A Wicklow software company will invest more than £600,000 sterling (€966 million) in Northern Ireland to establish a new support centre in Belfast, creating 30 jobs.

Xnet, which is based in Bray, specialises in data storage solutions.

The company is expanding into the North to facilitate its ambitions to break into the UK market. The company, set up in 1995, employs 35 people in the Republic.

It has been offered selective financial assistance of £120,000 towards the costs of its new centre by the North's Industrial Development Board.

In Belfast yesterday, Mr Aidan Higgins, the managing director of Xnet, said he believed the UK data storage market presented a good opportunity for the company to grow its business.

"We are keen to maximise the market opportunity that this creates, and our investment in this integration and support centre will provide the technical capacity to expand into the UK, where the data storage market is worth £760 million," he said.

The Irish company's decision to invest in Belfast has been welcomed by Mr Leslie Ross, chief executive of the IDB.

Mr Ross said it would help raise Northern Ireland's profile as an investment location and help the region to further develop its information, communications and technology sector.

"The centre will provide data storage solutions utilising leading edge software and hardware. Xnet will also be involved in implementing integrated solutions for clients' data storage.

"Securing this investment provides opportunities to work in the growing data storage market sector and is consistent with our aim of creating a sustainable knowledge-based economy," Mr Ross added.