Within five years most consumers will be using handsets that provide Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS, according to ABI Research. Soon to follow will be the switch to multi-core processing which will lend itself to better battery life.

It is expected the penetration rate of GPS to double between 2010 and 2015, but Wi-Fi chips would deliver the highest revenue of the three connectivity means over the next five years.

But there is an issue for operators. If we all have Wi-Fi on our mobile phones, users may switch to using free Voice Over Internet (VoIP) calls rather than 3G services. Will this result in the operators raising prices for data calls in the short to medium term, and penalising 3G calls in the longer term as they increase their network capacity with Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology?

The UK economy grew by a much improved 1.1% in the second quarter of the year, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Most economists had anticipated a growth ceiling of 0.6%.

This was the best quarterly growth since 2006 and a big leap from the first quarter of 2010/11 when the economy grew 0.3%.

The majority of this growth was fuelled by the services sector. Services account for around three quarters of the UK Economy and within this sector business and finance recorded a rise of 1.3%, its best performance for three years.

There was a big contribution from the construction industry, which grew at its fastest rate since 1963.

“IN THE AFTERMATH of the global recession, the egaming industry is in an excellent position to lead a recruitment drive among young and talented professionals.

eGaming Review (eGR): How has the egaming jobs market been hit by the downturn, and how is it bouncing back compared to other sectors?

Stuart Roe (SR): The online gaming jobs market has fared remarkably well during the recent global economic downturn. While it hasn’t been without casualties, the few redundancies we have seen have generally been limited to companies with notable land-based interests or wise financial directors’ rationalising, reorganising and trimming some of the excesses that went unnoticed in a more buoyant market. On the whole, the majority of online gaming companies have continued to recruit, albeit with a little more care and a lot less speed. Candidates have faced stiff competition, but this is changing quickly. Over the last four weeks we have seen a sharp increase in candidates receiving multiple offers and counter offers, as well as a notable increase in competition for the best candidates as the market rises out of the downturn. If you are looking to recruit in the next few months, now may be your last opportunity to capitalise on a less competitive fight for the best talent.

eGR: Which areas of expertise are particularly in demand or growing? How easy are these positions to fill?

SR: Demand for strong online marketers has been growing for a long time, specifically candidates with real commercial experience of Web 2.0 technologies, social media, advanced SEO and PPC. Skilled retention specialists have been in demand as companies do their best to maximise profits from existing products and customers.

As always, the hunt for the very best technical developers has remained fierce. Those with front-end creative skills such as Flash, ActionScript and Flex, as well as strong server-side J2EE developers, are proving to be increasingly difficult and more expensive to recruit. Just this week I witnessed one developer achieve a £20,000 pay rise in a single job move. Not many of us have seen movements like that in the last two years.

eGR: How successful is the industry in drawing in talent from other industries?

SR: The online gaming industry has come a long way to improve its perception within the market and on the whole, most candidates now see a move to an online gaming company as a seriously attractive option. With salaries generally 15% to 20% higher than comparable industries, gaming is becoming both a lucrative and exciting career option for many candidates.

However, a significant proportion of the industry seems to feel that candidates should be falling over backwards to work within the gaming sector. Employers may have been spoilt for choice during the last two years, but this is changing fast. Moving forward, employers are going to have to speed up their recruitment process, take time to understand what the best candidates are looking for and, of course, form strategic partnerships with experienced recruitment professionals.

eGR: Which egaming territories are growing fast for you at the moment? How are you planning to respond to this?

SR: As worldwide gambling legislation relaxes and new markets open we are certainly seeing increased recruitment activity across Europe, the US and Asia. We are all waiting with bated breath for the US markets to open up and you can be sure the major players are already hiring local talent to ensure they are placed at the front of the queue when the North American market finally opens its doors.

Our current network of offices in the UK serves our clients well, but with 160% growth in our egaming division seen already this year I wouldn’t be surprised to see ARM egaming venture to far away shores in the foreseeable future.

eGR: Do you think the industry finds it more difficult to attract young talent compared to more established industries? Do you think this could have anything to do with gambling’s so-called image problem?

SR: In reality, I think the image problem is now little more than an old wives’ tale. The majority of young talent coming into the working world is open-minded and sees the benefits of joining such a fast-moving, fun and dynamic industry. Most serious players in the market now offer the kind of benefits and bonuses once seen only in the banking world, and given the turbulent past of our dear banking industry I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of our brightest and finest talent heading to an online gaming company near you."

WWW.EGRMAGAZINE.COM AUGUST 2010

Clear Mobitel Ltd (www.clearmobitel.com) (CM) whose headquarters are in the UK has today announced its intention to conduct the UK’s first live consumer trial of Long Term Evolution (LTE) radio technology in the 800MHz Digital Dividend spectrum. This radio frequency band was previously occupied by analogue TV transmissions until the digital switchover in the South West which was completed in April 2009. Clear Mobitel will conduct the LTE trial in a zone which is centered on the Caradon Hill area of East Cornwall. The purpose of the trial is to assess the performance of LTE to provide viable solutions in providing high speed broadband services to the rural consumer.

CM will be trialling solutions based on its own LTE end user devices to connect so-called "not spot" rural area consumers that either have no broadband or poor broadband service currently.

CM has been working for over 12 months to attain a license to operate in the 800MHz band in Cornwall. Harpal Mann CEO and Founder of Clear Mobitel commented,

"This trial is one of the most important projects in the company at present. This is not just a trial of rural broadband solutions based on LTE for Cornwall, it is a trial which has global ramifications for rural economies that have been shattered by the effects of the global recession." The company’s Regulatory Affairs Director Andrew Elston said, "This trial marks an important step forward in assessing how LTE can make a valuable contribution in delivering solutions to meet the rural high speed broadband challenge. Cornwall is an excellent area to conduct such a trial given it is deeply rural in nature and also the fact that the 800MHz band is largely dormant due to the completion of the switch from analogue to digital terrestrial TV transmission. We are looking to gather vitally important data about such a deployment scenario using LTE technology during this trial and how it can assist in providing the benefits of high speed broadband to all rural consumers."

This announcement adds to the achievements of Clear Mobitel in this technology. It has already achieved a recommendation of allocation in the 2600MHz band in Jersey to operate a 4G LTE network from the Jersey Competition and Regulatory Authority (JCRA). JCRA Chief Executive Chuck Webb commented on Clear Mobitel’s announcement,

As part of Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) strategy to expand further into Japan and North America, it is spending $1.2bn on Motorola's telecom network equipment business. This will give the organisation a competitive edge in its battle against its fellow telecommunications giants.

Companies such as NSN and Motorola have struggled to compete with larger companies in an aggressively competitive mobile kit market. After the merger Motorola will split its concerns into two; one focusing on mobile phone and set-top business, the other, which will include the telecoms network unit, will focus solely on selling wireless technology to enterprise and public safety organisations.

ARM's Communications Division has been active in both the wireless niche and the telecoms kit business for some time. Telecommunications Consultant David Powell of ARM said,

"It's a smart move by both companies, despite market analysts expecting this to be a declining market in the longer term, as separate entities Motorola and NSN were too small to have any meaningful impact in this space, and both have a lot to gain in the short to medium term".

The UK is set to recruit cyber security gurus via a number of public competitions.

The 'Cyber Security Challenge' will be backed by a number of commercial, academic and public sector organisations, and is similar to those run in the US in 2009. The challenge is being designed by industry experts using bleeding edge technology in order to test cyber IT security skills and identify the best talent.

Judy Baker, Director of the Cyber Security Challenge UK, said that an Infosecurity Europe 2010 survey highlighted a skills gap within the IT security profession. Meanwhile SANS* Institute research discovered that 90% of polled organisations found it difficult to hire IT Security professionals, particularly within strategy, policy guidance, risk management, incident response and threat management.

The preliminary rounds of the Cyber Security Challenge competition will be online and test network defence, forensics and coding weakness skills. The next round will involve face-to-face challenges to test an applicant's interpersonal skills.

ARM is keenly aware of the skills gap. Our IT Security recruitment team has over a decade of experience in this market and is continually networking to pool skilled resources.

*SysAdmin, Audit, Network, Security

Some maintain that the 2010 World Cup wasn't one of the best. We say, tell that to the Spanish. Okay, overall it might not have been the best ever, but it still delivered rejoicing and heartbreak, heroes and villains, one or two thrilling matches, and some play-acting that wouldn't shame Marlon Brando.

Being for the most part an organisation of keen sportspeople, we couldn't wait to host our very own, rather more modest, World Cup competition on the ARM website. We hid a picture of the coveted World Cup trophy on the site, and asked you to find it. We received a strong response but as with the celebrated tournament itself, there can, alas, be only one winner.

Congratulations, then, to Faye Denyan of CAE (UK) Plc.

Faye was picked in our prize draw and wins a

Ticket Master Voucher to the value of £100.

Thank you to all who entered. We run competitions on our website regularly so keep your eyes peeled for more.

Over a third of UK & US senior IT professionals believe their competitors have access to their intellectual property (IP).

Cyber-Ark have undertaken a comprehensive annual survey of Trust, Security & Passwords, canvassing the opinion of more than 400 senior IT professionals from medium to large enterprises.

37% believe ex-employees are accessing IP information, while 28% blame human error. 10% point the finger at hackers or the loss of mobile devices.

As for the issue of the specific targets of hackers, a quarter of those surveyed suggested databases of customer information are the main reward. Just over a tenth cited their R&D efforts as the draw for those intent on mischief.

The survey indicated a perception that the number of internal “moles” is on the rise.

Over 40% of those surveyed admitted they rely on just a password to protect sensitive data; an increase from one third the previous year.

It’s difficult not to conclude that companies have an increasing responsibility to their employees and shareholders to protect their IP.

By Damian Hicklin, ARM.

Stuart Roe

BUSINESS MANAGER, ARM iGaming

What a year it has been. The worst global recession in 30 years has com­bined with changes in international online gaming and employment legis­lation to create a uniquely challenging business environment.

Now we also have a new government coalition, though it remains to be seen how much of a state of flux the market will be thrown into by this latest development.

I have been working in senior level technology and iGaming recruitment for more than 15 years, so I feel qualified to say the last couple have been ‘character building’. When I was writing this viewpoint article for EGR Magazine, my chairman kindly joked that the only reason I had chosen a black-and-white photo was to hide the extra grey hair I have developed these last two years!

But maybe it’s just what we all needed: a wake-up call to remind us what hard work really is, an oppor­tunity to sharpen our tools and tune in to what our clients and customers really need. You can be sure that the best in our business will rise from the ashes and capitalise on a new and very different marketplace in the coming months and years.

And given how other sectors have fared in comparison, I consider myself fortunate to manage the iGaming division for a big recruiter like ARM, which also avoided the straightforward option of cutting costs and headcount during the past two years, instead investing heavily in training.

This deci­sion was recognised when we won the inaugural Institute of Recruitment Professionals People Development in Business Award for 2009/10. Furthermore, as we rise out of this recession, we have a seasoned and well-devel­oped management team ready to venture into new markets and prepare for growth.

A downturn acts like the process of natural selection greatly speeded up: it is an opportunity to adapt and grow and to make the most of an interest­ing new playing field.

This article was originally published in the June 2010 issue of EGR Magazine and we are grateful for permission to reproduce it. www.egrmagazine.com

A former IT worker for the Bank of New York has admitted stealing personal information of 2,000 employees and using it to steal more than $1m from charity bank accounts.

The former employee used his position to steal the personal information from staff, most of whom worked in the IT department. Over an eight-year span, he used the information to set up dummy bank accounts in the employees' names and then transfer stolen funds from at least 11 charities throughout the world.

He used publicly available routing numbers for the charities to initiate wire transfers through financial sites, and deposit them into the dummy accounts. To cover his tracks, he then transferred the funds to a second layer of dummy accounts.

The stolen data was also used to steal directly from his co-workers by changing the contact information with their banks and taking control of their online accounts. In all, his scheme netted $1.1m, prosecutors said. To prevent his scheme from being detected, he structured transfers to be just below the $10,000 threshold that requires financial institutions to report the transactions to authorities.

The former employee pleaded guilty to grand larceny, money laundering, and computer tampering. He will be sentenced on 21st July.