettprop Shorts 330 freighters and arrange customs clearance and delivery at destination. "
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ACCORDING to legend the Italian liqueur Amaretto di Saronno was created about 1525 by a poor and beautiful young widow.
The drink was a gift from her to the artist, Bernardino Luini, a member of the Leonardo da Vinci school, who at the time was painting the frescos which can still be seen in the chapel of Santa Maria Delle Grazie in Saronno.
When working on his frescos, the artist used the young lady as his model for the madonna and, in return, she created for him a distinctive drink brewed from brandy and apricot kernels, which we know today as Amaretto di Sarcnno.
Produced in the Lombardy region of Northern Italy, Amaretto di Saronno is now sold in 130 countries throughhout the world and has become Ameriica's top-selling liqueur.
Here in Ireland it has previously only been available through duty free outlets. Now, because of a growing consumer preference for cocktails, D.E. Williams have decided to make it widely available on the Irish market.
Among the guests present at the launch reception were Amaretoo di Saronno's Public Relations Director, Roberto Biasiol and D.E. Williams's General Manager and Director, Colm O'Brennan.
Speaking to the guests Mr O'Brennan said: "In recent years Irish drinking tastes have become increasingly more sophisticated. This has led to a noticeeable growth in specialised cocktail bars, as well as a growing interest in the preparation of cocktails at home. Because of this new emphasis on cocktails, Amaretto di Saronno is being introduced to the public as an essential base for a number of excitting cocktails, as well as being an extremely pleasant liqueur in its own right, and as a flavoursome inngredient in the preparation of certain food dishes,"
Readers interested in obtaining cocktail and recipe leaflets can obtain these from D.E. Williams, Vintners, Tullamore.
Raymond Whitehead has been appoinnted Sales Director of Ionisation Ireland Ltd, a recently formed IDA backed Cork company, manufacturing personal and industrial air ionisers for the home and export markets, the latest model being the Ray Ioniser. These units which are Irish made have a price and back up advantage over foreign made units. Mr Whitehead has been successfully involved in marketting air ionisers for a number of years.