An American cybersecurity consulting firm has opened its first overseas site in the southern Irish city of Kilkenny.
The new office in the Republic of Ireland will become the European Headquarters and Security Operations Centre (SOC) for growing company Security Risk Advisors (SRA). SOC's current staff of three will grow to seven by mid-October and is expected to swell to 52 over the next five years.
Having an office in Europe allows SRA to offer around-the-clock system monitoring to its US-based clients. It will also help the company support its growing European clientele and is likely to attract new customers east of the Atlantic.
SRA's managing director, Tim Wainwright, said: "The proximity to top colleges and industry-leading companies, in addition to the quality of life in the South East region, made the decision to open our first international office in Kilkenny an easy one."
Wainwright has already chosen his favorite local watering hole, and the honor goes to Cleere’s Bar & Theatre in Kilkenny’s Irishtown.
Support for SRA's international expansion is being provided by Ireland's inward investment promotion agency, the IDA.
"The IDA walked us through incentives and hosted our initial visit. They introduced us to local stakeholders and helped us fill out paperwork. They have continued to work with us in support of setting up our office," said SRA’s Amanda Larsen.
Irish minister of state at the Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government, John Paul Phelan TD, said: "The decision to locate their office here is testament to Kilkenny’s highly skilled workforce, as well as its strong network of nearby educational institutions like Waterford IT and Carlow IT, which provide companies like SRA with the talent they need to succeed and grow.
"This announcement is a great boost for the city, and I wish SRA every success in Kilkenny."
SRA was founded as a virtual organization in Pennsylvania's largest city, Philadelphia, back in 2010, by a home-grown team of four Philly locals. Since then, the company has grown 20% on average every year and now employs around 140 people.
The company's growth strategy of mentoring a large number of university hires was so successful that in 2017 SRA opened a physical office on the city's Market Street.
Two years of success followed, causing SRA to outgrow its original space. In June of this year the company announced the expansion of its office in Philadelphia to accommodate 25 additional employees, together with the opening of a new site in Rochester, New York.
Indicating that SRA plans to implement a similar growth strategy at their new European HQ, Larsen said: "We will be working closely with the Waterford Institute of Technology and Institute of Technology Carlow. The South East region has such a great amount of tech talent."