US telecoms equipment manufacturer ADTRAN plans to establish a European headquarters in Dublin and create up to 50 jobs over the next few years.
The firm, which has a market capitalisation of more than $2 billion (€1.66 billion), has already set up an office in Dublin and has held initial talks with IDA Ireland about potential new investments.
The investment is a boost for the Government, which will later today announce the creation of more than 100 new manufacturing jobs in the pharmaceutical sector. This will bring the total number of jobs announced by the IDA in 2004 close to 2,500, following Intel's recent announcement of a €1.6 billion expansion at its Leixlip manufacturing plant.
It was not clear last night which company would announce the new investment, although it is known that Pfizer is planning to extend an existing plant in Dublin.
Meanwhile, in an interview with The Irish Times yesterday, Mr Ed Werner, the ADTRAN executive who will lead the Irish operation, said the firm chose Dublin for its headquarters because it was a friendly location for US investments.
"Ireland is a friendly place for US companies to locate. It is English speaking and has highly skilled technical labour," said Mr Werner, who previously worked for Lucent Technology's operations in Cherrywood, Dublin.
ADTRAN has employed four managers for its Dublin office already and plans to hire up to 20 staff in the next 12 months. But further investment is likely if the company also decides to locate its finance function in Dublin.
Mr Werner said he hoped up to 50 staff would be employed in Dublin as ADTRAN grew its sales operations across Europe, Middle East and Africa. The firm was also hiring in other European locations and in Dubai, he said.
The opening of ADTRAN's Dublin office later this month coincides with a Europe-wide distribution agreement with Anixter International, the largest global distributor and logistics services provider of wire, cable and connectivity products and services.
ADTRAN hopes this deal will enable it to boost its sales in the European, Middle Eastern and African regions. It has already signed reseller deals in Ireland with Mercury Engineering and Keddington, and hopes to sell its products to Irish companies.
ADTRAN, which was founded in 1985, sells a range of telecoms products such as routers, digital subscriber line equipment and internet security products. It is a key competitor to Cisco Systems in the US marketplace.
Mr Werner said the telecoms equipment market is improving, although it has not yet fully recovered from a three-year recession which cost hundreds of thousands of jobs worldwide.
ADTRAN reported a 32 per cent increase in sales to $114 million for the first quarter of 2004, up from $86 in the same quarter last year. Net income rose by 94 per cent to $20.3 million, according to its financial results.
