The Future is Data
Growth in the Commercial Climate Weather Industry
CATHY BONNSTETTER
Photo by Robert Phipps . GOES-R Series Ground System Consolidated Backup I-79 Technology Park .
All hours of the day and night , the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ( NOAA ) is gathering terabytes of information from multiple satellites at the West Virginia High Technology Foundation ’ s I-79 Technology Park . As the data silently streams through the satellites , Jim Estep , High Technology Foundation president and CEO , hears money and opportunity pouring into the Mountain State .
“ I want to make every West Virginia coal miner a data miner ,” Estep says . “ A lot of the commercial climate weather industry is taking note of North Central West Virginia .”
In 2013 , NOAA began operating its Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite Ground Center at the technology park . NOAA followed that satellite installation with its Joint Polar Satellite System ground station , which was completed in 2014 . Last year , NOAA began operating the Space Weather Follow On Satellite ground station at the park . These satellites collect weather information for the Northern Hemisphere of the planet .
“ No other place on the planet has three ground stations and a supercomputing center ,” Estep says . “ Most of the world ’ s climate and weather data comes through Fairmont , and that is massive .”
NOAA began operating its supercomputer at the I-79 Technology Park in 2011 . General Dynamics , another park resident , services that contract . NOAA brought its cybersecurity to Fairmont in 2013 and expanded its cyber security to include the U . S . Department of Commerce in 2018 . NOAA awarded that cybersecurity contract to technology park resident Leidos .
The atmospheric data gathered at the technology park has multiple commercial uses . Estep notes that cities use it to plan how much road salt to purchase , agricultural entities use it to plan their crops , and shipping companies use it to
track the constantly changing shipping lanes . Airports also use the data , as well as water management entities .
“ The Weather Channel is just the tip of the iceberg ,” Estep says . “ Most people don ’ t know that this collected data is the basis of a $ 7 billion commercial climate weather industry that NOAA believes will balloon to $ 14 billion .”
Estep says he believes Fairmont and North Central West Virginia can become the epicenter for a commercialized weather data boom . This data is free from NOAA ; however , it is incredibly expensive to access .
“ It is hard to work with that data . There are a lot of barriers , but it ’ s still $ 7 billion ,” says Estep . “ If you make working with the data easier , apply supercomputing and artificial intelligence , you can get new types of information that people are willing to pay for . That is what will double the market from $ 7 billioin to $ 14 billion .”
NOAA has worked with Amazon Web Services , Microsoft and Google to put some of this data on their cloud services for commercial use . However , the data is so massive that it just does not fit . This is where Estep ’ s plan , more than 15 years in the making , comes into play .
“ You can ’ t imagine the amount of data ,” Estep says . “ They just can ’ t pump it all in there . What we proposed to each of those companies is coming here to Fairmont . Why not build their data centers here ? These companies could run their own fiber into the building collecting the data and reduce their costs , while putting more data in their cloud environments .”
Estep is building a high technology center with federal agencies as anchors . Once an agency commits to Fairmont , other technology businesses can move to the park to service their contracts . The foundation ’ s business model includes a great incentive : free land for federal anchors . Transforming the Mountain State into a high-tech weather epicenter is a
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WEST VIRGINIA EXECUTIVE