Mobile phone manufacturer Motorola has bought a 10 per cent stake in Irish software company Interactive Enterprise Ltd for $6 million (€5.49 million).

The equity investment by Motorola was secured as part of a $10 million round of funding, with Crucible and Cross Atlantic, which already has a stake in the company, enlarging its interest. The investment will help speed residential broadband technology deployments.

Mr Tom Higgins, chief executive of Interactive, said it was a strategic investment that would accelerate development of Interactive's broadband voice, video and data services.

Under the agreement, Motorola will market and integrate Interactive's products, as part of its cable modem termination system and Internet Protocol broadband applications.

The technology agreement will enable Interactive's development lab to integrate its software with Motorola's portfolio of broadband products.

Interactive was set up in 1998 and now employs around 75 people.