RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK -- NetApp, a provider of data storage for high-tech, finance and other industries, has rebuilt its local workforce since layoffs in February claimed 6 percent of the staff.
Now in its 10th year in RTP, the company formerly known as Network Appliance employs 987 people in three buildings, its highest headcount ever.
The California company, which has 8,000 workers worldwide, on Wednesday dedicated a $65 million computer center in RTP as it emerges from the recession and prepares to start hiring.
CEO Tom Georgens, in town for the dedication, said the RTP site is no longer a niche operation for NetApp but reflects every component of the company's business and is its second-biggest site. It includes a round-the-clock customer support center that operates in three shifts.
The company has one vacant building and land for expansion.
"Clearly we're positioned for more growth at RTP," said Georgens, who became CEO in August. "In terms of growth at NetApp, this is going to be one of the sites that will get a disproportionate share of that growth."
NetApp's customer base includes oil and gas developers, retailers, airlines, government agencies and special-effects companies in moviemaking that require gargantuan amounts of data storage.
NetApp has about 12 percent market share in the data-storage business, up from about 11 percent a year ago, Georgens said. NetApp, IBM and Hewlett-Packard all trail industry leader EMC, which last month announced plans to expand its Triangle operations and add nearly 400 jobs in Durham and Apex. The Massachusetts company already employs about 900 people in North Carolina and stands to receive more than $8 million in state and local incentives if it meets those hiring goals.
State incentives also have put NetApp on track to double its workforce. NetApp stands to reap more than $24 million in state incentives if it continues hiring in the area.
In 2004, when NetApp employed fewer than 175 people locally, the state offered the company as much as $8.9 million in incentives for job creation and other investment.
In 2007 the state offered another round of financial incentives, this time $15.3 million, to NetApp if it adds 646 jobs by 2017.
With technology companies such as IBM, Nortel Networks and Sony Ericsson cutting hundreds of high-paying jobs, NetApp's financial stability was greeted with palpable relief by public officials attending the data-center dedication. The state's jobless rate, 10.8 percent, is well above the national average. On Wednesday, state officials learned that Dell plans to close its Winston-Salem computer plant and cut 905 jobs.
"We're painfully aware that North Carolina has a higher-than-acceptable unemployment rate," said state Department of Commerce Secretary Keith Crisco.
The center uses about 80 percent less energy than a typical data center, saving NetApp about $7.3 million a year. The facility is cooled with outdoor air about two-thirds of the time, rather than relying on full-time chillers.
