A NEW laser fibre optic communications system will create 30,000 jobs in Ireland, according to Barry McSweeney, Director of the National Knowledge Society Strategy.The world's first public demonstration of the new technology was held in Benner's Hotel, Dingle, on Saturday night as part of RTE's television series Other Voices.
"This technology has been developed by an Irish company and we're leading the world on this. The Government is not just looking at this development - we're going to take action on it. It has tremendous potential for Ireland and for jobs and we're going to capitalise on this. We believe it will create 30,000 jobs in Ireland over the next 15 years," Mr McSweeney told The Kerryman.
He was representing the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources at the demonstration.
The technology has been developed by In Tune Networks which has its main office in Dublin.
The company was founded ten years ago by two young Irishmen, John Dunne and Tom Farrell.
"I was doing a PhD in Dublin when Tom and I started this project. It's taken €50 million to develop and we employ 120 people now. This year we hired the entire UCC PhD class who were studying opto-electronics. One of our investors is Dermot Desmond. The system will provide, faster and cheaper access through television, laptops and mobile phones and will reduce electricity consumption for service providers by 75 per cent. You could create your own television station with this technology and it will be commercially available next year," John Dunne declared enthusiastically to The Kerryman.
"This development will have real national and international impact. It will reduce energy consumption and reduce operating costs for companies all over the world. We decided to launch it here in Dingle because of the Snow Patrol concert which is part of the Other Voices series," he added.
That series was being recorded in St James' Church on Main Street, just across the road from Benners Hotel.
The Snow Patrol gig was broadcast live to an audience in the hotel who watched it on HD flat screens but others were able to watch it on mobile phones and on laptops. Before the concert John Dunne, Barry McSweeney and the man behind the television series, Philip King, spoke to the audience in the hotel from the church, via the new system.
This was the first public audience to experience the pioneering technology.
You might need a PhD in laser fibre optics to appreciate the significance of this development but, according to industry experts, the Dingle demonstration heralded a new era in communications.
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