News

Isothermal sees future in Pullman – Liberty Lake firm plans research center to develop new technology

Liberty Lake company Isothermal Systems Research is planning a Pullman-based research center to develop future versions of its technology, company president Jeff Severs said Thursday.

Tom Sowa
Staff writer Spokesman Review

Isothermal Systems Research (ISR) is a 140-person company developing high-end cooling systems considered critical in protecting high-performance components used by industry and the military.

Half the company’s workers are currently in Clarkston, Wash. That operation will eventually close and those employees will join the 70 workers in Liberty Lake, Severs said.

ISR expects to open the Pullman facility with 15 people and eventually reach 40. Severs hopes the center will open in the summer of 2004.

"Pullman will become our (research and development) center," said Severs. Locating it on the Palouse makes sense in order to coordinate research with Washington State University and the University of Idaho, he said.

The company is negotiating to develop the facility on property owned by the Port of Whitman County at the Pullman industrial park. Size of the building and leasing arrangements with the port are still being negotiated, said Joe Poire, the port’s executive director.

Federal money is not involved in launching the Pullman operation. Over time, though, the company expects to garner federal research projects to develop a diverse roster of new technology, Severs added.

The center will also reconnect ISR with WSU, where its two founders studied engineering. Don Tilton started ISR in 1988. His brother, Chuck Tilton, joined the company a year later. After starting the company on the West Side while working at Boeing, Don Tilton moved back to Pullman in 1991 to teach at WSU. He set up company headquarters in Colton before eventually relocating to Clarkston.

Also Thursday, the company announced it has received a $3 million federal appropriation to help develop cooling solutions for advanced supercomputers. The money was placed in the 2004 Energy Department budget by U.S. Rep. George Nethercutt, R-Wash.

ISR will work with Tessera Technologies of San Jose, Calif., to combine spray cooling with other systems to maintain efficient processing without overheating.

"Proving this design in the supercomputer environment will validate the technology and open up the server and desktop market to the broad incorporation of (spray cool) technology," Nethercutt said in a press release.

•Business writer Tom Sowa can be reached at (509) 459-5492 or at [email protected].

http://www.spokesmanreview.com/news-story.asp?date=110703&ID=s1435895&cat=section.business

Sorry, we couldn't find any posts. Please try a different search.

Leave a Comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.