A total of 60 new highly skilled positions are to be created by IDA Ireland-backed companies in Portlaoise and Cork city.

Internet security research firm AlienVault is to establish a new EMEA sales and technical support centre in Cork, leading to the creation of 40 roles in the coming year.

The Californian company, which is the creator of an open source security information and event management system OSSIM, recently hired its first 12 employees in Cork, which consisted of sales, sales engineers, tech support and management personnel.

AlienVault is a privately held company headquartered in Silicon Valley and backed by Trident Capital, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, GGV Capital, Intel Capital, Sigma West, Adara Venture Partners, Top Tier Capital and Correlation Ventures.

Separately, the lead generation services company Internal Results Ireland is to establish a customer support centre at its Portlaoise facility, leading to the creation of an additional 20 full-time jobs over the next three years.

The company is a subsidiary of Internal Results Holdings Limited, based in the UK. The Irish subsidiary, which was set up in 2011 and employs 14 full-time and 15 part-time employees, provides lead generation services to clients such as Cisco, McAfee, Cognizant, CNET and 02.

"IDA funding was a key factor in Internal Results' decision to expand our operations in Portlaoise," said its director of delivery Noel Hooban. "This will contribute to the future growth of the business and employment opportunities for the community. We are thrilled to be located in Portlaoise with access to a strong local skills base to support our operations".