American global giant EMC is adding another 200 jobs to its 1,800-strong workforce in Cork due to this country’s “enterprise-facing environment and skilled talent”. The jobs will be in the engineering, customer support, sales, finance, research and development and IT sectors and will be based at the new EMC office in Citygate, Mahon, which is due to open in August. EMC’s president and chief operating officer, David Goulden, said Irish “skills and talents rank about the best in the world” and that is why they are investing another €100m in Cork. When they arrived in this country 25 years ago, EMC employed just 22 staff and now they employ 3,000 in Cork, Dublin and Belfast. Taoiseach Enda Kenny roundly praised EMC for continuing to “develop new, innovative products and services for world markets” and for “making a valued contribution to Ireland’s economy and our recovery”. Vice-president and managing director EMC Centre of Excellence Bob Savage said their investment in Ireland is “key to our global growth strategy which is focused on three of the most important drivers in IT for enterprise customers — cloud, Big Data and trusted IT”. “Cork is a critical innovation hub in EMC’s Centre of Excellence network, and our investment in Ireland demonstrates our long-term commitment to the country,” Mr Savage said. Minister for Research and Innovation Seán Sherlock said EMC’s partnership with third-level institutions such as Cork Institute of Technology (CIT) on cloud, Big Data and data centre transformation research programmes “fits perfectly with the Government’s efforts to support effective collaborations between companies and third-level researchers”. “It is about taking the best skills available and using them with the best companies,” he said. EMC has begun recruiting for the new positions and expects to have the majority filled by the end of this year. While in Cork, Minister Richard Bruton also hosted the third Action Plan for Jobs 2013 Forum. The forum was aimed at hearing feedback on what had been achieved following last year’s forums and on plans for the future. Last year, more than 1,000 people attended a total of nine meetings around the country. Irish Examiner, Friday, June 14, 2013