Pods at trade park to store information

The storage center would be connected to similar sites on military bases.

By D.A. WILKINSON

VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU

LEETONIA — A Cleveland business plans to create pods that will store massive amounts of information at the Columbiana County Port Authority’s Trade Park.

Adam Zimmerman, a salesman and marketer for BTI in Cleveland, said the pods will be separate buildings that may be used by individual companies or shared by others.

BTI is expected to complete its facility by November. Fiber optic lines — which Zimmerman described as the backbone of the Internet — will connect customers to the facility.

Zimmerman said he was not at liberty to say what companies would be housed at the park or which companies would store information there.

But the potential for companies in search of storage and safeguards is “huge,” he said.

The park is not fenced and is not guarded.

Fiber optic lines are also connected to U.S. Department of Defense bases from the East Coast to the Midwest. Zimmerman said some customers will pay the government to store other copies of their data at similar storage facilities located at guarded military bases.

The lines move data virtually instantly, Zimmmerman said. And should one of the lines be cut, the information turns around and flows back through the line.

Zimmerman said BTI is trying to get a $10 million loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help with the expansion.

Computers for police

In another technology project, John Gilcrest, vice president of New Era Technology in Salem, showed computer hardware that can be used in police cruisers.

The smaller screen and computer takes up much less space than existing equipment, he said. Officers would even have a wireless keyboard that could be used outside the vehicle to connect to the Internet.

New Era can also replace a police cruiser’s traditional spotlight with an infrared light for nighttime surveillance.

Gilcrest said the company has been operating for about nine months.

In other activity, Tracy Drake, the authority’s director, said that Baard Energy and Shell Technologies had come to an agreement on the use of Shell’s burners to be used in the process of a proposed $4 billion coal-to-liquid gas plant near Wellsville.

Drake said that was a “huge step” forward for the project.

Baard is still working with the state on submission of its project permit.

The port has also received material for its new crane at its port on the Ohio River. The port will be able to handle road, rail and water shipping. The port is located near the proposed site of the Baard project.

wilkinson@vindy.com