High-tech company has a good problem

It's a good problem to have.

McCook's foremost high-tech company, 21st Century Systems Inc., is running out of room in Walsh Brady Hall on the McCook Community College campus, and may seek temporary quarters until it can make a permanent move downtown.

As Matt Stebbins, director of Applied Information Systems in McCook briefed congressional candidate Scott Kleeb on Saturday, the company plans to be the anchor tenant in a reborn Keystone Hotel in downtown McCook.

Plans are for the hotel also to house condominiums, professional offices and a high-tech business incubator, but 21CSI won't be able to move in until about a year from now when the $3 million renovation is complete, he said.

But as Dave Andersen, former F-14 pilot and 21CSI's chief operating officer told Kleeb, the company plans to establish a support site here for its "JAWS" military software, and may need the space before that.

Kleeb also found out how infrastructure such as major fiber optic lines made McCook's 21CSI site possible, a chance airline encounter between Sen. Ben Nelson and a company official, as well as economic development support.

But the congressional hopeful also got a look at software systems, tested and perfected in McCook, which already are helping fight the war on terror in Iraq and Afghanistan.

One demonstration involved the Joint Awareness Warfighter-Space -- JAWS -- system and a planned helicopter strike using laser-guided weapons. JAWS alerted planners that a dust storm might render the weapons useless, in time for other weapons to be deployed for the attack.

At the same time, it let commanders know what satellites, friendly or enemy, might come into play in the operation.

Another system, the High Resolution Situational Awareness -- HiRSA -- system has been in use with the Marines in Fallujah since September 2004.

Essentially computer-aided surveillance using video cameras and other sensors, HiRSA will be installed in Nebraska to help provide security for National Guard units in a year or two as a demonstration project, 21CSI officials told Kleeb.

With workstations for 10, the Walsh Brady site already has 11 on staff, with an additional employee working in "cyberspace" from her home.

Thanks to foresight, investment and, yes, a little good luck, Nelson's dream for a "Silicon Prairie" may yet become a reality, with McCook playing a key part.