Construction companies from Ireland have been shown to have some of the best résumés in Europe for motorway construction. Amid fierce competition SIAC closed the €350m contract for a stretch of Poland’s A4 Autostrada. This motorway runs along the south-east of Poland and is part of the E40 route, the longest motorway in Europe running from Calais to Ridder in Kazakhstan.

SIAC were awarded the contract, the Group’s largest ever, in a joint venture with one of Poland’s largest contractors, PBG. The 35 km motorway from Kryz to Debica in Poland is valued at ca. 1.4 billion Zloty (or approx. €356M) and is scheduled to be completed in 24 months.

A cloud solution was chosen to provide a common infrastructure, with equal access to information and information governance for both parties.  It also provides greater security and reliability of centralised backup and disaster recovery than locally based servers. Novosco solved the challenges of the project by leveraging its existing virtual platform to provide the server-side computing infrastructure.  This private cloud platform is located at Novosco’s primary data centre location in Dublin with the site offices in Poland accessing the data centre over the Internet via secure VPN.

“Novosco’s private cloud solution was attractive to us for a number of reasons,” says Eamonn Buckley, group IS & IT manager for SIAC Construction Ltd. “Firstly, it allowed us to deploy the infrastructure in a fraction of the time that a conventional hardware rollout would have taken. Another major benefit of this solution is that we only pay for our consumption within a given month.  Novosco ensure that we always have enough head room when things get busy but conversely, we do not need to pay for that extra capacity when it is not needed.  It also avoided the issue of who owns the hardware, during the project and after the project has been completed.  This can sometimes be a bone of contention on collaborative projects such as this.  Finally, the fact that all of the infrastructure required for this project is being paid for out of operating expenditure instead of capital expenditure was of major benefit”

Eddie O’Rourke, Sales Director with Novosco, pointed to the SIAC project as a signal of wider interest in cloud computing in the Irish marketplace, “This year we have seen a dramatic upward trend in enterprise organisations who want to explore the tangible benefits of cloud computing.  For businesses such as SIAC, it makes a lot of sense to leverage existing virtual real estate as a service, rather than having to worry about acquiring and managing infrastructure that will only be needed for the finite duration of a project.  Another common use-case we are seeing is the use of cloud computing for the purposes of disaster recovery.  People who have already virtualised their server estate can now replicate their virtual servers to an external provider, such as ourselves.  These virtual servers can then be powered up on our platform in the case of a disaster at the primary site.  For smaller businesses, we have seen exponential growth in our CloudStream Apps platform which is designed to completely outsource the delivery of all business applications to staff and partners.”

About the SIAC Construction Group

Founded in 1913, SIAC’s business has grown through their reputation for delivering quality projects that always meet and often exceed clients’ expectations. SIAC are now one of Ireland’s largestcontractors and have built a strong reputation and growing business in Ireland and the UK. Through a programme of alliances with major international civil engineering contractors and specialist contractors, they are able to undertake multidisciplinary projects of scale and complexity.

About Novosco

Novosco is a leading provider of virtual and cloud based infrastructure solutions with offices in Dublin and Belfast.

Our vendor accreditations include:
•Ireland’s only accredited VCE Partner
•Ireland’s only EMC Velocity Premier Solution Partner
•VMware Enterprise Partner
•Cisco Premier Partner
•Citrix Platinum Partner
•Microsoft Gold Partner

With a track record of building and hosting some of the largest and most complex infrastructure projects on the
island, our expertise with virtual and cloud infrastructure is second to none. Novosco works with both public and private sector organisations in Ireland,
helping them define and deliver their infrastructure strategies across a broad range of technologies. Recent awards include our 12th consecutive listing in
the Deloitte Fast50 awards and Cisco Data centre and Premier Partner of the year.

Belfast, July 2011- Novosco, Ireland’s leading provider of virtual and cloud IT infrastructure and services, today announced it has completed the first phase implementation of Tayto Group’s “Green IT” overhaul of back office systems.

Built on VMware’s vSphere Cloud Operating System and EMC’s Celerra storage platform, Tayto Group has now virtualised a significant amount of its legacy server estate. This centralised approach affords the company greater flexibility in the deployment of servers and systems. Servers that had previously taken days and weeks to deploy can now be commissioned in a matter of hours. Moreover, fewer physical devices means reductions in maintenance combined with greater operational efficiencies. All of this can be delivered, whilst allowing the company to reduce its carbon footprint.

: L-R: Christopher Milligan, IT Systems and Infrastructure Manager (Tayto Group Ltd) and Ellen Dickson, Account Manager (Novosco)

This change in how ICT is deployed within Tayto Group has allowed the company to expedite certain strategic operational projects, such as the deployment of production systems, and most recently, the delivery of video conferencing between various production sites.

Christopher Milligan, Tayto Group IT Systems and Infrastructure Manager said, “Novosco, as an innovative local company, was an obvious choice for Tayto in this project as their business values closely mirror our own. Novosco’s experience in virtualising large scale enterprise environments has helped us adopt a more flexible ICT agenda between the main parts of the company, whilst allowing us to proactively reduce our carbon footprint not least from the time, effort and financial savings from our new video conferencing solution.”

Patrick McAliskey, Novosco Managing Director said “Tayto is undoubtedly one of Northern Ireland’s most instantly recognisable and beloved brands, with whom we have happily worked with for many years now. In the current economic climate, companies, including Tayto Group, need to be flexible and proactive in their approach. We are certain that Tayto’s approach will allow them to do just that. Novosco has provided the best possible technical advice to Tayto on a competitive basis to all levels within the company, and we will certainly continue to do so.”

About Novosco

Novosco is a leading provider of virtual and cloud based infrastructure solutions with offices in Dublin and Belfast. Our vendor accreditations  include:
• Ireland’s only accredited VCE Partner
• Ireland’s only EMC Velocity Premier Solution Partner
• VMware Enterprise Partner
• Cisco Premier Partner
• Citrix Platinum Partner
• Microsoft Gold Partner

With a track record of building and hosting some of the largest and most complex infrastructure projects on the island, our expertise with virtual and cloud infrastructure is second to none. Novosco works with some the largest public and private sector organisations in Ireland, helping them define and deliver their infrastructure strategies across a broad range of technologies. Recent awards include our 11th consecutive listing in the Deloitte Fast50 awards and Cisco Datacentre and Premier Partner of the year.

For more information visit www.novosco.com

About Tayto Group Ltd

Tayto was established in 1956, with production based in a castle in Tandragee in the heart of County Armagh, the Tayto brand remains the market leading iconic crisp and snack brand in Northern Ireland. The Tayto Group has expanded rapidly in the past five years to confirm its place as the third largest crisp and snack producer in the UK. Beginning with the acquisition of Golden Wonder in 2006, the company now boasts brands including Real Crisps, Mr Porky, Jonathan Crisp and Transform-a-Snack, with production sites in Corby, Scunthorpe, Crumlin and Westhoughton.

Belfast, June 2011 - Novosco, Ireland’s leading provider of virtual and cloud IT infrastructure and services, today announced it has been appointed to host and maintain the back office ICT systems, and Wide Area Network links for Northern Ireland based estate agency Templeton Robinson.

A period of sustained growth for the company, coupled with the focus on transacting properties meant that IT was often neglected. This led to the contradictory situation of an increased reliance on IT services, whilst being unable to focus on hardware refresh, software upgrade and constant training.

Keith Mitchell, Partner (Templeton Robinson) and David Maginnes, Account Manager (Novosco)

After testing the market, Templeton Robinson opted to host all back office IT systems in the Novosco DataCentre, coupled with the CloudStream™ platform for WAN connectivity between the company’s sites. This was all backed up with a fully managed service offering to ensure that business critical applications, such as email and property databases, are available at all times.

The flexibility of this approach will allow Templeton Robinson to concentrate on its core business of transacting properties for the next three years. It will also afford management with greater control over the support and control of the environment, with the potential for new and improved services delivered as budgets and demands dictate.

Keith Mitchell, Partner with Templeton Robinson said “Novosco’s cloud computing based solution set gives us the much needed flexibility to cope with changes in how we run our business. By hosting the IT infrastructure with Novosco, we can scale our operations upwards and downwards as needed, whilst being able to accurately budget against this on a monthly basis. This is particularly important in the current market.”

Patrick McAliskey, Novosco Managing Director said “The challenges facing Templeton Robinson are similar to those facing many other companies. The ability to provide a dynamic and scalable IT infrastructure will be closely linked to Templeton Robinson’s success. We look forward to helping Keith and his team achieve this”.

About Novosco

Novosco is a leading provider of virtual and cloud based infrastructure solutions with offices in Dublin and Belfast. Our vendor accreditations  include:

• Ireland’s only accredited VCE Partner
• Ireland’s only EMC Velocity Premier Solution Partner
• VMware Enterprise Partner
• Cisco Premier Partner
• Citrix Platinum Partner
• Microsoft Gold Partner

With a track record of building and hosting some of the largest and most complex infrastructure projects on the island, our expertise with virtual and cloud infrastructure is second to none. Novosco works with some the largest public and private sector organisations in Ireland, helping them define and deliver their infrastructure strategies across a broad range of technologies. Recent awards include our 11th consecutive listing in the Deloitte Fast50 awards and Cisco Datacentre and Premier Partner of the year.
For more information visit www.novosco.com

About Templeton Robinson
Templeton Robinson has been one of Northern Ireland’s most recognisable estate agencies since 1994, and is situated across five branches throughout Belfast, Holywood and Bangor, employing more than 60 people. Templeton Robinson is widely seen as being well specialists in all aspects of residential estate agency. With the belief that nothing substitutes personal contact, the company’s experienced team ensures the experience of buying or selling property is be a straightforward one.

- Hibernia delivers fast, diverse connectivity to Novosco across Europe
- Novosco’s Network expansion allows for ‘future-proof’ virtual offering
- Hibernia was chosen due to its cutting-edge network, flexibility, rapid deployment and cost-effective solutions

Belfast June 7th, 2011  Hibernia Atlantic, the organisation responsible for the deployment of the ‘Project Kelvin’ high speed, diverse network, announces today that Novosco, Ireland’s leading provider of virtual and cloud IT infrastructure and services, chose Hibernia Atlantic for its fast, diverse connectivity within Northern Ireland and throughout the rest of Europe. This increased capacity enables a ‘future-proof‘ network for Novosco’s virtualisation and cloud expansion.

Left to Right - Patrick McAliskey, Managing Director (Novosco) and Steve Swift, Director of Network Operations Northern Ireland (Hibernia Atlantic)

As a robust and innovative virtual infrastructure company, Novosco specialises in integrating emerging technologies into its customer solutions. With the addition of Hibernia’s secure connectivity, Novosco has increased its capacity via a diverse ring topology throughout Europe, including routes linking Dublin, Belfast and London, as well as extending its national coverage by using Hibernia’s network to access key British Telecom exchanges.

“Hibernia’s cutting-edge network, coupled with its flexible and cost-effective solutions, allows us to future proof our IT backbone, making it capable for the rapid expansion envisaged in the cloud and virtual space,” states Patrick McAliskey, Managing Director of Novosco.  ”Novosco’s CloudStream network will, for the first time, bring together the Northern Ireland Department of Enterprise Trade & Industry’s (DETI) flagship Kelvin project along with next generation broadband. This will provide Northern Ireland with the fastest and lowest latency fibre and Ethernet services, both nationally and internationally, and provide Northern Ireland business customers with the fastest direct broadband connectivity to European and North American markets.”

“By leveraging Hibernia’s rapid deployment of robust infrastructure throughout Europe, Novosco is able to meet the demand for its first-rate cloud service offering, as well as plan for future growth,” states Fergus Innes, Vice President Sales EMEA for Hibernia Atlantic. “With Hibernia’s successful delivery and operation of networks throughout Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and Europe, our team continues to be Novosco’s strategic partner in the region.”

Operating an extensive 24,000-kilometre submarine and terrestrial fibre optic network, Hibernia successfully delivers a wide range of high capacity services including wavelength, Ethernet and Sonet self-healing circuits across the globe. Hibernia’s Project Kelvin Build, an extensive submarine and terrestrial cable deployment directly connecting Ireland to the United States, further strengthened its diverse capacity throughout the Ireland and UK region.

Operating an extensive 24,000-kilometre submarine and terrestrial fibre optic network, Hibernia successfully delivers a wide range of high capacity services including wavelength, Ethernet and Sonet self-healing circuits across the globe. Hibernia’s Project Kelvin Build, an extensive submarine and terrestrial cable deployment directly connecting Ireland to the United States, further strengthened its diverse capacity throughout the Ireland and UK region.

For a map of Hibernia’s high-capacity build throughout Ireland, please visit
http://www.hiberniaatlantic.com/images/NIrelandMaps5-09_000.jpg

To view its global network map, please visit http://www.hiberniaatlantic.com/documents/HA_StatSheet_0511_000.pdf

About Hibernia Atlantic:Hibernia Atlantic is the only diverse, transatlantic, high bandwidth, connectivity provider. The Company owns a transatlantic submarine cable system and terrestrial fiber network that offers over 120 Points of Presence throughout Canada, the US, UK, and mainland Europe, spanning over 24,000 kilometers.  Hibernia’s investors are Columbia Ventures Corporation and Constellation Ventures.
 
Hibernia provides secure and diverse dedicated Ethernet, DTM and optical-level service including GigE, 10G and LanPhy wavelengths and traditional SONET/SDH services. Hibernia offers wholesale capacity prices, unparalleled support, flexibility and service. Hibernia Express is the lowest latency cable between New York and London offering access to key metro markets and financial exchanges in North America, UK and Europe. The Company’s media division, Hibernia Media, operates in more than 60 European and North American markets and represents the largest, national, state-of-the-art optical switching and Dynamic Transport Mode (DTM) network.
 
For more information on Hibernia Atlantic’s cutting-edge network or to view the company’s communication video, please visit http://www.hiberniaatlantic.com/.  For further information on Hibernia Media, please visit http://www.hiberniamedia.com/?_sm_au_=iVV8kKbRtTTKWTG6.

About Novosco:
Novosco is one of Ireland’s leading providers of virtual & cloud IT infrastructure and network services. With established hardware/software vendor partnerships with Cisco, Citrix, EMC, Microsoft and VMware, Novosco offers the highest level of accreditation in Ireland for Virtualisation solutions. The Novosco CloudStream™ range of solutions is leading the industry with Cloud networks and hosted Cloud servers / applications.   

Novosco has provided solutions to a range of clients including government establishments and private sector organisations of all sizes, such as the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, Queen’s University Belfast, Burlington Hotel, SIAC Construction, Windsor Motors and many more.
For more information visit www.novosco.com

Belfast, 14th April 2011 – Novosco, Ireland’s leading provider of virtual and cloud IT infrastructure and services, today announced that for the 2nd consecutive year it has been awarded ‘Cisco Ireland’s Data Centre partner of the year’. In addition to this ‘Cisco Ireland’s Premier Partner of the year’ for 2011 in recognition for outstanding contribution to Cisco’s business development throughout the year.

The main factors contributing to both successes have been primarily the company’s focus on the delivery of key and strategic data centre solutions with Cisco and their ecosystem partners, as well as driving strong customer satisfaction feedback from key customers throughout the whole of Ireland.

Left to Right: Kim Majerus, General Manager (Cisco Ireland), Patrick McAliskey, Managing Director (Novosco)

In January 2011 Cisco held their annual European engineering forum ‘Cisco Live’ in London where the Belfast Health and social care Trust project, driven and delivered by Novosco, was awarded ‘The most innovative data centre project of the year award’.

Novosco’s Data Centre Architect Solutions’ Practice is underpinned by the Virtual Computing Environment proposition. This approach, encompassing Novosco’s experience of the Cisco UCS platform, EMC’s storage offerings and VMware’s Cloud Operating System allows Novosco’s customers to experience innovative, flexible and dynamic IT environments at competitive price points.

Patrick McAliskey, Novosco Managing Director said “These awards are a huge recognition of all the time and commitment that Novosco has invested in achieving superior product knowledge of the Cisco data centre offerings. It shows that Novosco is best placed to deliver these enterprise solutions to customers throughout the UK and Ireland. A significant growth in this business area is forecast for 2011 and beyond due to our partnership with Cisco and other complimentary partners including EMC and VMware.”

Owen McAllister, Channel Partner Manager for Cisco Ireland, said “Novosco has demonstrated a willingness to challenge the traditional method of server based computing. Their adoption of UCS as well as their knowledge of compute and server technologies makes them a strategically key partner for Cisco Ireland. Our joint customers know they are in safe hands when dealing with Novosco for the deployment of business critical applications and their customer centric approach qualifies them as perfect recipients of these awards for 2011”  

About Novosco

 is Ireland’s leading provider of virtual & cloud IT infrastructure and network services.  With established hardware/software vendor partnerships with Cisco, Citrix, EMC, Microsoft and VMware, Novosco offers the highest level of accreditation in Ireland for Virtualisation solutions. The Novosco CloudStream™ range of solutions is leading the industry with Cloud networks and hosted Cloud servers / applications.    

Novosco has provided solutions to a range of clients including government establishments and private sector organisations of all sizes, such as the Queen’s University Belfast, Burlington Hotel, SIAC Construction, Windsor Motors and many more.   

Novosco was recognised at the annual ICT Excellence awards as ‘Best System Integration Company, for 2009.
For more information visit www.novosco.com

 About Cisco Systems    

 (NASDAQ: CSCO), is the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet. Information on Cisco can be found at http://www.cisco.com. For ongoing news, please go to http://newsroom.cisco.com.

Cisco, Cisco Systems, and the Cisco Systems logo are registered trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and certain other countries. All other trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company. This document is Cisco Public Information

Novosco Limited www.novosco.com Novosco Limited: Registered in N. Ireland, No. NI028408. Business Address and Registered office: Agar House, 31 Ballynahinch Road, Carryduff, Belfast, BT8 8EH. Tel +44 (0) 28 9081 7171 Novosco Limited: Registered in Ireland, No 438959. Business Address and Registered office: Unit 9, Blanchardstown Corporate Park, Dublin 15. Tel +353 (0) 1 245 5114 This e-mail transmission may contain confidential information that is intended for the individual or entity named on the e-mail address. If you are not the intended recipient, please reply to the sender so that Novosco Limited can arrange for the proper delivery, and then please delete the message from your inbox. If you have received this e-mail in error, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution, or reliance upon the contents of this email is strictly prohibited.

Belfast, March 31st 2010 - Novosco, Ireland’s leading provider of virtual and cloud IT infrastructure and services, today announced it has been appointed to implement and maintain a comprehensive Wide Area Network for all Gordons Chemists’ sites throughout Northern Ireland and Scotland.

Left to right Mark Frizell, IT Manager (Gordons Chemist),John Lennon, Sales Director (Novosco)

A period of sustained growth for the company, coupled with continued expansion in the Scottish market meant decisions had to be made around how best to implement a secure, scalable infrastructure as well as flexible and reliable connectivity between all sites in both territories. After examining the existing infrastructure and going to market, Gordons Chemists decided on the Novosco CloudStream™ range of services to provide the primary connectivity, edge security and filtering services for all branches.

The CloudStream™ offering provides Gordons Chemists with a scalable WAN platform, with greater security and enhanced capability to transfer of information throughout all branches.  As well as these benefits, the CloudStream™ based Wide Area Network allows increase performance in connection speed to branches all whilst removing the overhead of internal management of the network. This is especially critical for all Scottish branches that need to securely transfer patient data to the N3 network, as stipulated by NHS Scotland. The flexibility of the CloudStream™ offering allows additional improvements to corporate services, such as Voice over IP (VOIP) telephony and Backup as a Service (BAAS) across all branches in the future.

Patrick McAliskey, Novosco Managing Director said “The challenges facing Gordons Chemists are similar to those facing many other companies. The ability to provide a secure, dynamic and scalable WAN infrastructure will be intrinsically linked to their well deserved success. By doing more within their current budgets we feel we have helped them achieve more than had been envisaged. We look forward to working with Gordons Chemists in the upcoming months and years.”

About Novosco

 is one of Ireland’s leading providers of virtual & cloud IT infrastructure and network services. With established hardware/software vendor partnerships with Cisco, Citrix, EMC, Microsoft and VMware, Novosco offers the highest level of accreditation in Ireland for Virtualisation solutions. The Novosco CloudStream™ range of solutions is leading the industry with Cloud networks and hosted Cloud servers / applications.    

Novosco has provided solutions to a range of clients including government establishments and private sector organisations of all sizes, such as the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, Queen’s University Belfast, Burlington Hotel, SIAC Construction, Windsor Motors and many more.

For more information visit www.novosco.com

About Gordons Chemists

Gordons Chemists is Northern Ireland’s largest independently owned pharmacy chain.  We were established over 30 years ago in Donaghadee, County Down. Today, we now have more than 60 pharmacies on the high street in Northern Ireland and Scotland. We have a simple goal – to give you great value for money, and to deliver the friendly, courteous and professional customer service you expect.

For more information visit www.gordons-chemists.com

Dublin, 12th April 2011_In November 2010, Anne Brady McQuillans DFK moved to the Cloud and have not looked back since.  This involved moving all of their key applications and data into the cloud using Novosco’s CloudStream™ Apps tailored private cloud service.  Moving to this service means that Anne Brady McQuillans DFK’s key applications are now being delivered securely and efficiently over the Internet, eliminating the need for servers, backups and all of the associated headaches.

Left to Right: Anne Brady (Senior Partner; Anne Brady McQuillans DFK) and Eddie O'Rourke (Sales Director; Novosco)

Anne Brady McQuillans DFK is a progressive and growing firm of chartered accountants and business consultants. The firm has two partners, Anne Brady and Natalie Kelly, a management team of 5 and 25 employees. Anne Brady McQuillans DFK is a member firm of DFK International, a top 10 international association of independent accounting firms and business advisers.

 
The company expects to save thousands of Euros every year by moving to CloudStream™ Apps, as well as converting potential capital investment in rapidly decreasing assets to a lower ongoing operating expense.  This is in addition to the less easily quantifiable benefits including; no more local backups, all data in a single location, access to files from anywhere with an internet connection, extended life of PC equipment and allowing staff to use a range of  devices.

“We have been extremely impressed with the Novosco service and with how well our applications are performing” remarked Anne Brady, Senior Partner.  “For our business there are a few reasons why this cloud solution is attractive to us.  Firstly, it removes our dependency on local servers and having to use certain PC devices at certain locations.  Our staff can now securely access the applications and data they need from anywhere, anytime and using virtually any device.  Another major benefit was the reduction in the cost of acquiring and maintaining our IT systems.  By moving to this service, we have replaced a potentially large upfront capital spend with a smaller monthly operating expense.”

Eddie O’Rourke, Sales Director with Novosco pointed to the value of the service for the wider private sector marketplace, “Novosco’s CloudStream™ Apps service allows customers to get up and running quickly, without the need for any capital investment.  This is the case for new or existing applications.  This is attractive from a cashflow and expenditure point of view but more importantly, it provides a consistent and predictable mechanism for maintaining your applications. This brings some comfort at a time when businesses in Ireland are looking to further reduce and efficiently manage their costs”.

O’Rourke goes on to explain how this approach is possible: “Novosco have made the investment in fault-tolerant cloud infrastructure so that our customers don’t have to.  Our customers’ virtualised applications and data reside inside state of the art data centres, making both the physical systems and the surrounding environment highly resilient.  It also means that our customers have one less headache when it comes to disaster recovery, as they can securely access their applications and data from any location over the Internet.  Probably the biggest difference between our cloud service and other offerings is that we manage the entire transition process to the cloud so that the end user does not have to worry about the moving process or the technology required to make it all possible.  We also believe that it is vital for any cloud service to offer comprehensive service level guarantees.  Our objective is not just to drive down the cost of IT but also to improve performance, reliability and security.”

About Anne Brady McQuillans DFK
Anne Brady McQuillans DFK are registered auditors and are authorised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland to carry on investment business.

Click below to see IT Services Committee members, Anne Brady McQuillans DFK and Joanne Griffin FCA, Financial Controller, Flogas discuss Anne’s recent move of her entire office system to the Cloud; What was involved? How long did it take? Were there security concerns? Has office productivity increased? Have IT and associated costs come down? Would Anne recommend the cloud?

http://charteredaccountants.newsweaver.ie/technologynewsletter/1fchbr6tyur

About Novosco
Novosco is Ireland’s leading Virtualisation specialist with extensive enterprise experience using Citrix, Cisco, EMC, Microsoft and VMware. Novosco has pioneered the use of end to end virtualisation with server, desktop and application technologies to redefine the dynamic datacentre.

For more information please contact Lynsey Corbett or Eddie O’Rourke at +353 (0)1 2455114.

Two Men, Two Marathons, Two Continents in Two Weeks In Aid of

Along with the other 13,000 runners representing seventy-four nations Patrick McAliskey and James Montgomery set off from Fitzwilliam Square on Monday morning to complete this year’s Dublin City Marathon.

While the elites dominated the headlines on Tuesday, most of the 13,000 field were running for personal reasons, to overcome their own personal “impossible”. In Patrick and James’s case their motivation was in aid of Bowel Cancer UK, a charity very dear to their hearts stemming from the diagnosis of close friend and colleague ‘Rosi Kirker’ diagnosed in July 2009.

Both runners successfully completed the course crossing the finish line comfortably, Patrick in 3hrs 43 and James in 4hrs 34. The runners are well on their way to reaching their target of £6000 and to date friends, family and colleagues have helped raise a tremendous £2,388.

Somewhat further afield than their first challenge Patrick and James will now travel to the US where they will complete the 2nd leg of their challenge and compete in the ING New York City Marathon on November 7th.

Patrick and James would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their generosity and on going support. Without this the drive and motivation to achieve two marathons in 2 weeks would have been extremely difficult.

Two brave runners, Patrick McAliskey from Lurgan and James Montgomery from Bangor, will be taking on an incredible challenge this autumn by running two marathons within the space of two weeks across two continents, all in aid of national charity Bowel Cancer UK.

Patrick and James, who work at IT company Novosco in Belfast, will first take part in the Dublin Marathon on 25th October – somewhat closer to home than their next challenge! Less than two weeks later on 7th November, they will participate in the ING New York CityMarathon. 

Patrick completed his first ever marathon in Belfast in May this year and raised over £4,600 for Bowel Cancer UK. His motivation stems from seeing a close friend and colleague being treated for bowel cancer over the past year.
 
Patrick says; “Rosi Kirker was diagnosed with bowel cancer in July 2009, and following extensive surgery and chemotherapy she continues to fight the disease. Throughout her illness, Rosi has been tirelessly fundraising for Bowel Cancer UK so that people can become more educated and aware of this disease, because if detected early, it is highly treatable.”
 
“To date, family, friends and colleagues have helped raise thousands of pounds and this money will be used to raise awareness in Northern Ireland and to provide those living with the disease the support that they need. I am delighted to be able to do my bit to help Rosi, and the charity, by taking part in these marathons.” 

______________________________________________________________________

In Northern Ireland, over 1,100 men and women are diagnosed with bowel cancer each year and it is the second most common cancer among women and the third most common among men.

A bowel cancer screening programme for Northern Ireland was introduced this year and the roll out is due to be completed by March 2011. The programme aims to detect signs of bowel cancer at a very early stage when there is a good chance that treatment will be successful.