Demand for Romanian IT Talents on the Rise

 In the mobile phone version of the "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" video game, the torches hanging along the dark walls of Hogwarts glow in an eerily realistic fashion.

"We invented the technology, it's called 'dynamic lighting'," said Mihai Pohontu, general manager of Romania's mobile phone branch of Electronic Arts Inc, the world's biggest video game publisher.

Romanian programmers, such as Pohontu's team, are among the most sought-after in the world as large international IT companies turn to the east European country to take advantage of strong computing and language skills coupled with cheap labor.

Its computer literacy is not without its dark side -- the country has an unenviable reputation as a hotbed for computer fraud and a large community of hackers.

But legitimate IT is one of Romania's fastest growing export sectors with turnover of about 1 billion euros ($1.38 billion).