AN OLD Town tech firm plans to recruit an extra 400 staff over the next five years as it triples in size.

Mike Conner, the millionaire owner of Appsbroker, said he wanted to meet demand from companies keen to take advantage of cloud computing – where information is held online rather than on specific servers.

It follows the launch of TechSwindon, a campaign aimed at boosting the profile of organisations working in the technology sector in Wiltshire.

Mr Conner, who set up Appsbroker 13-years-ago, said: “Only 10 percent of corporate IT service hosting is in the cloud at the moment, but this is expected to grow to 70 per cent over the next five years. My hope is that as a company we can keep pace and grow with the market to a company of over 600 in the same period.”

The firm had created an apprenticeship programme and was backing proposals for a new Swindon Institute of Technology, based on the Swindon College site at North Star.

Appsbroker's wealthy owner Mr Conner , who bought a Welsh island in 2017, said: “We are always hiring. Not only do we have to think of innovative ways to attract potential staff, but we have to create new avenues into employment for the younger generation. Swindon needs to develop more young people into software engineers.”

The company, which last year turned-over £23m, builds IT applications for big business – allowing them to do everything from render hugely complicated film footage to banks being able to transfer huge amounts of customer information into new databases.

It has offices in Romania and Swindon. And the Wiltshire town offers what other southern cities, like Bristol or London, can’t: “The economics of building a business in Swindon are compelling. You can buy a four-bed house here for £300,000 and be cycling in beautiful countryside within minutes - you can’t do that anywhere else along the M4. It’s been a real driver for recruiting staff.”

Reacting to the news, Oliver Donachie, Swindon Borough Council’s cabinet member for economy and place, said he was excited about Appsbroker’s expansion plans.

The councillor added: “It speaks to the underlying importance of the TechSwindon programme. It’s about saying to potential employees, what would bring you to Swindon and what would keep you here? It’s giving the right talent the right conditions to thrive in Swindon.”

In June, business group Switch on to Swindon launched the TechSwindon campaign in a bid to attract and retain more talented employees to the town.

The group’s Kris Talikowski said: “Swindon is the third most-productive tech sector in the country but people don’t see what a fast-growing digital town it is and don’t approach it in the same way as Bristol, Bath or London, so we want to change that perception and encourage more people to live and work here.”

Tim Hughes, founder of Railway Village-based hi-tech mapping firm the Carto Group, added: “Swindon needs to be known for something and find a new identity now that the manufacturing industry is slowing down a bit and there are plenty of great tech businesses here that we need to bring to the forefront.

“Could it be like Silicon Valley? That’s the dream, that’s the vision and we can only try our best to get to that.”