news.inq7.net
InfoWeapons to hire more Filipinos to beef up RP operations
First posted 08:29pm (Mla time) June 16, 2006
By Erwin Lemuel Oliva
INQ7.net
CEBU-BASED network appliance developer InfoWeapons Inc. will hire more Filipinos to beef up its local operations with the infusion of new capital from US firm Innofone.com Inc., an official told INQ7.net.
The local firm aims to have 150 employees by the end of 2006, according to Lawrence Hughes, chairman and chief technology officer of InfoWeapons, in a telephone interview.
"We have more capital now. We've just gotten a 1,300-square-meter site in Cebu (Skyrise in AsiaTown IT Park). We are up to 60 plus now, target is 150 by end of year and many more by the end of 2007," he added.
Innofone.com, a United States-based technology firm is set to complete the acquisition of InfoWeapons in a few weeks, Hughes said.
Innofone.com (http://www.innofone.com/) is a public company that focuses exclusively on Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6). IPv6 is an upgrade to the existing
Internet standard IPv4, which has been in place since 1973.
Innofone has previously announced that it has agreed in principle to acquire InfoWeapons Inc., (http://www.infoweapons.com/) a Philippine-based provider of IPv6 network hardware solutions.
Hughes said that the Innofone acquisition will give the local firm international reach, allowing InfoWeapons to sell to big US government agencies, which are mandated to move to IPv6 by June 2008.
Hughes also disclosed that he will become the new CTO of Innofone after the acquisition of InfoWeapons is completed, but that he will remain as CTO of InfoWeapons.
"InfoWeapons will basically be the product and research group for the whole company. We'll be opening additional sites in Eastern Europe and Japan later, but Cebu will be our main site for product development," the executive said.
Hughes said that Innofone.com has recently received 50 million dollars in venture capital from Cogent Capital, due in part to the acquisition of InfoWeapons and additional investment from him in Innofone.com.
"I will also be moving most of the year to Atlanta, but still planning on spending about one month a quarter in Cebu," he added.
Hughes stressed that InfoWeapons will become a major force in Philippines IT. "Hopefully others will follow our model, and someday there may even be spinoffs," he added. |
