HEWLETT-PACKARD (HP) has designated its Galway software development centre as a global centre of competency for cloud computing.

The first fruits of the new designation is a product recall service for the food industry, which is being launched in Canada.

Announced yesterday, the service will run on HP’s cloud computing platform for manufacturing and is being offered through a partnership with GS1, a non-profit organisation that attempts to make supply chains more efficient.

Cloud computing, which involves accessing applications over the web rather than installing them on a customers’ own premises, is gaining popularity rapidly.

Google uses the model to provide services such as Google Mail, while Salesforce.com has popularised it as a way to deliver software to businesses.

The GS1 initiative, which will launch in Canada next month before being introduced in other markets, was led by the Galway centre.

Galway will now become a hub for both research and development and commercialisation of cloud computing initiatives at HP, according to Martin Murphy, managing director of HP Ireland.

“By creating a cloud competency centre, it means we have high-value expertise being located in Galway,” said Mr Murphy. “With that will come jobs in the fullness of time.”

HP competed with IBM, which last year located a European cloud computing centre in Dublin, to win the GS1 contract.

Mr Murphy said the same platform could be applied to other sectors where product tracking is vital, such as pharmaceuticals or the motor industry.

It is hoped the new service will reduce errors, reduce the time needed to recall a food product and also cut the costs of a product recall.