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Local tech company helps make military data move faster

Gordon Dorworth, CEO and founder of Stampede Technologies Inc, has garned numerous awards since he founded the business thirteen years ago. The business is located in Washington Township.

Staff photo by Ron Alvey Gordon Dorworth, CEO and founder of Stampede Technologies Inc, has garned numerous awards since he founded the business thirteen years ago. The business is located in Washington Township.

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By Thomas Gnau, Staff Writer Updated 4:40 PM Thursday, March 4, 2010

WASHINGTON TWP. — Since its start, Stampede Technologies Inc. has been about helping customers’ Web-based applications go faster.

Now, the company is trying to do the same in outer space.

Stampede has announced an original equipment manufacturer’s agreement with Greenbelt, Md.-based Global Protocols for integrating GP’s “skip ware” software into hardware produced by Stampede. The idea is to ease and accelerate satellite communications for Internet Protocol traffic, particularly for the military, said Gordon Dorworth, Stampede president and chief executive.

Why is this combination of software and hardware important?

It’s designed to overcome the particular problems military users can face, such as establishing a satellite link from moving vehicles or in harsh weather, said Nick Yuran, GP vice president for business development.

“It’s intended for mission-critical satellite links,” Yuran said.

Before agreeing to the partnership, GP did its due diligence on Stampede’s hardware and was satisfied with what it found, Yuran said. Stampede is a “market leader” in this field, he said.

Stampede isn’t new to the Dayton area. Founded in 1993, the company may be best known for developing acceleration software for Lotus Notes, a program for connecting clients to servers for e-mail, calendars, forums and more. One of its largest customers has been IBM, with Stampede’s “TurboGold” software being used by more than 300,000 clients and more than 2,000 servers.

Buttressed by its Fortune 1000 customer base, Stampede these days has a new client in mind, thanks to the GP pact: the Department of Defense and particularly, the “milsatcom” (military satellite communication) market.

The market is growing because speed remains a hot commodity, Dorworth said. “One of the things these products do is make your Web-based applications run five to 10 times faster,” he said.

A “packet” of data going from Los Angeles to New York over a terrestrial network may take 50 milliseconds, Dorworth said. The same packet going across a satellite network might take 750 milliseconds to travel, he said. Stampede aims to help satellite users use less bandwidth and waste less time.

And make no mistake, time and bandwidth matter. Dorworth said one megabyte of satellite transmission capabilities can cost anywhere from $2,000 a month to, in Afghanistan, $8,000 a month.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2390 or tgnau@DaytonDailyNews.com.