German software company to open U.S. HQ in Durham

A German software company that is trying to position itself to double its revenues in the next five years has picked Durham for its U.S. headquarters.

G Data Software makes antivirus and security software for consumers, businesses and other agencies.

Its parent company, G Data Software AG, was founded in Germany in 1985 and is still headquartered there. But with business in the United States increasing, the company decided that it was time to open a main office in this country.

"Our software is sold in over 80 countries in 24 different languages," said Ed Johnson, who is senior vice president of the company's North American office and was formerly chief information officer for the N.C. Department of Justice. "We compete with the likes of Norton and Symantec and McAfee, but no one's ever heard of us."

G Data chose North Carolina and the Research Triangle Park area in part because of the area's reputation as a technology hub and because of a recruiting trip Gov. Beverly Perdue made to Germany last spring.

"They were talking with companies about locating their U.S. headquarters in North Carolina," Johnson said.

G Data was not part of those meetings, he said, but, "compared to the U.S., Germany is a very small country, and friends talk with friends."

Building business relationships with German companies is increasingly important as commerce becomes more global and German companies and tourists take more interest in North Carolina, Perdue spokeswoman Chris Mackey said.

"To have a governor who will come there and do that does mean a lot," she said. "They know we are serious about bringing business to North Carolina."

G Data's Durham office will initially employ four people. That number will grow to nine by the end of the year and to 50 within three years, Johnson said.

At the moment, most of the employees hired will be technical and customer support workers. All of G Data's engineers and software developers are in Germany. But Johnson hinted that may eventually change.

"Obviously, our plans are to grow," he said. "That's going to require significant infrastructure,"

G Data is taking space in an office building on Meridian Parkway formerly occupied by Nortel. Canada-based Nortel filed for bankruptcy in January 2009 and left more than 670,000 square feet of office space in the Research Triangle Park.