The Irish government was celebrating earlier this week when major internet search engine Google announced that it had chosen Dublin as the base for its European HQ. It is thought the move will create around 200 jobs and breathe some life back into the country's once booming tech sector.
The move was facilitated with help from the Irish Investment and Development Agency (IDA). A delighted Deputy Prime Minister, Mary Harney announced: "This is fantastic news for Ireland," adding, "Google is truly a household name for Internet searching and its decision to locate in Dublin positions Ireland as a prime location for global Internet services."
Whilst the exact details of the finances involved have not yet been revealed, an IDA spokesman said Ireland had plenty of spare data capacity as a result of the slump in the technology sector. "Dublin has about 19 or 20 data centers, and half are empty," he said. As Google is thought to handle around half the world's internet searches it requires huge amounts of processing power, no doubt one factor behind the company's decision to locate its first non-US office in Ireland.
Despite a major recession in the hi tech sector of recent years, Ireland can still claim to be a major player in the field of IT development. Figures from ICT Ireland suggest the sector employs almost 100,000 people in 980 companies - up from 47,000 in 1993 - with Ireland as the largest exporter of software in the world. Total exports of ICT products and services amounted to Euros 31 bn in 2001, representing 33% of all Irish exports, according to Online.ie, an Irish news website.
The centre, which fought off competition from Zurich, will serve mainly as an administrative, legal and service facility, though it is also expected to add to Google's server and network capacity as the search engine attempts to meet increasing volumes of internet traffic, and will become the hub of operations for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
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