AMDAHL Ireland is to create almost 200 jobs, virtually doubling its workforce at its Swords, Co Dublin plant. The company is undertaking a £2.7 million investment, backed by IDA Ireland.

Amdahl provides software, services and maintenance at its Swords facility. The company says the investment will result in the company becoming a significant developer and provider of integrated technical computer services.

Amdahl, which currently employs 167 people, is to start recruitment immediately. Around 120 of the new jobs will be aimed at graduates, with the remainder being filled by school leavers.

The company has been based in Swords for almost 20 years and at one stage employed up to 800 people according to industry sources. However, some years ago, it ceased manufacturing in Ireland.

Amdahl's Swords facility provides a wide range of services from integrated services and strategic support for deploying servers of UNIX and Windows NT environments to application development, testing and maintenance. It also offers mainframe computer services such as reconditioning field support and a diagnostics service for advanced systems.

Commenting on the investment, Mr Martin Delaney, general manager of Amdahl, said it would enable the Dublin operation to expand its customer base. "It will also benefit from the increasing market demand for services to design, integrate, deliver and out source information systems," he said.

Amdahl Ireland had sales of £90 million in 1995. Its parent company, based in California, has moved from being a product oriented company focusing on a Systems 390 environment to a solutions oriented company, according to Amdahl.

It made the transition through a series of alliances with and acquisitions of suitable complementary companies. It says it can now provide customers with completely integrated hardware, software and services for all data processing needs. It had revenues of more than £1 billion in 1996 and employs 10,000 worldwide.

The investment was approved at Cabinet yesterday. Enterprise and Employment Minister, Mr Bruton congratulated the management and workforce at Swords for winning the investment. He added that Amdahl had already made a significant contribution to the economy over the past 20 years, through employment and its spend on raw materials and services.