Wyoming’s Lifestyle Options, Resources Attract and Nurture Knowledge-Based Enterprises
Published Dec 16, 2008
Mobility Works Inc. President Cindy Johnson founded her Green River software company in 1999.
Innovative and diverse technology companies are flourishing in Wyoming, where the cost of living is low and the quality of life is high.
Delicate sensors that can detect the start of an avalanche are in place at three test sites, two on Teton Pass and one in Cotton Canyon, Utah.
Inter-Mountain Labs in Sheridan makes them and the software that receives their signals.
Mobility Works Inc., a Green River company also known as Mobilitat, provides software and support so nearly 100 rural communities can more efficiently schedule and route buses that serve older residents and those with disabilities.
Cheyenne is home to Green House Data, a wind-powered storage and hosting facility that is getting national and international attention.
Laramie is home to the Wyoming Technology Business Center, an incubator on the University of Wyoming campus.
Perhaps the roominess – Wyoming ranks 49th in population density, one notch above Alaska – helps creativity flow.
“It is a super cliché,” says Shawn Mills, Green House Data president. “We were sitting in a coffee shop talking about data centers and I said, ‘I don’t think there are any other green data centers powered by renewable energy.’ ”
Green House moved fast. Managed services came on line in December 2007. Companies involved in everything from training to software to health care and education grabbed space in the first building in 2008. With buildout costs at $1,000 per square foot, Green House builds 2,000 square-foot data storage modules as demand dictates.
Necessity is the mother of invention may be another cliché, but the adage was the foundation for Mobilitat. President Cindy Johnson saw a gap in services when her daughter, who is disabled, could not get to a local learning center.
“All the health and human services are no good if you can’t get there,” Johnson says.
Now, nearly 100 rural transit systems use Mobilitat software, from one with a few buses in Georgia to a Maine system with a fleet of 120 vehicles all driven by volunteers.
When Hurricane Gustav’s remnants flooded Springfield, Ohio, and cut power in September 2008, Mobilitat transferred Springfield’s database to a transit system in Missouri. Dispatchers in Missouri directed Springfield’s fleet so customers didn’t miss important medical appointments.
A basic software starter kit costs $19,000, but Mobilitat in 2009 will launch a Web-based system for small paratransit agencies that will cost far less. The company also is working on allowing riders to book trips online and helping riders get across the state or the country using local transit systems.
Cotton Canyon has what is considered to be one of the country’s riskiest roads. It’s one of the spots where Inter-Mountain Labs has set up a sensor array that can detect infrasound, or audio energy that is below the frequency of normal hearing. Federal grants paid for research and prototype development, says Kevin Chartier, vice president.
Inter-Mountain started in 1979 providing water and soil analyses for the coal mining industry. Next came highly calibrated equipment for air monitoring, and the venture into avalanche detection has its roots in some of that work.
“Within a minute we have something that shows up on the computer screen and shows the path,” Chartier says.
Early avalanche detection helps agencies decide whether to close roads or set off explosives to mitigate potential damage and respond more quickly.
“We have been at this thing for nine years and we have a product,” he says. “It has taken that long.”
Story by Pamela Coyle
Photo by J. Kyle Keener
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