Welcome to Lineum

Objective of Lineum Ltd

To promote, assist and facilitate the implementation of next-generation networking protocols and infrastructure across the island of Ireland, to the benefit of competitiveness and self-development.

History and activities

Lineum Ltd was formed in November 2009 in reaction to the apathy of incumbent Communications Providers towards technological developments such as IPv6, mobility and pervasive computing. Our current activities are focused upon:

  • near-term funding and deployment of a proof-of-concept network
  • engagement with public and private bodies to raise awareness of the economic and social advantages of early technological adoption

Metadata

Both our name ( Classical Latin for "linen" ) and our logo ( a stylised form of the flax flower ) reflect the importance of linen in the commercial development of Ireland. The innovation and global success of the industry were the result of an opportunity recognised and harnessed.

The local skills in growing flax and processing it into a durable textile had been evolved over centuries, with records of linen production surviving from the thirteenth century. Suddenly and unexpectedly these skills were refreshed by the ideas and experience of Hugenot exiles who settled in the Ulster counties in the late seventeenth century.

Such was the revolution in production resulting from this coincidental combination that in 1711 a Linen Board was established, meeting weekly in Dublin to guide development and publish best practices

The Linen Board persisted for 117 years and its dissolution coincided with the start of the second great phase of expansion, with linen works being established in Belfast and its environs powered by direct imports of Scottish coal. Extensive marketing led to success not just within the UK but throughout North and South America. Such was the contribution of linen to the campaigns of the First World War that Field Marshall Lord French declared it to have been "won on Ulster wings".

Despite its longevity and World-wide repute, linen could not compete with the newly-developed man-made fibres and the arrival of cheap cotton imports which both emerged in the 1950s. It was appropriate that a textile that had revolutionised industry in Ireland should yield to the latest fruits of scientific research.