New online service brings Irish companies closer together in US

An electronic network for Irish companies doing business in the US will go live on Monday when Enterprise Ireland launches its East Coast Online Networking Forum at its Manhattan headquarters.

The network will be used by 30 Irish high-tech companies with activities in the US. It is designed to nurture mutually beneficial relationships between Irish start-ups, in particular, allowing them to interact through a secure, efficient medium.

The Minister of State for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mr Tom Kitt, will attend Monday's launch, where the forum will be officially inaugurated with the transmission of the first email message to the online bulletin board. Local Ireland, the Telecom Eireann initiative operated by Nua, an Irish Internet-based company with a US presence, has co-operated in establishing the online community. There are plans to extend the facility to the west coast soon.

Seventy Irish companies have established 84 offices throughout the US, and Enterprise Ireland expects this figure to increase to more than 100 within a year. Irish IT companies on the east coast and mid-west are primarily located in New York, Boston, Chicago and New Jersey. A weekly email will be sent to each member company informing them of relevant issues for discussion and events. Information will be exchanged via the real-time bulletin board, and non-members can interact with the site. The forum was tested during October with considerable success. Messages ranged from client company queries to announcements of events or current news items of interest to the group. According to Mr John Corrigan, chief executive of the Americas for Enterprise Ireland, the response to the programme has been overwhelming. "There are a lot of Irish companies out here working away individually, and it can be a lonely old market for them. But experience has shown they have to establish a US presence to gain credence over here. This network is part of our ongoing support for such a presence."

Participating companies include a number of rising stars of the Irish high-tech industry - Baltimore Technologies, Nua, Vision Consulting, Qumas, Intuition Publishing and Softech.