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Northern Ireland is fast becoming a global cyber security hub as the latest investment by Alert Logic to create 88 new jobs proves

Northern Ireland becoming a global IT security hub as Alert Logic creates 88 jobs

22 Jun 2016

Alert Logic has created 88 jobs in Belfast – 30 of which are already in place – at a new Security Research and Technology Development Centre.

Alert Logic offers cloud-based Security-as-a-Service (SaaS), a platform of fully-managed products and services designed to keep a customer’s data and infrastructure safe and compliant, regardless of whether that IT infrastructure resides in the cloud, on-premises or in a hybrid data centre.

“We considered many other locations for this investment but Invest NI’s support and the availability of a strong pool of talented people made Northern Ireland a very attractive location for us,” explained Alert Logic’s CEO Gray Hall.

Invest NI offered the Texan-based firm £572,000 of support for the new jobs, which are expected to be in place by the end of 2017.

Global cybersecurity hub

Northern Ireland’s Finance Minister Mervyn Storey said that, following recent investments by cybersecurity players like Proofpoint, Whitehat and Rapid7, Northern Ireland is fast becoming a global cybersecurity hub.

As well as the investment firms there are local firms and specialist university research centres, including the Centre of Secure Information Technology at Queen’s University.

“The company’s decision to locate in Northern Ireland will contribute a total investment of £3.9m into the economy,” Storey said.

“The new Security Research and Technology Development centre will provide valuable employment for IT and cybersecurity professionals. These are well-paid jobs with an average salary of £44,000, contributing nearly £4m annually in salaries for the local economy.”

Belfast image via Shutterstock

John Kennedy
By John Kennedy

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years. His interests include all things technological, music, movies, reading, history, gaming and losing the occasional game of poker.

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