Leading US computer group Cisco Systems is to locate a software and systems development and test centre in Cork city in a high-tech initiative seen as a precursor to a larger development in Dublin, The Irish Times has learned.
Cisco will employ 200 computer scientists and electronic engineers by 2005 at its Cork project, which was approved earlier this month by the board of IDA Ireland at a specially convened meeting.
The company, one of the world's largest, controls 81 per cent of the market for routers, devices which sort information sent on the Internet. Based in San Jose, California, it employs 80,000 workers in 75 countries.
IDA Ireland will pay Cisco a £1.8 million grant, or about £9,000 per job, on the basis that the positions in Cork are seen as being of "exceptionally high" quality. This is slightly less than the average £10,260 per job paid by the authority last year.
According to a senior observer, the State industrial authority sees the project as the first step of a prospective larger investment and was very keen to bring the project to Cork.
Cisco already employs about 50 people at the East Point Business Park in Dublin, but people close to the IDA believe it may decide to locate what has been described as a "major headquarter activity" for its Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) division in the capital.
It is thought this project could potentially involve up to 2,000 positions if sanctioned. However, Government policy is to encourage investment outside Dublin, so it is thought that the grant per job for this initiative would be significantly lower than in Cork.
A person familiar with the situation said the group was unlikely to seek final project sanction from the IDA until the end of the year.
As previously reported in this newspaper, the Dublin project would involve manufacturing positions. These would be of a lower grade than at the Cork development, where entry-level salaries will be set at about £25,000 per year.
In addition, senior IDA figures believe there is a strong possibility that Cisco's strategic partners will develop a "substantial manufacturing presence" in Dublin if the larger initiative goes ahead.
The Cork project will focus on advanced software and systems development for Cisco's Internet operations group. The initiative is considered low-risk by the IDA.
It is believed the US group has approached third level education institutions in Cork with a view to providing a pool of potential workers for the project.
Given Cisco's size, the IDA sees the strategic impact of the project on the development of Internet-based business in Republic as significant.
A big fall in unemployment has led the IDA to lower its job creation targets this year, for the first time. Yet the authority would regard a major investment by Cisco as a coup, similar to developments by other US-owned groups such as IBM and Intel. Cisco reported a $12.2 billion turnover in 1999 and its sales were $16.7 billion in its last financial year.
