Irish firm Wisetek eyes US expansion to keep up with growth in data centres

The company, which was established in 2007, offers services for tech businesses including data elimination and recycling of used equipment.

Last year profits at the company dipped by 44pc but its chief executive and founder, Sean Sheehan, said the drop-off was due to expansion costs.

"It ties in with our strategy. We made decision that we had to grow the business. To grow the business we had to add people we had to spend more time looking at the business abroad.

"We're going to spend more again. We'll be opening up a few facilities, we'll be adding more people. You have to do that to grow your business," Mr Sheehan told the Irish Independent. The US is integral to the company's growth plans and Wisetek has already identified areas to look at. Mr Sheehan said the firm is considering Oregon and Virginia and will look to service the west coast.

Closer to home the Cork-based company has been excited by the growth of data centres in Ireland, in particular along the M50. Ireland's cool temperature has made it an attractive location for multinationals to establish centres here.

Mr Sheehan began working on Wisetek after leaving hardware firm EMC, which is set to merge with Dell.

During his time at EMC Mr Sheehan was looking after the business's recycling and data destruction and decided to strike out on his own in the same field.

Since then the firm has grown, exploring different revenue streams.

In March the company was named as one of Ireland's best managed companies by Deloitte. As the business continued to grow Mr Sheehan developed a Thailand base that now employs 45. "There's a good work ethic out there, we've no expat there and we're very happy with the way the company is being run."