News In Brief: Palm, Synchronica, Intel, T-Systems, Geo

Palm has appointed former Apple executive Jon Rubenstein as the company's new CEO. Rubenstein joined Palm in October 2007 as executive chairman.

Sales of low-cost mobile phones are set to grow 22% over the next five years, with shipments reaching 700 million by 2014, according to Juniper Research.

Synchronica has launched a self-care push email solution compatible with Nokia's Series 40 mobile phones and a range of other devices.

Intel has appointed former investment manager Richard Hsu as managing director for Mainland China and Hong Kong, as part of the company's push into the market.

T-Systems has won a three-year contract to supply Singaporean chemical distributor Brenntag with an ICT suite that includes SAP, MPLS and application management functions.

More than 230,000 new base stations will be deployed in the BRIC nations in 2010, while 30-50% of wireless deployments in these markets will still be 2G by 2014, ABI Research said.
 
Geo has announced it now has 2,500km of fibred duct now available throughout the UK. The network was originally built to support mobile operator 3, but offers businesses from Glasgow in Scotland to Maidstone in southern England access to its infrastructure.

Geo’s national network runs alongside the UK gas pipeline and through London’s sewers, thereby avoiding cable cuts that frequently occur during roadside maintenance, the company says.