HP Ireland says it is working on investment projects

TECHNOLOGY GIANT HP, which employs 4,000 people in Ireland, has a “number of investment projects in the pipeline with IDA Ireland” which it hopes to bring to fruition this year, Martin Murphy, managing director of HP Ireland. has said.

HP has four main businesses at its 200-acre Leixlip site where it began manufacturing components for inkjet printers in the 1990s. In addition to sales and services for the Irish market, it has an international financial services division, provides support to customers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and continues to manufacture inkjet cartridges in Leixlip.

Following discussions at the Global Irish Forum in Dublin Castle last year, HP is working on a study to see how Ireland’s costs compare to those in “other locations where HP could potentially invest”.

HP’s local Irish business grew by 8 per cent last year compared to a market that shrank by about 4-5 per cent, said Mr Murphy. The Silicon Valley-headquartered firm won significant contracts with Dublin Airport Authority, ESB, Vodafone, and Belfast Metropolitan College last year. In conjunction with Payzone, HP is operating and supporting the electronic systems behind the Leap-integrated ticketing system in Dublin.

Mr Murphy said HP’s consumer business had been most impacted by the economic downturn, while the corporate business, which operates on multi-year contracts, had not suffered as much.

Although HP’s $10.3 billion acquisition of Autonomy, announced during the short reign of chief executive Leo Apotheker, has been questioned, Mr Murphy said he saw “big opportunities” for the software in the Irish market.

While public sector technology spending has been stagnant, Mr Murphy expects this to change. “Central government has got to get into a ‘spend to save’ mindset,” he said. “You can’t achieve the goals the government want to achieve without investing in new technology.”