Technology
Florida's burgeoning simulation and training industry continues to get a boost from the war on terror as companies work to meet the needs of both military and law enforcement customers. Orlando boasts one of the nation's largest clusters of simulation and training companies in the nation. The simulation and training procurement offices for both the Army and Navy are located in Orlando, as is the National Center for Simulation.
"Just about everybody on active duty today has been touched by some training device developed here," says Russ Hauck, executive director of the National Center for Simulation.
An Orlando cluster of entertainment and digital media companies is increasingly helping the military adapt computer games for training purposes, Hauck says. For example, the Marines has developed and adapted a half-dozen computer games to help soldiers make quick decisions in the field. One potential hurdle for the industry: Escalating costs for ongoing military operations may pinch dollars for research and development long term, Hauck says.
On a new front, digital "augmented reality" technology is showing promise, says Brian Goldiez, a researcher and deputy director of the University of Central Florida's Institute for Simulation & Training. For example, a pair of augmented reality goggles might someday help a firefighter or police officer navigate a building during a rescue crisis.
In 2005, the industry might get a boost from an old standby: As airlines recover and begin buying planes again, they'll have a growing need for flight simulators to train pilots, Goldiez says.
2005 Forecast: An engineer and an attorney, Yasmin Tirado-Chiodini has focused her upstart simulation and training company on homeland security. Her company, Orlando-based Intelliorg Inc., has been hired by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to create a critical infrastructure database. The web-based system also acts as a vulnerability and threat assessment tool and can simulate training for emergency crews and law enforcement. "We anticipate the need for a lot of training for the first responder community," says Tirado-Chiodini, who founded the local 200-member chapter of the Homeland Security Industries Association.
HARDWARE: Small World
Florida's microelectronics industry will experience dramatic change this year because of the growing interest in nanotechnology by Florida's universities, says Michael Kovac, director of the Nanomaterials and Nanomanufacturing Center at the University of South Florida. Also, watch for a repositioning of Florida's semiconductor industry sparked by the sale of Agere Systems' wafer manufacturing plant in Orlando. (The company announced in September that it would close the plant by December if it couldn't find a buyer.) "Depending on who comes in there and takes over, we could see dramatic changes in the high-tech corridor," Kovac says.
2005 Forecast: Edward Ellegood, director of policy and program development for the Florida Space Research Institute, says Florida needs to position itself to meet the needs of the commercial space industry or it will increasingly lose out to other states in areas like space tourism and commercial satellite launches. "The cape has become an overly complex place for launch programs," Ellegood says. "It simply isn't competitive anymore." Watch for the Florida Legislature to take an interest in the subject in 2005, Ellegood says.SOFTWARE: Promising Future
Florida's software industry continues to be strong, pushed in part by the banking industry's needs for financial software development, says Gordon Hogan, a business development consultant with the University of Central Florida's technology incubator program.
Art Allen, president and CEO of Naples-based ASG Software Solutions, spent more than eight months this year on business development trips in Asia, Brazil and throughout the U.S. The founder of 900-employee ASG says he didn't hear talk of budget cutting on the trips as he has in the past four years. He sees the software industry tethered to the world economy.
"The world economies in most countries are on the mend, and growth is the topic in most of my meetings," Allen says.
Scott Adams, a founder of Cenetec, a Boca Raton-based technology investment company, says overall Florida's high-tech companies need more angel investors to provide needed capital.
2005 Forecast: Legislative initiatives such as Sarbanes-Oxley and HIPAA compliance -- which demand software accountability tools -- will drive growth for the software industry, says Art Allen, president and CEO of ASG Software Solutions.