US firm to create up to 3,000 jobs in Dublin

Cisco Systems is to create up to 3,000 jobs in the Dublin area. In a major European expansion, the company is to locate a multi-million-pound manufacturing facility in the capital, The Irish Times has learned.

The deal is an important coup for the Republic and ranks in significance with large-scale projects such as Intel's recently-announced plans for a new £2 billion microprocessor fabrication plant in Leixlip, and IBM's 2,500-employee "campus" in Mulhuddart, Co Dublin, which will receive an additional £100 million investment this week.

Cisco employs over 30,000 people worldwide and is the world's most valuable company, with a market capitalisation of $478.5 billion, exceeding that of Microsoft.

The San Jose, California, firm controls 81 per cent of the market for routers, computing devices that sort the information sent across the Internet and send it to its correct destination. Cisco currently employs about 50 people in a small office in Dublin's East Point Business Park.

The company is understood to have acquired a 50,000 sq ft premises in the park in Dublin. All or most of the jobs, expected to number between 1,500 and 3,000, are believed to be lower-skilled manufacturing positions, but may also include the high-skilled "knowledge" jobs in research and development that the Government prefers, according to a source familiar with the negotiations.

The deal, which the IDA views as a flagship project, has been described by a senior source as a "long-term" investment.

Cisco has said it will spend over $2 billion on research and development in 2000, and the State can be expected to encourage such growth in Cisco's operations here.

Cisco is aggressively expanding into new, fast-growth technology sectors and has made over 58 acquisitions in the past six years. In addition, the company has made wide-ranging investments in other technology companies, including a £5.2 million financing arrangement in December with a Dublin telecommunications company, Stentor (since acquired in June by Northern Ireland firm Nevada tele.com).

The Cisco deal follows extended negotiations by the Government and the Industrial Development Authority over the past two years. Much of the groundwork was laid in 1999 by the IDA's Silicon Valley office. But it is understood that a pivotal trip by the Tanaiste, Ms Harney, to Silicon Valley in late 1999 helped seal the deal.

The Cisco project will increase pressure on the already tight technology skills market, especially following Intel's announcement that it will be seeking 1,000 employees by 2004 for its new plant. In particular, smaller companies may be dismayed at having to compete against the salaries and benefits on offer from major multinationals.

Cisco recorded $12.2 billion in revenue in fiscal 1999, and $16.7 billion in its most recent four quarters. The company has offices in 75 countries and sells its products to 115 countries. It targets a wide market ranging from very large enterprises to Internet service-providers and small and medium-sized businesses.

Cisco shipped its first product in 1986, when the Internet was primarily used by researchers and technology companies. It went public in 1990 and grew exponentially after the general public began to use the World Wide Web in the mid-1990s. The worldwide communications market for the networking equipment Cisco provides is worth some $350 billion annually.