Software business to employ 50 people

June 2001

A NEW software business which will eventually employ 50 people in Wicklow town was officially opened on the Murrough last week.

Software AG, a multinational company which specialises in the development of high-tech software products for businesses, has had offices in Dublin for some time but the move to Wicklow represents an expansion of Irish operations.

The company’s Wicklow base is at the new three-storey office building at No2 The Murrough, which also houses a branch of the Revenue Commissioners.

Last week’s official opening of Software AG was performed by the Minister of State at the Department of Public Enterprise, Joe Jacob, who pointed out that the software industry is now firmly established in Ireland.

‘A thriving indigenous sector is creating a broad range of innovative products from myriad business applications, software tools, advanced telecommunications systems, through to stateof-the-art multimedia systems,’ he said.

Ireland is now recognised as a prime source of high quality software development, he added, and as the ideal gateway to European markets.

Software AG originated in Germany and now employs 3,700 people around the world, counting 5,000 companies as customers.

In Ireland, some of the purchasers of the company’s products include ACC Bank, Hibernian, CRH, and Ryanair, while the company’s Irish operation has responsibility within the Software AG group for the provision of infrastructure which supports the Tamino XML database and other products on IBM mainframe systems.

Also, present at last week’s offical opening were IDA officials, local politicians, businesspeople, and executives from Software AG’s Irish headquarters and from the company’s English and German bases.

Dr Peter Mossack, vice-president of research and development with Software AG, spoke about the company’s commitment to Ireland. John Power, the Irish chief, said that they currently employ 15 people in Wicklow but would eventually increase that to 50.

Wicklow was viewed as an ideal base from which to attract software developers who will make up the bulk of the company’s local staff, according to Mr Power. ‘We wanted to find somewhere nice and it seemed like the ideal place to create a good working environment.’

Conor Agnew of IDA Ireland said afterwards that there was now a realisation on the part of companies like Software AG and Euroconnex – which recently opened in Arklow – that it wasn’t necessary to have everything based in Dublin. In addition, potential workers would be attracted by the quality of life associated with not having to commute to Dublin every day.