Thirty new IT jobs for Belfast

Internet Designers Limited (IDL), a joint venture company created by BT Holdings, is to invest £465,000 to create 30 internet-related engineering jobs in Belfast by March 2003.

Sir Reg Empey, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Investment made the announcement at BT Northern Ireland’s Riverside Tower Headquarters alongside Hanif Lalani, Chief Executive of BTNI and Daphne Gordon, Managing Director of IDL.

Sir Reg said: "The setting up of this new venture for IDL in Belfast sees the creation of 30 highly skilled jobs within an ambitious project which aims to develop leading edge skills in a wide range of software and computer technologies.

"IDL’s Belfast facility will provide services sourced by BT plc and also service mainland BT contracts with its Belfast staff including analysts, systems designers, developers and delivery/project managers.

"Today’s announcement provides further evidence of Northern Ireland’s position as a highly attractive location for leading edge software and computer services companies. As well as enhancing Northern Ireland’s software sector these jobs will be provided within a new TSN area and the project itself is very much in line with the Information Age Initiative objective of a world class business exploiting a high value niche market."

Welcoming the announcement Hanif Lalani, Chief Executive of BT Northern Ireland added: "The launch of IDL in Northern Ireland is great news for businesses in the Province. The unique relationship between IDL and BT will provide a seamless and expert service to help BT Northern Ireland’s customers harness the immense power of the Internet to its maximum advantage."

Daphne Gordon, Managing Director of IDL, concluded by saying that the establishment of IDL in Northern Ireland would give them an opportunity to expand in a rapidly growing market.

IDL has been offered Selective Financial Assistance of £210,000 by IDB towards the project costs of £465,000.

The company was established in February 2000 to deliver software and computer services to BT plc. Its headquarters are in Cambridge close to BT’s Adastral Park research centre. IDL currently employs 120 people in total. Sixteen of the new jobs planned for Belfast are already in place. (MB)