Two Tech Concerns Now Calling Howard County Home

By Susan Kim, STAFF WRITER

Two technology companies, Intercontinental Export Import (IEI) and Prism Microsystems, will move their international headquarters to a Howard County building on Centre Park Drive in Columbia.
IEI is a solution provider for plastics recycling. Prism Microsystems offers security monitoring and management of IT infrastructure.
Representatives from both companies recently accompanied Howard County Executive Ken Ulman on an economic development mission to Bangalore, a city in India that is known as that country's version of Silicon Valley.
"I want to make sure folks know that already this trip has paid dividends," said Ulman. "This wasn't simply a trip to go and learn a little about India. We have such a strong Indian-American business community here in Howard County [and] going to India and experiencing the growth of the economy there was impressive."
Ulman announced the companies' move the same day he unveiled plans for a new Howard County-India Trade Committee, which will promote increased cross-investment between the county and India while providing firsthand market information and business contacts to businesses looking for opportunities in both locations.

From the Basement
When Saurabh Niak first arrived in Baltimore, he was working for the corporation that was once known as Martin Marietta. "I saw a tremendous amount of scrap," recalled Niak. It was an observation that motivated Niak to launch IEI 21 years ago.
"I decided to start my own business with $3,000 in the bank," he said. "I said, 'Let's give it a try.' From my basement, I decided to start buying and selling scrap."
By 1990, the company had its first warehousing operation, a grinding and baling process in a 10,000-square-foot warehouse. Today, IEI boasts 12 locations in the U.S., as well as offices or affiliates in India, Canada, China and Mexico.
Niak predicts more growth for IEI. "We are broadening the definition of environmental solutions," he said. He has been expanding IEI's business into adhesives, printing ink, polymer emulsions, thermoset resins, solvents and pigments.

The Global Market
Prism CEO A.N. Ananth said he wished outsourcing did not provoke such an automatic negative reaction from within the business community.
"Too often, outsourcing is seen as somebody having to lose for someone else to win," he said. "For us, it's a question of being in the worldwide market. The message I'd like to bring is that Prism is a happy participant in this global economy."
Ananth said he chose Howard County for Prism's headquarters because, among other reasons, the county had what he described as "excellent infrastructure," including convenience, its well-qualified workforce, and proximity to Washington, D.C., and BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport.
"We believe Howard County acts as an excellent gateway," he said. If there is one drawback, he added, it's that there are too few international flights to and from BWI. "But, all in all, Howard County is the perfect place for our aggressive expansion plan."
Prism's rapid growth is due in part to the success of its security information and event management (SIEM) solution, "EventTracker." More than 650 global companies in 50 countries rely on EventTracker to detect security vulnerabilities using SIEM solutions.
Prism recently announced plans to expand operations at its development facility in India to support the increased sales and marketing activities in the U.S., and to meet the growing demand for security information and event management in Asia and Australia.

Future Connections
The new Howard County-India Trade Committee could link strongly with the Center for Business and Technology Development (CBTD), which is set up to serve as a one-stop resource for Howard County's small business owners and entrepreneurs, said Howard County Economic Development Authority CEO Dick Story.
The CBTD offers an array of practical services and support, which means, Story said, that "We might have some really neat connectivity between our incubator and the potential here."
In early April, the center completed a 5,500-square-foot expansion featuring 10 new offices to house the center's NeoTech Incubator companies and two new conference rooms. Since, three additional companies have occupied offices within the new space and several other companies are exploring coming to the center.