Fast moving Irish mobile software firm Valista has not only established a track record for pioneering strong software R&D locally in Ireland but has now established an overseas R&D operation in Columbo, Sri Lanka, which is projected to grow from 10 to 40 people.
Valista, which was founded by Sri Lanka-born Raomal Perera, is currently seeking to fill a number of senior software engineers and software architect positions at the new R&D centre.
Valista has a strong track record of working with Sri Lankan engineers since it was founded in 1999 as Network365, and following its merger with US company iPIN in 2003 to form Valista.
The R&D led Irish company, which is based in Bray, already employs 85 people worldwide, boasts over 150m people in Europe, Asia and the Americas using its technology to electronically buy products and services from over 1,000 merchants.
The company, which made Red Herring’s list of Top 100 global companies for 2004, includes major mobile providers Vodafone, America Online, NTT DoCoMo, 3, France Telecom and Hong Kong CSL as its customers and has forged strong technology partnerships with IBM, HP, Ericsson, Cap Gemini and Gemplus.
Since founding in Bray in 1999, the company has become a truly globalised operation, with offices in Singapore, Sri Lanka, North America, Brazil, the UK, France, Germany and Ireland
Commenting on the R&D expansion, founder and chief executive Raomal Perera said: “This expansion will provide a new research and development platform from which we will bring further new innovations to market while working closely with our customers throughout the region.
“It signals our commitment to continuing investment in high growth markets and it also forms a major endorsement of the high quality of software engineering talent available in Sri Lanka. It is because of what we know and our experience of working with top calibre Sri Lankan developers that we are making a commitment to set up in Sri Lanka with the aid of the [Sri Lanka] Board of Investment, Perera said.”
By John Kennedy
