Qualcom to invest €2m in external expansion

Dublin-based IT company Qualcom is to invest nearly €2m in an initial expansion of its services outside of the Republic over the next 12 months.

The company has been for the past 18 years a leading provider here, of IT, data management, infrastructure and support services.

It is spending €1.75m initially on establishing a new office in Belfast, from where it will drive its UK and Northern Ireland business.

The investment is being backed by the firm’s existing shareholders and the North’s main economic development agency, Invest NI.

Although not part of this initial expansion drive, Qualcom also has plans to open its first office in England next year.

The company has already started exporting its services and has earned €500,000 in UK-generated revenues this year; with particular successes seen in the financial services sector.

“Our international expansion is led by the more buoyant market in the UK and our need to continue to ensure we can provide the most competitive service possible to all customers, by maximising the utilisation of our Dublin-based network operations centre,” according to managing director, Ken Breen.

Part of Qualcom’s expansion will see the creation of 25 new jobs on the island of Ireland — 13 in its existing Dublin office and 12 in the new Belfast facility.

Ten of those positions have already been filled, and the company recently opened a new shared/ network operations centre in Dublin, which will oversee most administrative and remote support for its customers in the UK.

The new jobs are in the areas of engineering, professional services, IT consulting and sales and marketing.

According to Mr Breen, despite recent challenging market conditions, Qualcom is growing at the right time, with demand for its services heightening: “Customers like the way we deliver greater visibility and control over IT spending.

“Furthermore, with businesses continuing to be challenged with hiring qualified IT people, we help them grow at their own pace, unconstrained by IT infrastructure and in-house expertise,” he said.

Qualcom partners with leading technology companies, among them Microsoft, EMC, IBM, Citrix, VMware and Hewlett- Packard.

The company provides a range of services including managed security, disaster recovery, data storage/ back-up and virtualisation.