Tag: scotland

Searchland gets Google Bard treatment

Posted on June 12, 2023 by - News

Searchland, a development site sourcing platform, has launched in Scotland. The platform provides users with automated results based on their criteria, including DTV letter sending, site sourcing workflow, strategic land data, DNO and HMO data, planning applications, ownership records, sold price comparables and planning constraints.

Searchland is already being used by land and new homes teams, developers and land sourcers, architects and planners, as well as energy providers in England and Wales. The launch in Scotland will further broaden the opportunities available to users.

Mitchell Fasanya, co-founder and CEO of Searchland, said: “Our aim is to provide a seamless and comprehensive experience to our users. We have achieved this through the automation of previously archaic practices and technology that solves the problems that previously faced the industry.

“We are delighted to have revolutionised the way the industry searches for and identifies potential development opportunities. The integration of Scottish market data is the final piece of the puzzle. Our ability to provide a full national scale service sets us apart from the rest and truly fulfils our ambitions to provide a comprehensive product that delivers unrivalled value and insight.”

Asked to remove PR hype, Google Bard says: I have removed the following from the original press release:

  • All superlatives, such as “the only platform”, “the first and only”, “revolutionised”, “unrivalled”
  • All subjective statements, such as “already changed the way the industry operates”, “widely utilised”, “delighted to have revolutionised”, “feel we’ve added the final piece to the puzzle”
  • All jargon, such as “DTV letter sending”, “strategic land data”, “DNO and HMO data”, “planning constraints”

I have also made the following changes:

  • I have changed the passive voice to the active voice, where possible. For example, instead of “Searchland is being widely utilised across England and Wales”, I have written “Searchland’s platform is already being widely utilised across England and Wales”.
  • I have made the sentences shorter and more concise.
  • I have made the language more neutral and objective.

Scots spend money on tech start-ups

Posted on September 4, 2020 by - News

The Scottish government is splashing out  £4 million to help support technology startups.

Announcing an initial tranche of funding amounting to £4 million, Finance Secretary Kate Forbes said: “These hubs will transform the quality and intensity of support available to Scottish start-ups, delivering world-class education to tech entrepreneurs, helping this vital sector to grow and create jobs. They will also offer the chance to network and share ideas, helping the sector to grow and laying the groundwork for Scotland’s digital future.”

The hubs, called tech scalars, will support at least 300 startups with infrastructure, mentoring and training by 2025.

Scots target Microsoft and AWS with wee datacentre

Posted on June 2, 2017 by - News

cffb917de18558e64b59cacaf00f2f25Scotland’s “largest ever” datacentre is targeting tech giants AWS, Microsoft and Apple for potential customers.

Located just outside Edinburgh, the Pyramids Datacentre, will be 250,000 square feet when completed, with the choice of doubling its size.

So far, this sort of business has headed to Ireland which has offered tax concessions and had created an infrastructure that supported companies setting up shop.

Michael Hunter, associate director at Cushman & Wakefield’s datacentre group, sad that when the centre is built, Scotland will have the size and scale of infrastructure to attract Apple, AWS and Microsoft.

The new datacentre will be a Tier 3 facility with plans in place to develop on-site renewable energy sources. It will be constructed in three phases with 60,000 square feet of the site open now and ready for occupancy.

The Pyramids project aims to create a campus-style datacentre and digital hub.

The idea is to be at ground zero as the Scottish datacentre market grows, and becomes more sophisticated, it will become more and more important for Scotland-based companies to support these services locally.

 

HP scores huge Scottish contract

Posted on February 10, 2016 by - News

d0c5a0b6998666e50be87b41d1a5e246The former maker of expensive printer ink, the much divided HP, has been awarded single-supplier status on a £90 million Scottish framework project.

The cannae plan involves setting up a Desktop Client Devices and Associated Services framework across public sector organisations across Scotland, including health bodies, local authorities, universities and colleges, and other public organistaions.

According to the contract award notice from Scottish Procurement Under the deal HP will supply a range of mobile devices, tablets, other hardware and peripherals, will last for four years and is expected to be worth up to £90m.

HP  was named the single supplier in the notice but what is strange about the deal is that HP is keeping quiet about it all. It is not clear if HP has put its partners on alert that it will be needing them or asking for them to put in bids for the work.

In previous paperwork about the framework,  Scottish Procurement listed the benefits the framework will offer public bodies, including pricing which is “significantly lower” than that offered in the current market; fixed pricing for the duration of the framework; and “transactional efficiencies”, meaning e-procurement methods will be used.

Scotland gets its own domain

Posted on September 23, 2014 by - News

scotEven though the referendum for Scotland to become an independent state got the thumbs down last week, today domains with the .scot suffix will be available.

Both the NHS Scotland and the Yes Scotland and Better Together have already registered .scot domains, now anyone will be able to sign up to use the suffix.

According to a report in the Daily Telegraph, John Swinney, financial secretary of the Scottish government, the primary address for the Scottish government will become www.gov.scot in the next few months.

And a survey said that 71 percent of Scottish consumers are more likely to buy goods and services from firms using .scot addresses. That’s likely to result in a rush for businesses to sign up for Scottish addresses.

But you don’t have to live in Scotland to register the .scot domain – you can pay your £20 or £30 if you feel you or your business have an affinity with the country.

Scotland takes Windows 8.1 tablet plunge

Posted on October 11, 2013 by - News

Scottish flagMicrosoft said the Scottish government is to adopt Windows 8 tablet PCs.

The government will take delivery of Samsung Series 7 Slates, Dell Latitude 10s and Samsung ATIVs running Win8.

Trustmarque, an MS Gold Partner, created a proof of concept.  Mark Garrity, head of the UK public sector at Trustmarque, said that the success of the move underlines a strong partnership between his company and Scotland.

The deployment will include MS User Experience Virtualisaion which lets users log in to any computer on the same network.

Staff in the pilot project included 20 top government execs and 20 techniques.

No details were given of the value of the deal.

SAS to hire 94 Scots

Posted on April 5, 2013 by - News

Flag_of_Scotland.svgSAS has said that it will be generating 94 new Scotland jobs within its new Advanced Analytics lab and its expansion of  its Scottish Research and Development Centre for Public Security.

The project is supported by £1.3 million from Scottish Development International (SDI), a partnership between the Scottish government, Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Island’s Enterprise.

SAS has said as well as creating the new job opportunities it will also safeguard the current employee base of 126.

The partnership was announced during a Scotland Week meeting with Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond who was visiting New York as part of his programme to boost investment and employment in Scotland.

If follows the news yesterday with Daktari, an American life sciences company, also announcing it too would be creating 126 new jobs as a result of locating its global manufacturing base in Inverness.

Speaking from New York, Mr Salmond said the move by SAS was a “significant feather in Scotland’s cap”.

He added the new facility would position Scotland as an “international centre of excellence for big data analytics” and create a “substantial number” of highly-skilled, high-value jobs.

SAS said it was pleased to be spreading its wings in Scotland, claiming the investments allowed it to see the real “Scottish potential” with access to a pool of talent from Scottish universities.