TerraEchos is one of Missoula’s fastest growing tech firms. It processes, correlates and analyzes moving data in real time, and it acts upon that data in the moment. Hepp calls it the “speed of now” and says the need to read large amounts of data, as it passes, is in high demand.

The company moved to its new downtown location on Spruce Street in January and now employs 11 workers. Nine of Terra’s 11 employees are UM graduates, or have ties to the school.

“We had a three- to five-year plan to double our staff every year,” said Misti James, Terra’s chief operating officer. “We hit that target this year, going from five to 11. We plan on going from 11 to 20 next year, and 20 to 40 after that.”

Alex Philp, founder and president of GCS Research, recognized the shortage of skilled workers early on. He urged UM to launch a course on IBM’s InfoSphere Streams software and has been a staunch advocate for growing the program ever since.

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Last fall and with funding in place, UM became the first university in the world to offer the IBM course at the undergraduate level. In doing so, it garnered national attention from tech bloggers and data watchdogs. It also laid the groundwork for what supporters see as Missoula’s future as a tech center.