ANOTHER North American software company, Saville Systems, is to expand into the European market, using Ireland as its headquarters.
The company announced yesterday that it would hire an extra 177 people to make its Galway base a major operating centre. IDA Ireland said there were now more than 100 foreign software manufacturers in the State, employing some 8,000 workers.
Making the announcement, the Minister for Enterprise and Employment, Mr Bruton, said the company was ideally placed to benefit from opportunities stemming from the deregulation of the telecommunications industry the world over.
"I congratulate the management and workforce in Saville Systems in Galway on winning this investment. Despite the fact the Galway operation was very new, it had positioned itself at the very centre of the company's world wide business," said Mr Bruton.
The expansion will take place over a three year period, and will involve the company moving to a 1,850 square metre facility, also in the Dangan industrial park.
The managing director of Saville Systems, Mr Padraig Kenny, said the decision to expand had been partly driven by the availability of young Irish software engineers. The firm would be trawling Irish universities in the months ahead, as well as encouraging emigrants working in telecommunications software to contact Saville, he added.
Saville Systems currently employs 40 people and intends to employ 70 by Christmas. Most are software engineers working on A5400 and UNIX based programmes. The company specialises in software related to billing and customer care for the telecommunications industry.
