AppRiver, a provider of email messaging and Web security solutions, will open an office in Northwest Austin on Sept. 15.

The company chose Austin because of its thriving tech community and talent pool of software developers, CEO Michael Murdoch said. AppRiver plans to hire 12 new employees by the end of its first year in Austin.

"AppRiver has established a reputation for highly effective and reliable services backed by phenomenal customer support," Murdoch said in an Aug. 13 news release. "To sharpen our competitive edge, we need the best developers available, and we think Austin is where we'll find a lot of them."

Other factors played a role in the company choosing Austin for its new office.

"There is a wealth of [information technology] talent in Austin that is being regularly refreshed by excellent colleges and universities in the region," said Joel Smith, AppRiver co-founder and chief technology officer. "In addition, there is a thriving tech community that is producing the experienced engineers and software developers we need. Many of them want to take their careers to the next level while still enjoying Austin's quality of life. We intend to help some of them do just that."

The Austin office will be located at Austin Oaks, 7719 Wood Hollow Drive, Whitney Bldg. 6, Ste. 201. The company has plans to continue to grow the office.

AppRiver was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in Gulf Breeze, Fla. It has 183 employees companywide. Services offered by AppRiver include spam and virus filtering, Web protection, email encryption, and archiving and compliance. For more information, call 866-233-4645 or visit www.appriver.com.