Irish tech firm jobs may be safe after all

Staff at Dublin-based financial technology vendor Cognotec - which went into receivership last week - can breathe slightly easier now that Northern Irish rival First Derivatives has struck a deal to buy it.

Cognotec, which supplies software for the foreign exchange market, employs 65 people (45 of whom are in Dublin) who were fearing for their jobs following last week's announcement that the firm has gone into receivership.

First Derivatives, the Belfast-based capital markets technology firm, has now acquired the Cognotec for an undisclosed sum.

The fate of firm's employees is still not clear, but comments from First Derivatives CEO Brian Conlon that it would make "significant investment" in Cognotec's product portfolio through the "cross pollination of intellectual property and expertise in capital markets" should provide some degree of comfort.

This is the latest in a series of recent acquisitions by First Derivatives, which also purchased data management firm Reference Data Factory in October.

It's also been aggressively bolstering its team throughout 2009, and now employs over 400 people globally.