The US company, Allstate Insurance, is to set up a new information technology development centre in Belfast, creating 250 new jobs over the next three years.
The jobs are part of a £4.9 million sterling investment, which is supported by the Industrial Development Board (IDB) for Northern Ireland. The centre will be operated by one of Allstate's subsidiaries, Northbrook Technology of Northern Ireland (NTNI) and will be Allstate's first non-US IT operation.
Initially the centre will provide coding and supporting applications for parts of Allstate's worldwide businesses. The exact site for the centre has not been named yet, but the company says it will be in the greater Belfast area.
The jobs announcement was made yesterday in Chicago by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Dr Mo Mowlam, who is part of an investment team currently visiting 11 US cities.
The chief executive of the IDB, Mr Bruce Robinson, said the Allstate investment was one of the largest software announcements ever made in Northern Ireland.
Recruitment for the new operation begins immediately; the centre will occupy 35,000 sq ft of space. The company says the high demand and low supply of software programmers in the United States was the main reason for locating in Northern Ireland.
The project will involve an initial investment of £3.67 million in capital expenditure and start-up costs. In addition, NTNI plans to spend £1.3 million on capital equipment over the next five years.
Dr Mowlam said software programming is one of the fastest growing industries in Northern Ireland and the availability of well educated technology graduates is the main reason behind the growth.
"This major new project as well as other recent software investments from Segue, Liberty Mutual, STB, Webforia, IMR and Celeritek have really put Northern Ireland on the international software industry map," she said.
Most of the jobs will be for third level graduates, although there will be a small number of jobs for school leavers.
Mr Edward Liddy, president of Allstate Corporation said the "Belfast centre will allow us to greatly expand our offerings and opportunities in international markets".
The Allstate Corporation insures one out of every eight homes in the United States and is also a major life insurer. The company provides insurance for more than 20 million customers and has more than 15,000 agents in the United States and Canada.
