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State-created info tech center at WSU becomes self-sustaining

daytaOhio’s customers include Air Force, NCR, Cincinnati Bell.

Teesha McClam Australian television personality "Fuzzy" from the show "Video Hits" experiences the Pantheon in Rome in iSpace at the DaytaOhio at Wright State University on Thursday June 5. Journalist from all over the world came to DaytaOhio came to jump to different locations like in the 20th Century Fox DVD movie release of "Jumper".

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By John Nolan, Staff Writer Updated 6:52 AM Friday, June 26, 2009

An $11 million, multiyear technology grant that Ohio authorized in 2003 to create daytaOhio, a Wright Center for information technology located at Wright State University, expires when the state fiscal year ends Tuesday, June 30.

But daytaOhio is here for the long term, Terry Rapoch, its president and chief executive officer, said Thursday. The not-for-profit center is running data-analysis projects with college faculty, corporate partners and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and has laid a foundation for new business through a for-profit spinoff unit, Rapoch said.

“We’re open for business, with money in the bank,” he said. “We have contracts in front of us.”

The center has equipment that converts large amounts of data into three-dimensional, full-color format for projection display on large wall screens for research analysis. The center’s customer base includes the Air Force Research Laboratory, NCR Corp., Cincinnati Bell Inc., LexisNexis, Standard Register Co., Kettering Medical Center and Hess Corp., the petroleum company, among others.

It is handling data management and analysis projects for customers in environmental sciences, defense, geophysics, medical imaging, supply-chain, and oil and gas businesses.

The center, which has an annual operating budget of about $700,000, is one of 13 Wright Centers that Ohio created in a statewide network to promote development and job creation in a range of specialties.

Wright State University stopped paying the salaries of daytaOhio’s top executives March 1. The center now pays those salaries and has been assuming increasing responsibility for becoming a self-sustaining entity, Rapoch said.

Wright State faculty and students continue to work in the center. It also provides training for customers’ employees.

The Ohio Department of Development said it will continue to track daytaOhio’s progress through its accounting reports for spending the final portion of the state’s multi-year grant.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2242 or jnolan@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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