Cork skills base attracts new US company
Monday, 21 June 2004US software company Ecora Software is to locate its European headquarters in Cork with up to 60 new jobs expected to be created over the next five years.
The Cork office will be the first for the company outside of the US and will manage the software development, research, sales and marketing functions of Ecora in markets outside of the US. The move is supported by IDA Ireland.
Ecora in involved in the development of security patches, which are mainly used by companies to fight virus and hacker attacks on corporate networks. The firm also develops software that tracks and documents network configuration settings.
The company said it plans to form strong links and relationships with the third level colleges in Cork to strengthen its Research and Development functions and tap into the skills there. The majority of the Ecora workforce in Cork will be made of up third level graduates.
'Because of its location, and its talented and enthusiastic labour pool, Cork is an ideal location to launch and manage our European operations,' commented Alex Bakman, Ecora's founder and CEO.
'Cork has knowledgeable workers with skills to grasp our products' subletites and communicate effectively with IT managers throughout the market,' he added.
IDA Ireland's Mary Buckley said that Cork won the project against stiff competition from other large European centres. 'The expertise of UCC in constraint computing was a significant factor in Ecora choosing Cork as their European base,' she added.
Ecora is based in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Its clients worldwide include IBM, Merrill Lynch and UPS.
