Aliso Viejo’s Smith Micro Software Inc., a maker of compression and connectivity software for cell phones, laptops and other mobile devices, is set to build a new research and development office in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Smith Micro founder and Chief Executive William Smith, along with Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, announced the new office site at a press conference on Wednesday, according to a report on the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Workers at the new office are set to do engineering, development and testing.
Its some 50,000 square feet are also set to house data servers and an East Coast customer support center.
The new office is set to have some 230 jobs over time.
Pittsburgh beat out three other cities for the research and development center, the report showed.
The state of Pennsylvania is providing nearly $2 million in grant money, tax credits and job training assistance as an incentive to Smith Micro, the report showed.
The company is looking to recruit from local schools, Smith told the Post-Gazette.
Smith, who started Smith Micro in 1982, is a Pittsburgh native.
Smith Micro has three offices in California, one in Chicago and one in Virginia. It also has one site in Canada and three in Europe.
The company sees yearly sales of about $118 million and had a recent market value of $290 million.
Smith Micro’s bread and butter is selling software that’s used by big cell phone service providers. Some of its software does over-the-air updates and helps mobile devices connect to a carrier’s network.
Big customers include Verizon Wireless, part of New York’s Verizon Communications Inc., Sprint Nextel Corp., AT&T Inc., Motorola Inc. and others.
The company also does what’s called connection management software for computer makers Dell Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co.
A much smaller part of its business—roughly 10% of its yearly sales—is selling a variety of software to consumers online and in stores.
