Arbor Networks to invest $8m, create 56 jobs

Thursday, January 24, 2008 | Source: metromode

Here at metromode, we're fond of the Internet. When we're not scouring the business resources of the metro area in order to bring you the latest, freshest, most exciting news, we like to, uh, check our stocks and watch the San Diego Zoo's Panda Cam. Yeah, that's totally what we use the Web for. Anyway, it seems that a lot of people check the Panda Cam, so the Internet just keeps getting bigger and bigger, which means it takes more people to make it work.

And that's translating into more jobs in the Ann Arbor area - 56 of them over the next five years, to be precise, thanks to an Arbor Networks research and development expansion.

Arbor Networks, vice-president of engineering Harry Wan explains, is a company that sells to service providers - those'd be the people whose names you curse when the Internet goes down. Arbor Networks' job, Wan explains, is to help service providers deliver their product in a secure and well-managed fashion.

"These service providers have seen a lot of growth in their market, so to meet this demand, we expect to hire 56 new people in the next five years and invest in $8 million worth of equipment," Wan says.

The state has offered Arbor Networks a $1.5 million, 10-year tax credit, according to a Michigan Economic Development Corporation press release, and the city of Ann Arbor is considering a $193,000, eight-year property tax abatement to further sweeten the pot.

Arbor Networks, Wan says, grew out of research into large networks that the company's founders - Farnam Jahanian and Rob Malan - were doing at the University of Michigan circa 2000.

The company's strong ties to Ann Arbor have always meant the city was a target for expansion, says Wan, who hopes to draw on the university's talent pool.

"Our hiring strategy is twofold - we hire interns and hope they stay, and the other is to attract people to return to Michigan, maybe young people who moved away, have started families and are ready to return," he says.

Source: Harry Wan, Arbor Networks
Writer: Nancy Kaffer