An international data storage company unveiled a new research center in Durham last week that is expected to create about 400 new jobs.
EMC Corporation, a global entity that develops cloud-computing technology, chose to establish its first U.S.-based Center of Excellence in the Triangle because of its business-friendly climate, said Lesley Ogrodnick, spokeswoman for the corporation, in an email.
The corporation has six other Centers of Excellence in India, China, Egypt, Israel, Ireland and Russia. The centers are hubs for engineering, research, translation and technology development, according to a press release.
The 450,000-square foot Durham center, which includes a cloud data center, is projected to create about 400 jobs by the end of 2015, said Chris Mackey, press secretary for N.C. Gov. Bev Perdue.
The new Center of Excellence plans to partner with local universities.
“The model that they are using grew out of an outstanding model from Ireland where a Center of Excellence partnered with a local university,” said Marc Hoit, vice chancellor for information technology at N.C. State University.
Many universities in the state are EMC customers, and the corporation already has a manufacturing center in Apex, Ogrodnick said.
The corporation hires many students from N.C. State, Hoit said.
“The EMC hires a lot of our students who come out of the engineering and computer science programs,” he said.
