US data protection solutions provider Proofpoint is to create 94 new jobs in Belfast in a £6 million (€4.5m) investment.

The Sunnyvale, California headquartered Proofpoint is a security-as-a-service vendor that delivers data protection solutions.

The Belfast operation will become the research and development and operations centre for Proofpoint Essentials and will act as an operations and support hub for Proofpoint’s global customer base in Europe, Middle East and Africa. Proofpoint Essentials is a suite of SaaS security and compliance solutions specifically designed for small- and medium- sized enterprises.

Gary Steele, CEO of Proofpoint, said that the company's strategic objective in Belfast is to broaden the distribution and support networks for its current suite of products.

“We have been very impressed with the technology ecosystem in Northern Ireland, which shares many of the characteristics of Silicon Valley, including access to world-class cyber-security research at Queen’s University,” he said.

Proofpoint already employs eighteen people at its new premises in Weaver’s Court in Belfast, and the new jobs are expected to be in place by the end of 2016.

Invest NI has offered more than £600,000 of support for the new jobs.