StorageTek to locate European R&D centre in Dublin

Storage solutions company StorageTek is to locate its European research and development offices in Blackrock, Co Dublin.

The Irish unit will be a key contributor to StorageTek’s corporate R&D activities, the Industrial Development Authority has confirmed.

StorageTek has been working with the Government and IDA Ireland since late 2002 to ensure that Ireland was the favoured location for the investment.

Tánaiste Mary Harney said: "This strategic new investment is the result of joint representation by the Irish management team of StorageTek and IDA to StorageTek’s Corporate headquarters where the benefits of establishing such a high-tech facility in Ireland were clearly demonstrated.

"This is exactly the type of facility and operation that we are seeking to attract to Ireland and are delighted that StorageTek has chosen Dublin as the home for this important investment."

StorageTek currently employs 12 people in Ireland and an additional two researchers will employed initially.

The $2bn (€1.56bn) worldwide company is headquartered in the United States and delivers a broad range of storage solutions to the Information Technology (IT) sector.

It provides practical and safe storage solutions in disk, networking, services, tape and tape automation.

StorageTek’s R&D expenditure for 2002 was $215m (€167m), representing 10.5% of its annual sales.

The Corporation presently holds approximately 500 US patents, about 60 of which were issued in 2002.