By David Harry
Staff Writer

The fruits of success enjoyed by a Massachusetts company could lead to a harvest of 125 jobs in Scarborough this year.
Plum Choice, a Billerica, Mass.-based company that diagnoses and solves cyber problems by accessing a customer’s computer or other devices, opened its first office outside its hometown with a celebration that included a ribbon cutting attended by Gov. John Baldacci.
Ted Werth, who founded the company in the basement of his Bedford, Mass, home, said he expects the company to hire 125 local workers by the end of this year and perhaps 500 by the end of next year.
Werth said the new office will be a site for training what he called “care-team” workers who will eventually work from home to help solve computer problems remotely. Company sales representatives will also work in the office on Lincoln Avenue in the Lincoln Business Complex.
“About two months ago, we decided to take a big step forward,” Werth said about the expansion of the privately owned company.
The decision led to a nationwide search of 10 towns for the best location for a new office, he said.
Finding a site in a state-designated Pine Tree Development Zone and the assistance of the nonprofit Maine and Company were lures, but Werth said it ultimately came down to the available work force.
“It really started with the people,” Werth said. “The tech highway extends to Maine.”
According to the Maine Office of Business Development Web site, businesses in Pine Tree Development Zones can take advantage of full and partial corporate income tax credits, tax credits on insurance premiums, reimbursements on income taxes withheld and exemptions on sales and use taxes provided new jobs are created.
To earn the tax credits, businesses in a Pine Tree Development Zone must create at least one new job meeting median income requirements based by on federal Department of Commerce statistics. In Cumberland County, the 2009 wage amount is $40,423.
Access to health insurance and a retirement plan must also be provided, although an employer contribution is not required.
Landing the company delighted Harvey Rosenfeld, president of the Scarborough Economic Development Corporation.
“This is a company in an industry that has been steadily going offshore,” Rosenfeld said. “Plum Choice seems to have made the decision to keep these jobs here.”
Werth said he hopes his desire to expand in this country will be noticed by competing companies in the industry.
“We provide service using only U.S.-based resources and we will continue to do so,” he said.
Plum Choice offers services on a one-time or monthly basis, but each time, a computer owner must grant access to a care team worker, who can eliminate spyware and viruses or help configure wireless networks and diagnose operating system problems.
“The virtual ability to connect is the basis of our successful service,” Werth said. “Technology and talented people make for cost effective and technologically effective solutions.”
Training care team members can take several weeks. Positive interactions with customers are emphasized because they are likely to be frustrated by problems that are hard to understand, Werth said.
Rosenfeld said he hopes other companies will notice the Plum Choice move to Scarborough.
“We are looking for a diversity of jobs and to get more jobs for the people who live in town,” he said.

Staff writer David Harry can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 219