Ward Solutions has invested €1.2 million in an operations centre aimed at expanding its managed information security services offering to customers throughout Ireland, with a launch in Britain planned for 2017.

To house the facility, the company acquired a new 5,000sq ft building at Citywest in Dublin, adjacent to its current offices. The security operations centre includes threat monitoring, risk assessment and incident response technologies, staffed by a team of information security engineers and consultants providing prevention, analysis, detection and response services.

Ward financed the property deal through its bank, with the remainder of the investment sourced from retained profits.

Traditionally, Ward provided information security consultancy aimed at protecting customers’ systems and applications from attack.

Chief executive Pat Larkin said the new operations centre would give the company "significant capability to detect and react to security threats that are constantly evolving", including a digital forensics and e-discovery capability.

Mr Larkin said the new operations centre would also give the business a platform for sustained growth in the years ahead. “We are averaging 20-25 per cent growth at a minimum and we anticipate maintaining that. The growth figures for Northern Ireland will be higher because it’s virgin territory for us,” he said. The company has offices in Belfast and Ennis in addition to its Dublin headquarters.

Ward expects to employ 80 staff and increase revenue to more than €10 million by 2016.