Officials tout state's capacity for high-tech wizardry

BY PAUL BONNER : The Herald-Sun
Aug 7, 2003 : 12:05 am ET

DURHAM -- New technology being developed by North Carolina companies can help the state attract its share of federal spending on homeland security, U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge said on Wednesday.

Etheridge, D-2nd District, was among the state's congressional delegation and state and government officials who gathered Wednesday at MCNC in Research Triangle Park to promote North Carolina's capacity for high-tech wizardry to defend the nation against terrorists and create more jobs within the state.

Sponsored by the N.C. Electronics and Information Technologies Association, a nonprofit trade group in Raleigh, the gathering also included U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole; Rep. David Price, D-4th District; and Rep. Richard Burr, D-5th District. Also present was Steven Cooper, the chief information officer for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Seven companies based in North Carolina or with operations in the state described products or research with potential antiterrorism uses, such as MCNC's work on sensors for a device to identify and track motor vehicles by the electromagnetic fields they emit. Other companies presenting information in the private meeting were IBM; Cisco Systems; Knowledge Vector, a software and services company in RTP; Ideations LLC of Greenville, Affiliated Computer Services; and MercuryMD, a Durham health-care software company.

Some of the technology highlighted by the companies included bioterrorism alert systems, methods of simulating a terrorist attack, computer network security and "data mining," or database search capability.

NCEITA also announced Wednesday in a news conference after the business presentations that it has formed a task force to promote homeland security government spending in the state.

Randy Fraser, co-chairman of the task force and Time Warner Cable's vice president of government affairs in North Carolina, said the push follows his discussion last fall with Burr.

"He encouraged us to show some of the capabilities of technology companies here in North Carolina," Fraser said. Janet Wylie, president and CEO of Engineous Software, is the task force's other co-chair.

Burr said the meeting succeeded on that score. Etheridge said it showed that innovations that have already emerged from the research pipeline can help protect the nation, besides injecting more money into research and development in the state.

"Lord knows we haven't gotten our fair share in the past," Etheridge said.

The government has spent about $50 million in all aspects of homeland security within North Carolina, said State Auditor Ralph Campbell, as well as $4.8 million on port security. The state also committed $30 million to domestic defense "a few years ago," he said.

The nation is committed to spending even greater sums for antiterrorist technology alone.

Between $30 million and $80 million is up for bid in projects administered by the federal Technical Support Working Group, said John Reinbruger, a retired former Pentagon official. For example, the TSWG and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in May solicited proposals to develop an "extremely small tagging, tracking and locating" electronic beacon.

For computer security alone, the government is poised to spend $4.2 billion this fiscal year, increasing to $6 billion in 2008, according to Input, a company that helps businesses research government technology contracts. For all its information technology needs, Input says, the federal government is spending $45.4 billion this fiscal year, to increase by 8.5 percent annually to $68.2 billion in 2008. The Defense and Homeland Security departments lead federal agencies in IT spending, Input said.