BUSINESS
Netforce in EUR1.2 million expansion
19-02-2008
by Stephen Errity
Irish IT infrastructure firm Netforce is planning to expand its workforce and acquire a small software firm as part of an ongoing expansion strategy.
Discussing the expansion with ENN, Netforce director Larry Doyle said the company is looking to improve the service it offers to existing clients while at the same time attract higher-profile customers. He also added that the company was planning to add further new staff later this year and was looking at the acquisition of a small software company as a means to expand further.
The firm's current EUR1.2 million expansion has seen it partner with the UK-based NCI and US-based ZI Corp in order to offer "around-the-clock" remote management support by drawing on 450 technical engineers located in call centres based in various time zones. Netforce says it now hopes to be able to deal with problems as they arise, and in many cases before they arise, for their clients around the clock, thanks to the support network and the use of sophisticated monitoring and alerting software.
This latest investment has seen the company increase the number of its Irish staff to seven and move to a new 1,700 square foot premises in Nutgrove Business Office Park in Rathfarnam, Dublin. The new facility hosts a communications centre, training rooms and desks for the expanding staff numbers in Ireland, with a number of hires at both the technical engineering and senior director levels being made as part of the expansion.
Netforce offers virtualisation, voice telephony and messaging, data storage and recovery, network architecture and security, digital dictation, data lifecycle management and support for Microsoft products. The company is noted for deploying its engineers on motorbikes to cut down response times by circumventing city centre congestion.
In December of last year Netforce became the first Desktop Deployment Planning Services (DDPS) certified Microsoft partner in Ireland, while in July, the company was the sole European finalist in the Small Business Specialist (SBS) category at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Awards.
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