Red Hat to Create 60 Jobs in Waterford
Open source software company, Red Hat, plans to invest €12.7 million in a new project, creating up to 60 jobs in Waterford over four years, Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Mary Mitchell O’Connor and Minister of State for Training, Skills & Innovation John Halligan announced on Monday.
Red Hat’s Waterford office was established in 2014 following its acquisition of the cloud-based mobile software company, FeedHenry, originally a spin-out from Waterford Institute of Technology, and currently serves as the company’s global hub for research and development into mobile application development technology. Established in 1993, Red Hat has two other offices in Ireland, including Cork and Dublin and more than 85 offices globally, employing more than 10,000 people.
As an open source software provider, Red Hat uses a community-driven approach to develop and supply software-based operating systems, virtualisation, middleware, storage and cloud technologies. The company is focused on developing leading-edge open source technologies in areas that include containers, messaging, big data, real-time computing, middleware, management, mobile, security and identity.
Making the announcement, Mitchell O’Connor said: “This is terrific news for Waterford and the South East and I warmly welcome the creation of up to 60 high value R&D jobs which Red Hat has committed to create here over the next four years. This investment of €12.7m shows the confidence Red Hat has in its Waterford staff and also in its ability to source highly skilled workers.’’
The project is supported by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise & Innovation through IDA Ireland.
IDA Ireland CEO Martin Shanahan said: “It is great to see Red Hat develop its Waterford office as a strategic site by adding this project. Waterford has a growing software engineering base and this decision by Red Hat, a global software leader, to locate this project here is another excellent endorsement of the region as a prime location for other technology companies to invest in.”
