RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – The increasingly global drive to reduce costs at data centers and to help make technology companies more “green” is helping bring more high-tech jobs to the Triangle.
Network Appliance is preparing to build a new technology research center and add as many as 50 additional jobs initially at its RTP campus.
Company officials will break ground Monday morning for a research and development center that will cost $61 million and cover 125,000 square feet. NetApp picked RTP over two other sites in May, helped in part by the promise of some $18 million in economic incentives from state and local governments.
NetApp said it would create more than 640 new jobs overall when it secured the tax incentives and other benefits.
The focus of R&D at the facility will be improving energy and seeking ways to make “data centers more energy efficient,” according to a company spokesperson.
“This is a hot topic,” she said, adding that “they are going to be hiring” additional personnel to man the center.
NetApp (Nasdaq: ) already operates three buildings at the campus. The buildings were purchased from Cisco Systems. It has 705 employees in RTP and 6,600 worldwide. The 705 total is up from 630 in May.
The new jobs, which will include sales, engineering and research and development, will pay an average wage of $94,000 plus benefits.
The company, which focuses on data storage, has maintained a presence in RTP since 1999. NetApp began moving into the former Cisco buildings in 2005.
The incentives for the expansion include up to $15.3 million for job creation under the job development investment program plus up to $1.28 million in research and development tax credits and as much as $659,500 in tax credits under a new incentive program known as 3J.
