INDUSTRY

Virginia Governor Mark R. Warner announced a $27 million package of budget proposals to broaden and build upon the growing modeling and simulation activity in South Hampton Roads. The package includes funds to recruit and hire additional faculty and staff to expand research and training programs in modeling and simulation at Old Dominion University (ODU), Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS), and Tidewater Community College (TCC). In addition, the Governor welcomed ODU’s announcement today of an agreement with Verizon Virginia to extend the next generation Internet, LambdaRail, to link military and state institutions of higher education on the Peninsula and across Hampton Roads. Governor Warner also announced an agreement today to sell 57 acres of state-owned land at TCC to the City of Suffolk to further the city’s economic development efforts to attract more modeling and simulation activity to the region. Friday’s announcements were made at ODU’s Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center (VMASC), located on the campus of Tidewater Community College in Portsmouth. “From homeland security and emergency preparedness, to transportation planning and medical training, modeling and simulation are becoming an increasingly vital part of our lives,” Governor Warner said. “When we launched VIMSIM, the Virginia Modeling and Simulation Initiative, last spring, I said I believed that modeling and simulation had the potential to dramatically transform this region’s economy by attracting more high-tech, high-wage jobs. These announcements today help build momentum as we move together toward that goal.” Hampton Roads already is home to an emerging and very promising modeling and simulation industry, which uses cutting-edge technology to, for example, develop and test combat strategies for the military, provide “virtual” training for healthcare professionals, and assist public and private organizations with crisis planning and homeland security issues. “I believe today will be seen as a red letter day as we as a region and a Commonwealth work to make Hampton Roads a national hub for companies that design video games, companies exploring the latest health technologies, our homeland security industry, and perhaps industries we can't even imagine today,” Governor Warner said. The Hampton Roads Planning District Commission estimates the industry currently employs more than 4,000 people and contributes more than $500 million a year to the region’s economy, primarily through the modeling and simulation activities of U.S. Joint Forces Command. Over the next five years, economic forecasters expect modeling and simulation activity could potentially grow to nearly $1 billion. In April, Lockheed Martin opened a $30 million Center for Innovation in Suffolk, and in August, 17 companies partnered with the Commonwealth to establish the Emergency Management Training, Analysis & Simulation Center (EMTASC). $27 Million Budget Package Earlier this week, on Wednesday, December 7, Governor Warner announced a major investment of over $550 million for research and development at Virginia colleges and universities. More than $27 million of that investment will support VIMSIM by building on existing strengths in modeling and simulation. Specifically, the package will: - Expand the research capability and graduate programs at VMASC. - Train technicians by further developing a modeling and simulation engineering program at Tidewater Community College. - Develop sophisticated instructional simulations that address real-life situations. - Expand the medical modeling and simulation partnership between Eastern Virginia Medical School and VMASC. - Continue efforts to establish EMTASC, the Emergency Management Training, Analysis and Simulation Center, which focuses on emergency preparedness at an operational level. - And encourage additional development and sharing of modeling and simulation graduate programs among members of the Commonwealth Graduate Engineering Program, as well as the College of William and Mary and Norfolk State University. LambdaRail Also at the event, ODU officials announced an agreement with Verizon Virginia to extend the high-powered, supercomputing connection called National LambdaRail to Hampton Roads -- another vital step toward realizing the potential of modeling and simulation. The agreement ultimately will link ODU’s VMASC, the College of William and Mary, Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, NASA Langley Research Center, and the Joint Warfighting Center of the U.S. Joint Forces Command to LambdaRail, and to other organizations across Virginia and across the country. LambdaRail is a high-speed network infrastructure that is thousands of times faster than the typical Internet connection. Regionally, it allows supercomputers in multiple locations to operate like a single machine, allowing organizations to conduct large-scale computing projects together. “When LambdaRail was launched in 2004, there wasn’t a single access point in the Southeastern United States,” Governor Warner said. “Having National LambdaRail access in Hampton Roads will help connect universities, federal laboratories, private sector research parks and other partners, giving this region and our Commonwealth an extraordinary competitive advantage.” Property Transfer In addition, Governor Warner announced the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement by the City of Suffolk, the State Board for Community Colleges, and the Commonwealth. Under the agreement, 519 acres on the Portsmouth campus of TCC will ultimately be transferred from the Virginia Community College Board to a real estate foundation. All proceeds from the sale of that land will be used to support TCC. The City of Suffolk has agreed to purchase 57 of those acres for use in modeling and simulation and other important economic development projects, including defense and research activities. “Governor Warner has been in the forefront of promoting Hampton Roads as the leader in modeling and simulation,” said Suffolk Delegate Chris Jones. “The significant investments that the Governor announced today, together with the development of land at Tidewater Community College to promote modeling and simulation, will pay dividends for years to come in transforming the Hampton Roads economy.”