94 Belfast Jobs Announced

94 jobs are to be created in Belfast as a result of a £6m investment by US data protection company Proofpoint Inc.

Based in Sunnyvale, California, Proofpoint has selected Belfast as its research and development and operations centre. The base will act as an operations and support hub for Proofpoint’s customer base in Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster said: "This investment follows Proofpoint Inc.’s acquisition of local company, Mail Distiller Limited, last year. They also attended the Northern Ireland Investment Conference last October. Proofpoint recognised the benefits of establishing a European centre here, including the availability of high quality technical and sales staff, as well as the high-speed telecoms links between Northern Ireland, North America and Europe.

"I had the pleasure of meeting with Proofpoint’s CEO Gary Steele during my visit to the US last month and took the opportunity to highlight the strength of our growing IT sector and our track-record of partnership working between our ICT and academic sectors. I am delighted to be able to make this announcement so soon after that meeting."

Gary Steele, CEO of Proofpoint Inc, said: "In Belfast our strategic objective is to broaden the distribution and support networks for our current suite of products. The acquisition of Mail Distiller provided us with a platform to grow the small and medium sized businesses segment of our business.

"With the support of Invest NI, we have committed to make a strategic investment in Northern Ireland, to drive innovation through Proofpoint Essentials, and to establish a base of customer and network support operations for EMEA."

Invest NI has offered more than £600,000 of support for the new jobs.

Proofpoint NI Limited currently employs eighteen people at its new premises in Weaver’s Court in Belfast. The new jobs are expected to be in place by the end of 2016.

(IT/MH)