A European IT services company has announced plans to open in the Republic a disaster recovery centre for the technology divisions of call centres and financial institutions. Synstar will open its business recovery centre in a 41,000 sq ft facility in Swords Business Campus in September.

The centre will provide a physical back-up facility for up to 400 desktop users in the event of a fire or technical failure at their usual premises. It will be equipped with all the computer hardware and of fice facilities necessary to function. The initial investment is estimated at about £1.25 million.

The centre will operate in association with Ericsson Ireland, which will provide the specialist technical software and hardware support.

Synstar has provided computer services in Ireland for the past 12 years and its clients include Bank of Ireland and University College Dublin.

According to Mr David Duignam, international product marketing manager for Synstar, the centre has about £500,000 worth of Irish business in the pipeline and it aims to generate more than £1 million in contracted revenue in the first year.

Synstar already offers business recovery services to its clients in other European countries. It employs about 45 people in the IT services industry in Ireland.