Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn (left) shakes hands with EMC CEO Joe Tucci (right) while EMC Isilon storage division President Sujal Patel of Seattle looks on following a press conference at Isilon’s Pioneer Square headquarters Wednesday. (PSBJ/ Anthony Bolante)

Isilon is adding 200 new jobs to its Seattle location in the next 15 months, a sign that parent company EMC sees Seattle as a corporate tech center for cloud-based storage of big data.

Isilon and parent company EMC made the announcement at Isilon’s new digs at 505 First Avenue South in Seattle’s Pioneer Square building, within site of CenturyLink Field.

On hand were Isilon founder Sujal Patel, who sold his company to storage giant EMC for $2.25 billion in 2010. Also attending were EMC Chairman and CEO Joe Tucci and Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn.

The 200 new jobs over the next 15 months signals a big investment in Seattle, said Tucci, adding that EMC sees Seattle as a hub for data storage and cloud computing technology, with both Amazon.com and Microsoft as major players.

EMC Isilon Storage Division president Sujal Patel plans to hire 200 in Seattle. (PSBJ photos/ Anthony Bolante)

Isilon helps government agencies and companies manage, store and leverage big data, from retailers to pharmaceutical companies. The specialized tech segment is becoming more and more cloud based.

Tucci said EMC views Seattle as a tech hub, one of four for the company in the U.S. He said EMC pours about 12 percent of its revenue back into research and development, which was more than $2 billion last year.

Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn, in a pro-jobs, pro-business role.

“Our motivation is to take the great things that Isilon has done and invest more cash, more in the field and in R&D,” Tucci said.

Isilon currently has 430 jobs in Seattle; EMC has a total of about 700.

The jobs come at a time when the state jobless picture remains sluggish, with the state’s unemployment rate at 9.1 percent for September, only slightly better than August’s 9.3 percent unemployment rate.

EMC Isilon Storage Division president Sujal Patel (from left), EMC chairman and chief executive Joe Tucci and Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn.

Isilon’s rapid growth also is significant for Pioneer Square, Seattle’s historic neighborhood that is emerging as a tech hub. McGinn said he expects that trend to continue, as Pioneer Square transforms with more companies and residents moving in.

Patel said Isilon had about $200 million in revenue last year and saw quarterly growth from 40 percent to 60 percent year over year. He said the 200 jobs --which will include engineers and other tech positions -- is only a fraction of Isilon’s growth worldwide.

Patel said Pioneer Square works for Isilon because it has an “ideal mix” of available space, accessible public transportation and parking and cluster of tech companies.

“To me, Pioneer Square is really a base of innovation within the community,” Patel said.

Here are some details in a statement:

Today the company is announcing an initiative to add an additional 200 new Seattle-based Isilon positions over the next 15 months. These additional positions, combined with aggressive recent hiring, will increase by 75 percent the number of Seattle-based Isilon employees since EMC’s acquisition of the former Isilon Systems in December 2010.