Irish Companies Sign Agreements in Bombay Tánaiste Welcomes Emergence of New Business Links with India

Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mary Harney today (Monday 10th April, 2000) announced that two Irish technology companies have signed significant new agreements with Indian counterparts.

Baltimore Technologies, which is based in the Financial Services Centre, employs 112 people and develops and markets security products and services to facilitates secure e-business and internet transactions. Baltimore is one of 14 companies participating in Ireland's first ever software trade mission to India led by the Tánaiste. In her presence, the company today signed a major new contract with an Indian client, which heralds a major step for Irish companies seeking to penetrate the Indian market.

"Participation in this mission has clearly helped to raise Baltimore's profile in India and this contract is an important development for the company", said Tom Comerfort, Business Development Manager. "We hope that it will lead to a significant increase in our business in this part of the world", he added.

Under the terms of the deal, Moores Rowland Consulting Ltd., one the top ten independent accounting and auditing groups will in future use Baltimore products to secure its own business as well as to secure communications with its major clients in the industrial, financial and software sectors. The deal is expected to substantially increase the value of Baltimore's sales in these sectors.

Meanwhile another company on the mission, PACE Software, which provides software development services to Irish companies using Indian development skills, has signed a new joint venture arrangement for the establishment of a software development facility.

PACE Soft Silicon will develop software products on next generation chip sets for a broad range of clients including the telecommunications sector. The company will have its head office in Dublin and will also establish operations in the UK and India.

The Tánaiste described the two Irish companies as innovative, dynamic and demonstrative of how far the Irish software industry had come in such a short space of time. "Five years ago the idea that Irish software companies could have developed these sort of strategic alliances with their Indian counterparts would have been unthinkable."

The Tánaiste continued "These new deals are indicative of the growing business links that exist between Ireland and India. India is now the world's largest producer of IT professionals in the world whereas Ireland is the largest exporter of software in the world. During the course of my visit here, I have been struck by the huge potential that exists to build on the reputation both countries have in the IT industry and to use the new links now being established to increase both two way trade between Ireland and India as well as to develop our respective markets around the globe".