Published: July 14, 2008 04:34 pm            

Terre Haute Innovation Alliance lands fourth client business

A company that has developed computer software to determine the longevity of products — primarily for the automotive and aerospace industries — has become the fourth business client of Terre Haute Innovation Alliance, based at Indiana State University.

VEXTEC Corp. will use the alliance to develop a test facility on Hunt Road, just west of Terre Haute International Airport-Hulman Field. The facility — announced last fall — offers the potential of developing at least 50 high-paying technology jobs over the next four years, VEXTEC officials said.

The partnership between Terre Haute Innovation Alliance and VEXTEC represents a major step forward in creation of a new technology thrust at Terre Haute International Airport-Hulman Field.

“We have already begun the process of initiating strategic relationships with Rose-Hulman and ISU to facilitate this,” said Loren Nasser, VEXTEC president and chief executive officer.

Founded in 2000 by Nasser and Robert Tryon, both Terre Haute natives, VEXTEC has a client list that includes some of the largest turbine and diesel engine and turbocharger manufacturers in the United States and Europe.

Working closely with Indiana State University’s College of Technology and with Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, the Terre Haute office will perform failure analysis of mechanical and electronic equipment. VEXTEC will conduct laboratory testing of mechanical components and develop computer models to determine the necessary maintenance intervals, expected lifetime and safety of the equipment.

“VEXTEC is an ideal addition to the Innovation Alliance program and the expertise of ISU’s College of Technology will add tremendous value to the company, while providing our faculty and students experiential learning opportunities,” said Chris Pfaff, director of the Center for Business Support and Economic Innovation at Indiana State.

“Rose-Hulman is very excited to be working with VEXTEC,” said Mitch Landess, manager of client programs at Rose-Hulman Ventures. “The area of product life-cycle simulation, the focus of VEXTEC’s technology, is a complex and interesting engineering challenge from an academic perspective, and has tremendous potential from a commercial perspective. This makes VEXTEC an ideal candidate for the Terre Haute Innovation Alliance.”

Nasser and Tryon are Rose-Hulman graduates. VEXTEC has a comprehensive work force of engineering, scientific, software development and business application specialists. The privately held firm is based in the Nashville suburb of Brentwood, Tenn.

Launched in April 2007, Terre Haute Innovation Alliance is an economic development and education partnership between the city of Terre Haute, ISU and Rose-Hulman. Existing clients include DesAcc, a medical software engineering company; InfraWare, which provides next generation software for medical transcripts and reports; and Handshake LLC, which is developing a Web-based social utility portal envisioned to become a virtual marketplace for delivering and looking for services.

Terre Haute Innovation Alliance, www.indstate.

edu/isu/cbsei, provides university commercialization services for companies that are developing or expanding their products while engaging students in hands-on projects and creating jobs for the local economy.

The alliance was started with $500,000 in federal funds garnered with assistance from Sens. Evan Bayh and Richard Lugar. The alliance is housed in Room 003 of the John T. Myers Technology Center on the ISU campus.

VEXTEC Corp., www.VEXTEC.com, provides manufacturing, aerospace and electronics companies with accurate, invaluable information about the behavior and life expectancy of their components, systems and product lots.

Such information has profound economic and strategic implications for every aspect of a business, from product development to warranty costs.

        

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