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The company said on Thursday that it was in discussions with the IDA regarding the expansion of its DLTtape (digital linear tape) and Super DLTtape product service and support capabilities in Ireland. The company could not say what level of grant aid it was seeking from the government for the expansion, as negotiations are ongoing. Over the 11 years that Quantum has been operating in Ireland, it has received almost 5.4 million in IDA grants.
The 120 new employees, who will be managers, production operatives and engineers, will be Dundalk-based, and the company said it expects to have all of the new workers in place by the end of November. Currently the company employs around 280 in Ireland.
The business' Irish operations focus on its DLTtape and Super DLTtape drive service, which includes repair services and a variety of value-added programs. This operation, which serves Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), is being actively considered as the location from which to expand support to include the Asian and North American markets as well, Quantum said.
"Customer support and service for DLTtape and Super DLTtape are key components to maintaining high levels of customer satisfaction," said Dr. Kevin Devlin, managing director of Quantum Ireland, in a statement. "As global data demands increase, the time is right to consider expansion of these functions at our Dundalk facility. The proposed expansion is a tribute to results delivered by an outstanding workforce in Dundalk."
DLT devices and tapes, as well as automated tape library (ATL) systems, which Quantum also makes, are components in the enterprise storage systems that the hardware maker sells to vendors such as Hewlett-Packard, EMC, IBM, and Sun Microsystems. Quantum, founded in 1980, also makes network-attached storage (NAS) servers and was once known for making computer hard drives, although it sold that unit to Maxtor in late 2000.
Recently, Quantum Corporation announced one of the most significant tech appointments this year, as Microsoft's high-profile former president and chief operating officer, Richard Belluzzo, took the helm as Quantum's chief executive officer in July. Belluzzo succeeded Michael Brown, who stepped down after seven years as chief executive of Quantum.
In July, Quantum reported a net loss of USD131 million, or USD0.84 per diluted share, for its fiscal first quarter ended 30 June, compared with a profit of USD77.9 million, or USD0.50 per share, a year earlier. The majority of the loss stemmed from a non-cash charge of USD94 million, or USD0.60 per diluted share, related to the adoption of a new accounting standard for goodwill. At the time, the company predicted reduced losses in its current quarter and said the market for its products would remain weak.
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