Bosses at an Oxfordshire IT firm say they are bucking the trend with a recruitment drive and a major increase in turnover.

Prolinx based at Great Milton has reported major success in sales of technology that allows customers to maximise computing power from the minimum number of servers Last year it recruited seven new workers and this year intends to take on a further ten swelling its workforce to 65, while its current £10m turnover is expected to rise by 30 per cent, its fourth successive year of growth.

Commercial director Mike Wheeler said: “We have reaped the benefits from our strong position in serving the higher education market where we count a considerable proportion of the country’s 150 universities as customers.”

Founded in 1997, Prolinx markets technology known as virtualisation produced by United States-based company VMware which allows the power of computer servers to be harnessed effectively so that they are operating far nearer their capacity than normally, cutting costs considerably.

It also specialises in data storage, disaster recovery and back-up systems.

The company recently beat 1,200 VMWare resellers across Europe to receive the award for Best Revenue Partner, Northern Europe at VMworld Europe 2009 in Cannes.