GERMAN-owned managed services firm Novosco has invested £500,000 in a dedicated security operations centre in Belfast which has added 12 jobs to its current 300-strong workforce.
The facility at its Catalyst headquarters, which will operate on a 365-day round-the-clock basis, will enable Novosco to provide specialist high security services to organisations across the UK and Ireland.
And the investment is the first since its acquisition last month by the Cancom Group in Munich in a £70 million deal.
The 12 new recruits are all fresh graduates from a specialist cyber security academy run by Belfast Metropolitan College in conjunction with Novosco.
They will provide services including monitoring and analysis of clients’ IT systems to pre-empt and prevent security risks and attacks for clients including Cambridge University Hospitals Trust, a contract worth £107m which Novosco won last year.
Managing director John Lennon said: “Cyber security is at the forefront of the minds of businesses and organisations across the public, private and voluntary sectors.
“It's business-critical that these organisations secure, protect and monitor their IT systems to prevent breaches that could have significant repercussions.”
He added: “We have invested significantly in capital infrastructure, technology and people to make sure we have an offering that meets the requirements of organisations with complex and sophisticated cyber security needs.
“Part of this was setting up a cyber security academy with Belfast Met to train dedicated security analysts to run the new centre, and as a result we have some of the best-trained analysts in the UK and Ireland.”
Public sector reseller Novosco was set up more than a decade ago by Patrick McAliskey and John Lennon.
It specialises in NHS, housing association and charity clients, and is on the NHS Shared Business Services list of pre-approved cloud suppliers.
Cancom has 3,500 staff and offices in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Slovakia, as well as the UK and US.
