2011 was a good year for the global technology business. Two notable events occurred. The death of Apple leader Steve Jobs and Twitter came to Dublin.
One event towered over everything, the passing of Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs in October.
While Jobs' battle with pancreatic cancer was common knowledge for many years, everyone was stunned when one of the most visionary leaders the technology industry has ever seen died. Few if any can lay claim to his immense impact on this sector.
Twitter comes to Dublin
I guess this was the icing on the cake when in September a single tweet from IDA Ireland revealed that Ireland had won the battle against the UK to bring Twitters EMEA HQ to Dublin.
The number of jobs has still to be confirmed but Twitter joins a host of Silicon Valley's top companies such as Google, Facebook,Zynga, LinkedIn, Amazon and others who are making Dublin ‘The Internet Capital of Europe’.
Intel creates 1,000 jobs
Intel Corporation stunned the country when it announced that 1,000 new jobs were to be generated at its production facility in Leixlip, which already employs 4,000 people. The company said the project will create 200 high-level technology jobs, and generate up to 850 construction jobs as well.
The IDA said that it was an enormous vote of confidence and endorsement of Ireland as a competitive location for global investment.
IBM acquires Cúram
IBM announced that it was buying Irish software company Cúram for an undisclosed sum.
Cúram, which means "care and protection" as Gaeilge, was founded in 1990.After the acquisition is completed, IBM said that it would be integrated into its Software Group, which is seen as a key driver of growth and profitability for the company.
Spate of tech IPOs begin
Although everyone is waiting for the mother of all IPO’s - that of Facebook early in the New Year - 2011 was definitely the year which saw many fast-growing web businesses go public.
LinkedIn started the ball rolling in May with an IPO that valued it at US$4.5bn.The company raised close to US$400m on its first day.
The next big tech IPO came in November with the announcement that daily deals site Groupon floated with a valuation of US$13bn.This saw the company raising nearly US$700m on its first day's trading.
The tech IPO year ended in December, after the flotation of social and web gaming site Zynga.It raised a staggering US$1bn on its first day's trading and valued the company at US$7bn. This was the largest internet IPO since Google's IPO in 2004, which raised US$1.9bn.
Venture capital outlook for 2012
One thing the global downturn taught us as a nation is that Ireland needs a strong indigenous technology sector. As we enter into 2012, the key will be ensuring there is a healthy supply of venture capital funding.
Data from the Irish Venture Capital Association revealed that Irish tech firms raised €161.9m from investors during the first six months of 2011. However, the Association has warned there could be a shortfall of €1.5bn over the next five years, which will affect follow-on investments.
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