The park has a powerful magnet: One of the 10 largest computers in the world. It can process billions of bits of information a second. It creates images for space research primarily but "Toy Story," the first all-computer-produced movie, could have been processed by it - easily.
The computer's operator, the Maui High Performance Computer Center (MHPCC), is the prime tenant at the research park. It's there because 10,000 feet above it on the chilly rim of Haleakala Crater the Air Force has a growing array of telescopes. They can track space objects as small as a softball moving at 17,000 mph and 300 miles out.
Among many other things, MHPCC's processing of their data helps spacecraft avoid other orbiting objects.
The Defense Department funded the supercomputer but allows its spare capacity to be leased for educational and commercial purposes. Lessees have clients in 36 states and 17 foreign countries.
A selling problem for the park is that you don't have to come there to use the supercomputer. Fiber-optic cable permits access from almost anywhere. But there are increasing numbers of conferences there and it has stimulated high-tech growth on Maui. The computer is managed by the University of New Mexico on a cooperative contract with the Air Force's Phillips Laboratory. The University of Hawaii lost out on the MHPCC bid.
Opened in 1992, the park now has three major tenants - the computer center, a state of Hawaii high-tech development office, and a center for private clients called Premier Place. A fourth building will be started this year. Two more are scheduled.
Prominent Maui civic boosters own and operate the park. They include Mike Lyons of the county's economic development board, Peter Baldwin of Haleakala Ranch, Steve Goodfellow of Pacific Rim Properties, Paul Meyer of Maui Land & Pineapple, and Pundy Yokouchi of Valley Isle Properties. They seek to prosper by helping Maui prosper. Senator Inouye guided the computer funding through Congress.
Even though the park's 330 acres are mostly empty, there is talk that another 115 acres will be needed within less than 20 years. The general plan envisions an imaging institute, digital film studios, space applications development, a Pacific Region disaster and business recovery center, and separate area clusters for environmental sciences, biochemistry technologies and medical research.
The quiet of the computer center awes an ignorant outsider like me - no turbines churning or gears shifting, just the marvel of microchips doing their thing inside metal cabinets in pastel-colored, air-conditioned surroundings.
NAMES of tenants in the park give clues to its diversity potential: Rockwell Power Systems, Textron Systems, Pacific Imaging, Sanda International, Pacific Wizard, Chameleon Multimedia, Big Kahuna Productions, Dancing Bear Enterprises, Maui Global Communications, Arttech Maui, Sunsource Health Products, Sustainable Technologies, Synchromic Studios, University of Hawaii Office of Technology, UH colleges of Education and Continuing Education, UH-Hilo Small Business Development and Business Information Centers. From afar, Hawaii's public and private schools also tap in.
Total park employment is less than 200 but there are dreams of 5,000. As the critical mass develops more support businesses will join its existing mortgage, medical and chiropractic offices.
A key selling problem is Hawaii's image as only a playland. The truth is we are a Pacific education and military center with major science centers in all our counties. Fiberoptic cable makes distance inconsequential. Why not locate on beautiful Maui rather than just tap into it from afar?