McLeod Software, Birmingham, Ala., announced record sales for the first half of calendar year 2008, with a 32 percent increase over the same period in 2007.


Boosted by the release of its LoadMaster IX and PowerBrokerTM II, V.9.0, products in April, McLeod posted an 84 percent overall sales increase in the second quarter of 2008 compared to 2007. Sales to both new and existing customers helped the software vendor escape the negative effects of the economic slowdown in the past month. The company's upgrade and new business sales showed triple-digit increases in two of the past three months compared to the same period last year.

McLeod also hired 13 new staff members at its Birmingham headquarters and Salt Lake City training facilities since the beginning of the year. New hires filled positions ranging from developers and business analysts to product managers, implementation consultants and technical specialists as increased demand created the need to staff a variety of positions.