IDA IRELAND was yesterday credited with winning a 150-job investment for Cork by American software firm Quest Software, when the company’s CEO and President, Doug Garn, announced details of the company’s plans for its new operation in the city.

Mr Garn said IDA Ireland had been hugely supportive in providing all necessary resources to the company when it came to making a global evaluation on where it was going to locate its new shared services centre to serve Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

“Ireland was chosen due to the significant presence of other software technology companies, the high quality infrastructure, the availability of experienced and highly qualified professionals, multi-lingual talent and a pro-business environment,” he said.

Quest Software selected Ireland ahead of other European countries such as the Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland and the Czech Republic, said Mr Garn, before explaining that Cork was selected within Ireland after equally careful consideration.

Cork’s record of investment from such leading technology firms as Apple, EMC, VMware and SolarWinds, along with the city’s stream of educated graduates from its third level colleges, were key factors which led Quest Software to selecting the city for its operation, he said.

Mr Garn said the company, which expects to grow the Cork operation, based at Citygate in Mahon, to 150 employees by 2013, decided to centralise key aspects of its international business activities to better serve its customers and increase operational efficiency.

Quest Software, which was established in 1987 and currently employs some 3,700 people at 60 locations including 15 staff at a domestic sales office in Dublin, is headquartered in California and last year reported revenues of over $700 million dollars.

The computer company develops enterprise software that helps businesses manage their technology.

The Cork jobs, which will be in finance, sofware renewals, inside sales and software development, are due to start coming on stream later this month.