EUROCOM -- Ireland came out tops as the country a sample of European tech executives think is most likely to become the tech centre/Silicon Valley of Europe. Eurocom and Simpson carried out the survey. The survey, which was conducted in the first quarter this year, covered 147 senior executives in technology companies in 12 countries in Europe including Ireland. Almost one in five (19 per cent) backed Ireland followed by Germany (14 per cent) and UK (8 per cent). The results are significant as respondents were not allowed to vote for their own country," commented Ronnie Simpson (Simpson Financial & Technology PR). "This suggests that the Government's policy of positioning Ireland as a major European high tech centre is working." IT security, CRM and Wireless Telecommunications are the technologies most likely to drive growth in the technology market according to the Eurocom survey. x_ref26121 5:18:24 AM