Compaq Computer Lands $30 Million Contract for Buffalo, N.Y., Research
Center
Dec 08, 2001 (The Telegraph - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News via COMTEX)
-- NASHUA, N.H. Compaq Computer Corp. announced Thursday that it has a $30
million contract to provide heavy-duty scientific-grade Alpha computer servers
for a new research center in Buffalo, N.Y.
It will be called the Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics in Buffalo a key
component of New York Gov. George E. Pataki's $1 billion high-tech and biotech
Centers of Excellence proposal. The center is sponsored by state government,
academic institutions and corporations.
Compaq's Alpha servers and one of its commonly used operating system, Tru64
Unix, were developed at the company's New England facilities, including the one
in Nashua off Spit Brook Road.
This latest contract will help Compaq keep its 37 percent market share of what
it calls "life sciences and bioinformatics" computer servers.
In the past year, Compaq has landed numerous multimillion dollar contracts to
provide its high-end Alpha servers, which are used by companies such as Celera
Genomics Inc., and academic institutions such as the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology's Whitehead Institute and the Sanger Centre in Cambridge, England.
All three organizations are researching and breaking down the human genetic
structure through the use of computing power.
Compaq has also sold high-end Alpha servers to government agencies like the
Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration, where they are
used to simulate nuclear testing.
"Compaq is delighted to provide the high performance computing solution for this
significant effort supporting the Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics in
Buffalo, and we salute Governor Pataki, the private sector and the University of
Buffalo for their foresight in funding a program that will have such an enormous
impact on the field of bioinformatics and on the future of health care," said
Bill Blake, Compaq's vice president of Worldwide High Performance Technical
Computing.
Compaq considers bioinformatics an increasingly important market to the company,
since it is leading that market, according to Compaq officials, and the machines
are more profitable than the lower end computers.
Bioinformatics is the emerging science field that uses high-performance
computing to analyze biological data, and is seen as a major platform for drug
discovery and modeling and other biotech research efforts in the 21st century.
It has been estimated that the market for the information technology industry
alone associated with the life sciences industry will exceed $40 billion by
2004, according to industry analysts. The bio-pharmaceutical and bio-device
industries markets, according to analysts, are projected to be huge growth areas
and are anticipated to exceed $400 billion.
On Thursday, Pataki Blake, as well as business and academic leaders announce up
to $150 million in private sector support for the center.
Industry partners in the endeavor include major computing, software and
communications networking companies such as Veridian, InforMax and Stryker and
others such as Dell, Sun, SGI and Q-Chem, as well as Compaq.
Academic and research partners include the University of Buffalo, Roswell Park
Cancer Institute and the Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute.
"The Buffalo Center of Excellence will help bring thousands of jobs and a new
high-tech economy to Western New York while also producing new drug
discoveries, innovative medical treatments and specialized computer products,"
Pataki said. "The fact that corporate leaders like Compaq, Veridian, InforMax,
Stryker and others are making this generous commitment to the Buffalo Center,
provides a clear indication of the tremendous economic benefits this initiative
will deliver for the people of western New York."
The center will be located in downtown Buffalo, near the medical campus. Plans
call for a 150,000 square foot building to house drug design research space,
computational and three dimensional visualization facilities, product
commercialization space and work force training areas.
Academic and industry researchers will work together to identify key research
areas, and translate that research into commercial realities and opportunities
to attract high tech and biotech firms of all sizes to western New York.
Compaq also has $10 million in venture capital it will use to invest in
promising biotechnical companies that locate in the center.
New York politicians secured $3 million in federal funding last week for the
project in the House of Representatives' defense appropriation bill.
Compaq is headquartered in Texas, but has several New England locations,
including Nashua, where there are 2,200 employees.
By Eileen Kennedy
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(c) 2001, The Telegraph, Nashua, N.H. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Busi
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