US software firm to announce 100 IT jobs for Cork

Cork is in line for a major IT jobs boost today with a US software firm expected to announce up to 100 positions.

Tipperary-based ribs and cooked meats providers, Ribworld, is also due to announce around 100 jobs at their facility in Fethard this morning.

In Cork, SolarWinds, a network monitoring software company, is due to announce a significant IDA-backed expansion of its European headquarters at the City Gate office campus in Mahon, where it already employs around 150 people. The expansion is expected to deliver up to 100 highly skilled IT jobs in the short-term.

Enterprise and Jobs Minister Richard Bruton will attend the announcement at around lunchtime after also attending the Ribworld event.

Texan-based SolarWinds, founded in 1999, established its European base in Cork in 2007 from where it runs a range of sales, technical support and finance functions.

The company said at the time that the availability of a highly educated workforce combined with a vibrant information and communications technology industry in the city, were among the key reasons it chose Cork.

The company recently took out a lease on several thousand extra square feet of floor space in City Gate to facilitate its expansion plans.

SolarWinds develops software for managing IT networks. Its products are used by more than one million network engineers in 126 countries.

Forbes magazine recently named SolarWinds as one of the best small companies in America, while Fortune magazine named the firm among 100 of the fastest growing companies in the US.

Meanwhile, SmartInvest has announced the launch of a $70m transatlantic investment fund to provide funding for Irish companies to expand into the US and US companies to establish bases in Ireland.