DUBLIN, Ireland, April 14 -- Lucent Technologies plans to invest approximately $150 million over the next three years in building a 200,000-square-foot extension to its Blanchardstown facility in Dublin, Ireland. The facility will serve as an optical networking provisioning center for customers in Europe and the Asia/Pacific region, and is expected to reduce shipping time to these customers from several weeks to several days, according to Lucent. The company said that by this summer, the expanded facility will be equipped to produce approximately $250-million worth of optical networking systems for the current calendar year. Following completion in May 2001, it will be capable of producing more than $2-billion worth of equipment per annum, Lucent stated. As part of the expansion, the company is launching a major recruiting drive to attract engineers, technicians, business and information technology professionals. Lucent expects to create 500 new jobs over the next three years.