Conroy is general manager of Nortel Ireland, a long-established player in the kind of integrated network technology that Cisco is expanding into.

In fact, the firm's presence may have helped attract Cisco to become a neighbour in Co Galway, in part because the two firms may compete for similar kinds of employees . . . a deliberate strategy by the IDA to 'cluster' different firms from the same industry to better embed foreign investment.

Nortel has maintained a presence in Galway since the early 1970s. Conroy, a Clare man who has worked at Nortel for 20 years, was instrumental in keeping Nortel in Ireland when the firm went through a global restructuring in 2002 that saw it reduce headcount worldwide and nearly close its Irish operation.

Industry sources say it was Conroy's internal sales job to the firm's Canadian head office that helped keep its 300 jobs in Galway, 150 of those in R&D, and an additional 700 in its Belfast supply chain management operation. While the number of jobs was reduced they also moved away from manufacturing and towards research.

Now the Galway operation is the lead site of the firm's worldwide research efforts in Voice over IP (VoIP) applications and what it calls customer contact integrations. In simplest terms Conroy's team is working on technology that will, for example, allow companies to offer customer service in online environments like the virtual reality world of Second Life. The explosion of interest from business in offering online customer service is breathing new life into Nortel's specialty area, leading to partnerships like a recent alliance with Microsoft . . . and has attracted Cisco as a competitor.

"There's a second wave of convergence in the industy, " said Conroy. "People want to bring order to the chaos of email, fax, sms text messaging, voice, and we're making that happen."

If Conroy is unhappy that the IDA has brought a competitor to his doorstep he's not saying it. "We're pleased with what we have in Galway in talent, innovation, commitment and can lead global businesses out of places like Galway. To see others follow us will just help us all attract world-class talent to the cluster."