E-tailing giant Amazon.com has chosen Dublin as the location for its European Systems and Network Operations Centre. The new IDA-supported operation will provide infrastructure support for Amazon.com systems worldwide and is expected to open by July.
The centre will create a total of up to 25 new highly skilled jobs within two years, more than 70pc of whom will be third-level graduates.
The company will be immediately begin recruiting IT professionals with skills in systems and network management and database administration.
Enterprise Minister Micheál Martin, welcoming the investment, said: “The establishment of such a strategic centre here, by one of the global leaders in internet commerce, further endorses the ability of Ireland’s technical infrastructure and skills base to support such operations. It confirms this country’s status as the leading European location for the largest internet activities in the world. It is an excellent example of the success being achieved by the Government’s policy and IDA Ireland’s strategy for the development of Ireland’s digital media sector.”
Amazon is the latest in a number of high-profile US dotcoms to have been lured to Ireland by the IDA, following the recent arrival of such names of as Google, eBay/PayPal and Yahoo!/Overture.
Amazon was believed to have been considering Ireland as its prime European investment location for several months, with Luxembourg seen as the main competing location. At one stage, it was hoped that Amazon might consider Ireland for its customer support as well as its technical operations but from today’s announcement it seems that the internet giant has decided against such a move.
By Brian Skelly
