HCL Technologies has opened a new Collaborative Engineering Hub in Redmond that will bring more than 400 jobs to the city and greater Puget Sound area.
A grand opening ceremony was recently held at the new Overlake facility. Washington State Department of Commerce Director Rogers Weed was in attendance along with Redmond Mayor John Marchione, HCL Americas President Shami Khorana and Rich Kaplan, corporate vice president of customer and partner advocacy at Microsoft Corp.
A global technology and information technology company, HCL’s services in the United States include storage design and architecture, engineering and other consulting services as well as application development and maintenance.
Khorana said the primary focus of the Redmond center will be the advancement of collaborative engineering, emphasizing engineering capabilities and solutions development in emerging technology areas such as cloud, mobility and smart products.
During the grand opening event, HCL officials announced that Microsoft is its first official enterprise customer. Representatives from Microsoft declined to comment.
Additionally, Weed pledged $200,000 from the Workforce Investment Act Fund to HCL to assist with employee training.
“We’re really happy about (HCL) coming into Redmond,” said Erika Vandenbrande, economic development manager for the City of Redmond.
In an e-mail to the Redmond Reporter, Khorana said the new HCL location is now open with 40 engineers and managers currently working at the site. And with the company’s pledge to create 400 jobs during the next two years, he said they will be “adding another 360 engineers and business managers, at least.”
HCL currently has 21 offices in 15 states and Khorana said the company is committed to continue growing in this country.
“HCL America has been investing significantly in new facilities to generate local employment and support our U.S. client base,” he said. “In the last three years, HCL Americas’ headcount has increased by more than 175 percent and currently has 6,400 U.S. employees.”
Before officially coming to town, Khorana said HCL had more than 400 employees already working in Redmond with Microsoft, which made opening a new center a natural next step.
He added that the influx of jobs and competitive salaries to the area will help to build up and strengthen the local economy.
Vandenbrande, who has been with the city for 10 years, said they are happy to have a new growing company in the area. She said not all of these jobs will be filled by Redmond residents, so the new facility will be beneficial in bringing jobs to Washington as a whole in addition to the city.
She added that with HCL located in the Overlake neighborhood near State Route 520 as well as the Overlake Transit Center, people will have prime access to the new site.
“(HCL) will have a great home here in Redmond,” she said.
She added that the variety of housing choices in the area has the potential to attract more people to live in Redmond as well.
