Indigenous and Global Tech Companies Explain why they Chose Galway

Galway Technology Centre (GTC) has released the first of a series short videos explaining why their indigenous and multinational alumni have chosen Galway as a city to grow their business and develop their products. Inspired by the ‘Why Galway’ initiative led by the city’s enterprise community, the videos showcase the people and organisations within Galway’s technology and innovation sector.

The first video in the series features Ipswitch, a global American company who established operations at Galway Technology Centre (GTC) prior to opening their Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) support and operations centre in the city.

Employing 250 people in the US, Europe, Asia and Latin America, Ipswitch will be growing their team in Galway to 60 professionals in technical support, sales, product development, channel development and cloud operations.

John McArdle, EMEA Channel Director for Ipswitch, is a 20-year veteran of the technology community in the west of Ireland who leads the Galway operation.

“The unique DNA of Galway is that it is a compact city where people like to collaborate,” said John McArdle. “We require a mix of skills and languages to deliver on our vision for a centre of excellence in Galway. We need multiple business functions with multi-lingual capability and Galway is a rich source of that.”

Ipswitch provides IT professionals across the globe with secure managed file transfer solutions and network monitoring software. 30% of their customer base is located outside of North America and the Galway office is a critical part of the company’s growth strategy in EMEA. The move enables Ipswitch to greatly increase its support for its channel partners and customers across Europe in local languages and time zones.

“We have hired our sales team from the business schools and hired graduates from the engineering and ICT schools of both colleges in the city. That breadth of educated talent is very important to us,” according to John McArdle.

GTC is a is a full-service enterprise and innovation centre that is used by indigenous enterprises to grow and by multinationals to establish a European base.

“Our clients, of which 90% are indigenous start-ups and enterprises, use our centre as a base to establish their team and operations in Galway city,” explains Niamh Costello, General Manager of Galway Technology Centre (GTC). “They grow out of GTC into a dedicated facility, joining our alumni network and forming part of the technology community in the city. They create new job opportunities, develop regional skills and enhance the connectivity of Galway city with the global technology industry.”

Since the closure of Digital Equipment’s hardware operations in 1993, GTC has been at the heart of the city’s enterprise and technology community. Since its foundation in 1994 with 8 indigenous start-ups the centre has supported the development of 150 companies.

“When I started in Galway 20 years ago, it was very much an IT tech centre driven by multinationals,” said John McArdle. “We had the very large names like Hewlett Packard and Nortel. Today it is a complete rounding of the hub where we now have large multinationals, mid-scale multinationals and a very vibrant indigenous software start-up community. That whole ecosystem works very well together to support each other.”

Recent multinationals who landed at Galway Technology Centre and have established permanent operations in the city include EA Games, Wayfair and Mathworks. Together they now employ over 600 people in the city.

The next videos in the series will feature the Galway founded companies Ex Ordo, who create software for research conferences, and Storm Technology, a business technology consultancy. US multinational Mathworks, who develops mathematical computing software for engineers and scientists, will also feature in the series.