John Lewell

[May 11] Internet industry analysis provider Forrester Research this week opened a new research center in the U.K. and announced Thursday the appointment of William Reeve as group director of European data products. Forrester’s new research center in London, headed by managing director Neil Bradford, is the culmination of the company’s acquisition of Fletcher Research, […]

[May 11] Eleven European airlines are joining forces to create an online travel market, accessible by the general public. The airlines are: Aer Lingus, Air France, Alitalia, Austrian Airlines Group, British Airways, British Midland, Finnair, Iberia, KLM, Lufthansa and SAS. Speaking with one voice, the heads of the airlines issued a statement predicting that the […]

[May 10] Telecoms group Cable & Wireless announced Wednesday the completion of phase one of its $3.5 billion program to build a global IP network. The network, which will link 84 international nodes by 2001, already links London, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Paris, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Sydney. The seven nodes connect to the U.S. backbone at […]

[May 10] British Sky Broadcasting (Sky) said Wednesday it had agreed to buy Sports Internet Group plc in an all-share deal that values the company at over £300 million ($460 million). Shareholding directors of Sports Internet have given irrevocable undertakings to accept Sky’s offer, ensuring that Sky can acquire at least 51.5 per cent of […]

[May 10] World Online announced Wednesday that Microsoft Vice President James Kinsella, who currently heads MSNBC.com, has agreed to relocate to the Netherlands and join World Online’s management team as chairman-elect on June 1. Having been crisis-ridden for several months, leading up to the resignation of Chairwoman Nina Brink after a sharedealing scandal, World Online […]

[May 9] Tax-free betting company Sportingbet.com (UK) Plc announced Tuesday the purchase of the Costa Rican online betting service Betmaker.com, bringing an additional 150 staff and $150 million in turnover. The purchase of Betmaker.com, for an undisclosed sum, is a major move for Sportingbet.com. It gives the company a base in the Americas, with 25,000 […]

[May 9] FLAG Telecom announced Tuesday that Barclays Capital and and Westdeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale (WestLB) will lead the financing of its FLAG Pacific-1 cable system, raising $1.1 billion for expansion of the network to 64,500 kilometers. FLAG Pacific-1 will support the next generation of Internet Protocol over optical data networks, providing high-speed connectivity between Tokyo, […]

[May 8] INTERSHOP founder Stephan Schambach and Harvard Business School Professor Walter Kuemmerle have joined the supervisory board of GloMediX, a European online marketplace for medical equipment. Stephan Schambach founded INTERSHOP Communication ten years ago at age 19 in what was then East Germany. He has since built the company into a global e-commerce operation […]

[May 8] ebookers.com announced Monday it has acquired all the share capital of Spanish travel wholesaler and tour operator Viajes Dimensiones, S.L. The amount paid was not disclosed, but ebookers.com said it was in line with other European acquisitions it has made recently. Viajes Dimensiones sells negotiated fares and last minute holidays and had revenues […]

[May 5] Bouncing back from post-IPO blues, lastminute.com has launched the U.K’s first WAP restaurant booking service while also establishing an advertising and e-commerce relationship with Web portal Excite UK. Both moves indicate that lastminute.com is looking increasingly like a company well-placed to capitalize on what is certain to be a boom in WAP-enabled mobile […]

[May 5] An Australian communications company named inter-touch announced Friday that it will invest around £55 million (US$84 million) to provide high-speed Internet access in European and Middle Eastern hotels. inter-touch, previously known as NetPort Hospitality Systems, says it has already invested over £68,000 into Britain’s Royal Garden Hotel and Millennium Madejski Hotel where it […]

[May 4] Italy woke up to a new portal on Thursday named Everyday.com, which comes complete with free Internet access, free email, SMS messaging, and news updates. Everyday.com has been launched by Societe Européenne de Communication (SEC), a pan-European provider of telecommunications and related services. It will offer the services initially to its fixed line […]