By Business & Finance 
Cork Internet eXchange (CIX) today announced that the company is creating 10 new jobs, as a result of significant expansion at its data centre in Cork.
CIX, the data and connectivity centre located at Hollyhill, will double the size of its current data capacity, bringing the total investment in the data centre to almost €5m.
Minister for Research and Innovation, Sean Sherlock TD officially opened the new CIX 1B Data Centre, and acknowledged the critical role of data centres in Ireland’s economic development.
“Data centres have become the heart of the digital economy,” said Minister Sherlock. “More and more devices with Internet connectivity are being developed and released, meaning that data centres will form the technological backbone to the recovering economy nationally and regionally.
The expansion of the CIX Data Centre will ensure that Cork is well positioned to continue to attract international investment and support the indigenous and thriving tech sector here – a tech sector that is becoming a global leader and rightly recognised as such.”
CIX also announced that the centre will be directly connected to the Government Cloud Network enabling CIX and their clients to deliver services to government.
“CIX is critical to the broadband infrastructure of the Region, and indeed in Ireland,” said Jerry Sweeney, CEO of CIX. “There has been an explosion of digital technology and generation of digital data in recent years. All this data must be processed, stored, managed, exchanged and monitored in data centres. We are dedicated to providing the best service to our customers, and this expansion at CIX shows our commitment to our clients and partners, as well as to the Cork region.”
A recent report from 451 Group found that Irish internet traffic is growing at a rate of 200% a year and the Irish data hosting market will grow 18% a year between now and 2016, outpacing the UK and mainland European locations. CIX, as a wholesaler to all the leading providers in Ireland, is also exporting data solutions, and is investing heavily in R&D with the support of Enterprise Ireland.
Established in 2008, CIX is already serving tens of thousands of homes in Munster with broadband through its wholesale business with all the leading telco brands in Ireland. As well as supporting most of the multinational organisations located in the Munster region, CIX is also the connectivity centre for both inbound and outbound IP traffic in the region.
