Open-source customer relationship management firm SugarCRM is setting up shop in Europe with an office based in Dublin.

SugarCRM has created a buzz around its open-source software that is available both in on-demand form and on premises. The company claims over 1,000 paying customers and that about a quarter of those are from Europe, including publishing giant Pearson’s MergerMarket, a merger and acquisition intelligence service, and TomTom, the GPS device maker. US customers include Starbucks, Yahoo and pharmaceutical giant Bristol-Myers Squibb.

The European operation will be run by co-founder Clint Oram, who said that the company also plans to conduct some development work in Ireland as well as getting closer to large clients.

“If you’re looking at deals of hundreds of seats, customers absolutely want to know that you’re a real deal,” Oram said.

SugarCRM plans to add extra marketing functionality this month with self-service portal and knowledge-base capabilities, together with project management tools.

On 19 March, on-demand CRM pioneer Salesforce.com will formally announce its Spring 07 edition, which includes customisable search results and forecasting enhancements, and better synchronisation with Microsoft Outlook.