Wolfe Group, a Dublin-based technology firm which operates in the troubled managed services sector, went into liquidation yesterday with the loss of 30 jobs. The closure is the latest in a series of difficulties in the data hosting and managed services industry, which has felt the brunt of the downturn in the high-tech sector.

Wolfe, which was founded in March 1998 by four former employees of Iona Technologies, raised £5 million last year from venture capital firm 3i Group.

The firm offered corporate clients a secure environment to host their internal information technology systems and web-based applications. It is understood that Wolfe was unable to raise further funding from outside investors to make it profitable. Earlier this week, takeover talks with Belfast firm Nevadatele.com failed to produce a trade sale.

Last night, one Wolfe director told The Irish Times that the company had gone into liquidation with the appointment of accountants from Deloitte & Touche.

Although by this week the company employed just 30 people, previously it had 80 staff, with new offices opened in the UK and Spain. Earlier this year, other data centre firms with major investments in the Republic, 360 Networks and Cityreach, went out of business.