HighWire Press to invest £6m in new Belfast operation

The American epublishing platform HighWire Press is to invest £6 million in a new Belfast operation that plans to create 74 jobs.

The North's First Minister Arlene Foster and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness announced details of the investment by the Stanford University spin-out on Friday on their investment mission to the United States.

The ministers had met Dan Filby, HighWire's chief executive in San Francisco during the four-day visit designed to strengthen existing relationships with both potential investors and influential politicians, while promoting the North's new lower rate of corporation tax.

HighWire Press works with scholarly publishers, societies and university presses and has digitally published more than 3,000 journals, books and works of reference.

Mr Filby, said the US company was very excited about its new centre in Belfast, which will house a dedicated team trained to specialise in specific technologies including Angular, Hadoop, Drupal, Cassandra and AWS.

He said: “As well as providing us with a dedicated technology development centre, it will also provide us with a focal point on which to build our continued presence in Europe.

“An outstanding, abundant talent pool was our highest priority when evaluating potential expansion locations. We are looking for talented and enthusiastic technical and service professionals who can help drive the development of our industry leading software solutions and deliver an outstanding customer experience.

“We will be hosting a Drupal Community Meet Up event at our Belfast offices next week as part of our commitment to develop a culture and support the creation of new talent in this area,” Mr Filby said.

Both the First and Deputy First Ministers are delighted with Belfast as his choice of investment location.

Mr McGuinness said: “HighWire choosing to locate in the North of Ireland signals the potential of our existing and future IT professionals.

“The 74 new jobs created will contribute £3 million in annual salaries to our local economy. With an average salary of £34,000, they will provide a wide range of opportunities for software developers, quality assurance, professional services and support engineers.”