Foster gets expert advice on economic policy
ATLAS gives Liberal Democrats online advantage
Atlas Communications, the Belfast based telecommunications company, has provided a data hosting service, which has seen the Liberal Democrats website outperform that of Labour and the Conservatives, in terms of speed and uptime.
Members of the newly established Economic Advisory Group (EAG) (l‑r) are Michael Ryan CBE, Bombardier Aerospace; Kate Barker CBE; Mark Nodder, Wright Group; Lorraine Hall, Kestrel Foods; Alan Armstrong, Almac and Stephen Kingon, Invest NI Board.
Enterprise minister Arlene Foster, has met with the newly established Economic Advisory Group (EAG).
The EAG has been set up following the recommendation from the Independent Review of Economic Policy, to create a focused group of experts, from economics and business. The group will provide independent advice to the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment, aimed at challenging and developing public policy and strategic thinking on the Northern Ireland and UK economy. Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster welcomed the inaugural meeting of the group, which is chaired by independent economist Kate Barker CBE, former member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England, and involves experts from the fields of business, skills and economics.
Its members are Professor Frances Ruane, Director, Economic and Social Research Institute; Michael Ryan CBE, Bombardier Aerospace; Mark Nodder, Wright Group; Alan Armstrong, Almac; Stephen Kingon, Invest NI Board; Gerry Mallon, Northern Bank; Lorraine Hall, Kestrel Foods and Bill McGinnis, NI
Employment and Skills Adviser. Arlene Foster said: “The Economic Advisory Group brings together some of the top minds in business, skills and economics to provide independent advice, aimed at challenging and developing public policy and strategic thinking on the Northern Ireland and UK economy.” The minister added: “The primary focus, over the next few months, will be for the Economic Advisory Group to contribute to the development of an Economic Strategy. They will also have a key role in informing the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investmentʼs (DETI) contribution to the next Northern Ireland Executive Programme for Government and the development of the 2011‑2014 DETI Corporate Plan.” Speaking in her role as chair of EAG, Kate Barker said: “I believe that the Group can make a valuable contribution to the development of economic policy in Northern Ireland. I am looking forward to working closely with my EAG colleagues on the key issues, leading to robust policy for Northern Ireland which will enable entrepreneurship and drive prosperity.”
A survey carried out by independent research website Sitemorse, found that the Liberal Democratʼs website came out above the Conservatives and Labour. Thanks to Atlasʼ fibre‑optic network the Liberal Democratʼs site was the fastest to load and the only site out of the Liberal Democrats, Labour, Conservatives and the Green party to achieve 100 per cent uptime. Atlas provides data hosting through its data centre to Being Communications, who were appointed to be part of the Liberal Democrats General Election team and deliver the political parties online service and support.
Atlasʼ data centre is a secure facility and is designed to operate to 99.999 per cent uptime, allowing Being to access additional bandwidth automatically to cope with peaks in traffic. This ensured that Being were safe‑ guarded from bandwidth congestion or downtime affecting their service to the Liberal Democrat Party. This proved essential during the General Election with over 100, 000 unique visitors to the Liberal Democrat website on the day before the election and over 40, 000 by 11am on Election Day.
Atlas is in the process of delivering fibre‑ optic connectivity to businesses across Northern Ireland, as well as managed call solutions, telephony systems, and competitive lines and minutes.
For more on how Atlas and Being helped the Liberal Democrats to outperform its opponents visit:
www.samknows.com/broadband/news/br oadband‑performance‑for‑the‑election‑ labour‑down‑lib‑dems‑up‑
10680.html or:
www.sitemorse.com/survey/report.html?rt=6 39
Manx2.com new Belfast-Galway air route
Manx2.com, has launched a new air service between Belfast and Galway which will begin operations from Monday July 5th next. Noel Hayes, chairman Manx2 said that “this new service will stimulate commerce and tourism between the two cities as
Manx2.com will operate a
www.businessfirstonline.co.uk 74
twice‑daily commuter service most weekdays and with flights on Sunday evenings too there will be a choice of 20 flights per week”. Michael Corless, chairman Galway Airport, said: “we are delighted to be able to offer air connectivity between Galway and Belfast. Galway Airport now provides air access to each of Irelandsʼ provincial capitals”. Uel Hoey, business development director, Belfast International Airport said: “I believe this service between the North and West of Ireland will really benefit the business community and increase the accessibility of both marketplaces and the cities of Belfast and Galway”. For more information on the route and to reserve tickets, visit
www.manx2.com.
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