A US company will today announce plans to create 200 jobs at a software service centre in Carlow town.

The insurance firm, Unum, specialises in providing employee benefits, with products like group and individual disability protection and income protection.

Last year, it made more than $10bn in revenue.

The IDA backed company will initially recruit 100 software developers and graduates by the end of 2009 but a further 100 staff are likely to be hired at a later stage, depending on the initial project's success.

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The posts will cover a range of areas including IT and life assurance.

Unum will work closely with Carlow's Institute of Technology to attract graduates in their bid to establish a strategic software service centre in Carlow, to support Unum's US operations.

Enterprise Minister Michael Martin formally announced the development this morning. He said:

“The arrival of Unum to Ireland is excellent news and again underlines the strength of our inward investment offering in the global marketplace. Unum is the market leader in the US group income protection market and works with more than 40% of the Fortune 500 companies. It has been chosen by almost one in every five US employers who offer group disability insurance cover.

"It is particularly positive that the new positions to be created will require skilled people and the availability of graduates from Institute of Technology Carlow and the services of FÁS were key elements in the company’s decision to locate its investment there.”