ONE YEAR on from its acquisition by US managed services provider Perot Systems, Original Solutions is winning contracts it would not have been considered for before.

Now rebranded as the Irish arm of Perot Systems, managing director John Collins says that “being Perot Systems is the springboard we were looking for”.

Since the acquisition in May 2008, Mr Collins says revenues and staff numbers are up 15 per cent. Perot Systems Ireland now employs 250 staff at offices in Limerick, Dublin and Uxbridge in the UK. This includes staff from Original Solutions, as well as Perot staff who would have already been in Ireland working on contracts, such as applications development for Bank of Ireland.

The British market accounts for 50 per cent of revenues. “We are achieving the export orientation we always aspired to,” says Mr Collins.

Original Solutions, which was founded by Mr Collins in 2003, provided technology consulting and bespoke software development services. Following the acquisition by the US giant, which employs 23,000 and had revenues of $2.8 billion last year, it can provide a full range of managed services, covering everything from infrastructure to business process outsourcing.

He points out that healthcare, public sector and financial services are key markets for Perot, accounting for almost half its US revenues last year, and that there are significant opportunities in those areas in Ireland.

As with others in the sector, Mr Collins says purchasing decisions by customers are taking longer during the recession.

“People are considering strategies that they wouldn’t have looked at before.”

While acknowledging 2008 was a hard year for all technology providers, he expects 2009 to be “a good year, but not for everyone”.

Perot’s Limerick operations, which employ 80, is now being positioned as a “near-shoring” facility that can support projects in other European markets.