Steve Simmons His Terabyte Triangle Boasts Lots Of Internet-Linked Potential

Ideas bounce from Steve Simmons’ mind like it’s a trampoline. Some concepts stay aloft, while others crash to the ground.

One of his bigger ideas could turn downtown Spokane into a high-tech magnet. But whether the plan will fly remains to be seen.

Simmons originated the “Terabyte Triangle” idea a year ago through his work as co-director of the software engineering laboratory at the Spokane Intercollegiate Research and Technology Institute (SIRTI).

The plan invites downtown businesses to hook up to inexpensive, high-speed, high-volume Internet connections. A terabyte is 1,024 gigabytes of data, about 500 times more data than a typical home computer can handle.

The vision is that software companies and start-up technology enterprises could flock here, enlarging Spokane’s high-tech presence and tax base, while providing high-paying jobs. The triangle area runs roughly from the Arena to Second, and Browne’s Addition to the Riverpoint campus.

“Spokane is just about perfect for this, because it’s big enough to have enough companies to do about anything you want,” Simmons said. “It’s got a lot of potential.”

The Terabyte Triangle is just one of the latest in Simmons’ lifelong nomadic journey of ideas.

One of his first ideas was to start his own elementary school newspaper in Los Angeles. He hired classmates as writers, printed copies on a ditto machine, and paid his staff with avocados from a tree in his back yard.

In high school, Simmons became a rock music promoter who earned $100 a show in high school - serious cash for a 1950s teenager.

His gimmick was to run boats covered with concert ads along southern California beaches where teens hung out after school. It also didn’t hurt that he had a reputation for playing guitar with bands such as the Beach Boys and Jan and Dean.

“They (the Beach Boys) were just getting started then,” Simmons said. “It was the ‘50s. Geez, we had fun.”

Music was always fun for him, but to challenge his curiosity, Simmons studied what he calls “exotic math” in college. In 1969 he became a college math professor at Eastern Washington University and in 1984 helped establish EWU’s computer sciences department.

Math was more esoteric than music, but just as tough to master, Simmons says. Combining his dual interests, he works with EWU students on computer enhancement of audio systems. With help from XN Technologies in Cheney, they remove background static from old analog recordings. The same process is used to lower the static from public address speakers such as those in bus stations.

Adding more challenges, Simmons became a downtown Spokane restaurateur, and, briefly, even a world-famous bartender.

That happened in 1981, when, a year after the state’s most famous volcanic eruption, Simmons concocted a Mount St. Helens drink of whipped cream and brandy which was designed to erupt into flames. National media circulated a story in The Spokesman-Review about the drink. The publicity “made me famous for one day,” Simmons said.

His varied experiences have prepared him for tough tasks.

“The background he’s had in pure research, together with experience in practical applications puts him in a good position to help people in industry,” said Ray Hamel, chair of EWU’s computer sciences department.

Not all of Simmons’ practical applications have succeeded. In the mid-1970s, he programmed a hand-held calculator into a business computer, but it ran only simple programs.

He said his hobbyish tinkering with wires and soldering frequently ends up in a heap of junk. And he said he didn’t foresee the Internet becoming a big part of everyday life.

Even the drinks he’s invented have taken countless failures to get right.

But since he started studying the models of San Jose and Portland in 1994, he’s convinced that Spokane can develop an epicenter of high technology because it’s big enough to have the infrastructure, yet small enough to effectively coordinate the business community.

The Terabyte Triangle idea is still developing. The Fernwell Building, at 505 W. Riverside, is one of the most notable sites equipped with high-speed access. The U.S. Bank building, Seafirst Financial Center, Washington Mutual Building, and new Spokane Regional Business Center also are wired into the Triangle plan.

WWP Fiber, a Washington Water Power Co. subsidiary, has installed more than 1,000 miles of fiber optic cable in the region. Much of it is under downtown streets which would have more than enough of the necessary bandwidth for high-speed, high-volume local area networks.

Simmons has a list of 30 mostly small start-up companies in software development and multimedia that have expressed interest in the plan.

His role with the Terabyte Triangle is as a catalyst. He recruits firms, answers questions and gives presentations on the concept.

Simmons says he loves to spend free time hiking in Idaho and British Columbia.

Simmons and his wife of 17 years, Billie Moreland, operated Moreland’s Restaurant downtown until 1992. They closed it, Simmons said, because he noticed his lunchtime customer base was moving out of the downtown. That partly inspired his hopes for downtown revitalization.

If the plan succeeds, Simmons, 56, will take satisfaction, not profit. “I’ve never had any ambitions to become a millionaire,” he said. “I’ve always liked being a part of teams of people to try to achieve goals in the real world.”