The geographical location of the I-79 Technology Park is only one component that makes it a prime operational site.  Infrastructure enhancements have taken the I-79 Technology Park to truly world-class levels.  In 2011 and 2012, tens of millions of dollars were spent to expand both the electrical and telecommunications systems in the park.

In collaboration with MonPower, a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corporation, a brand new state-of-the-art expandable 14-MW electrical substation was constructed to support the power needs of the I-79 Technology Park.  This capability is further enhanced by the presence of the state-of-the-art MonPower headquarters and operations center constructed by FirstEnergy in the I-79 Technology Park.

This amazing electrical infrastructure is only rivaled by the I-79 Technology Park’s telecommunications infrastructure.  In 2011, the park was expanded to include a gigabit speed communications infrastructure effectively making it a “GigaPoP” for Internet access.

One of the anchor tenants of the park, namely, the NOAA Environmental Security Computing Center (NESCC) had an ongoing requirement to transmit massive amounts of data and information around the world.  In addition to the gigabit speed infrastructure, operational connections were established with the country’s most advanced gigabit network, namely, Internet 2 Network, to help facilitate these collaborations. In addition, the park is an official node on NOAA’s 10GB N-Wave science network.

Expansion of the telecommunications infrastructure is scheduled to continue as part of NOAA’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite – R Series (GOES-R) program and the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) program.