Baltimore, MD- German-based international supercomputing company Genias Software is one of three new companies headed to the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) Technology Center.

Genias will open its first U.S. office when it moves to the center, which is also welcoming regional companies Spatial Associates, Inc., and Force 3, Inc. The new arrivals bring the total number of companies housed at the Technology Center to 30.

Hailing from Neutraubling, Germany, Genias is known in Europe as the Center for Numerically Intensive Applications and Supercomputing. Genias uses an interdisciplinary approach to maximizing high performance computing systems for real applications in industry and research. "With the many government and research centers, industries, universities, and Venture Capital firms, the US East Coast is definitely another Silicon Valley for high tech companies, today", explained Wolfgang Gentzsch, CEO and President of Genias. Genias has already contacted the UMBC Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, and the Department of Physics, to discuss the possibilities of future cooperation.

Founded in 1990, Genias has partnered with AUDI, BMW, Boeing, British Aerospace, Raytheon, Volkswagen and others. Genias also has several cooperative relationships with research institutes and universities in Europe and the US, including Sandia National Laboratories. Genias has other offices in the Netherlands and Ontario, Canada.

Formerly based in Laurel, MD, Spatial Associates made the move to be closer to resources and staff in the UMBC Geography department. Spatial Associates provides complete Geographic Information System (GIS) implementation services to a variety of government, utility and commercial clients.

GIS is a rapidly developing field that combines satellite sensing and imaging with computerized mapping for a variety of commercial, government and research applications. GIS is used to monitor and map data in transporation, real estate, urban and rural planning, utilities, telecommunications, marketing, environmental protection and even historic site preservation.

Spatial Associates staff recently applied their skills locally, including real estate parcel mapping statewide for the Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation and Office of Planning. The firm also helped with a major one-year GIS conversion project for the Baltimore Department of Public Works.

UMBC Geography Department Assistant Professor Tim Foresman, an authority in GIS, was instrumental in persuading Spatial Associates to move. Foresman is also Principal Investigator and Director of the UMBC Spatial Analysis Laboratory which is gaining a national and international reputation for excellence in spatial science and technology.

In 1992, Foresman helped create the Baltimore-Washington Regional Collaboratory (BWRC), a coalition of local environmental and urban groups; county, state, and federal agencies; and citizens through which UMBC shares spatial data imagery. Foresman met Spatial Associates President Larry Newman during his BWRDC coalition-building travels.

Foresman said that the quality of UMBC's students as interns and employees and scientific resources like the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) are drawing companies to the university. "Private business has made the decision to come to UMBC," said Foresman. "People are moving where the future lies."

Another newcomer to the UMBC Technology Center is Crofton-based Force 3, Inc. Force 3 is a leader in Internetworking solutions to the Federal Government's information technology community. Force 3 provides computer-related services to government agencies in the acquisition, distribution, installation and support of products and systems worldwide.

According to Chief Operating Officer Frank Caruso, Force 3 has developed a proprietary concept for effectively training network engineers and is establishing an Internetworking Training Center in collaboration with UMBC. The training center will provide hands-on network training in a lab environment for UMBC engineering and computer science undergraduates, continuing education students, and UMBC faculty and staff. In addition, the training center will conduct research on the interoperability of multiple network protocols.

Founded in 1991, Force 3 anticipates gross revenue in excess of $80 million dollars in 1998 with over 150 employees. The minority-owned company was named the 65th fastest growing privately held U.S. company in 1997 by Inc. Magazine, and the 8th largest high-tech Hispanic-owned company in the U.S in 1997 by Hispanic Magazine's High Tech 50.