Features

SALT LAKE CITY — Software company Siebel Systems will expand its business in Utah by building a data center and hiring about 600 employees by 2005, the company said Tuesday. 

Gov. Mike Leavitt said the move is a step toward achieving his goal of luring more high-tech companies to the state. He has promised to turn the state’s economy into a high-tech powerhouse in the 1,000 days that began last month when the Olympic torch arrived in Utah. 

The data center already being constructed near Salt Lake International Airport will provide Siebel’s customers and employees with 24-hour technical support. 

“This is not a satellite, but part of our core corporate infrastructure,” said Mark Sunday, spokesman for Siebel Systems, which was founded in 1993 in San Mateo, Calif. He said most of the jobs created would be highly paid, technical jobs that require computer science or engineering backgrounds. 

Sunday said some employees would be moved from California, but the majority would be hired in Utah. The company’s software helps keep track of sales and customer information. Corporations such as drug maker Amgen and computer maker IBM use it. 

Siebel already employs 125 support and sales workers at an office in Sandy. 

The 30,000 square-foot data center will open in June. In the case of an emergency, the center will serve as backup for computer systems in California, Sunday said. 

Siebel’s stock closed Tuesday at $34.80, down 4 cents. 

——— 

On the Net: 

Siebel Systems: http://www.siebel.com