A West Coast software company is expanding to Baltimore to tap into the area’s growing cyber security industry.

ParaTools, based in Eugene, Ore., has opened a Baltimore office at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County’s bwtech@UMBC research and technology park. The company’s software was designed to make complex supercomputers run more efficiently. Now, ParaTools wants to use the same efficiency software to improve cyber operations.

“With our skills in optimizing software and computer performance we think there’s a lot of opportunity in the cyber,” said John Linford, who is heading up the company’s Baltimore office.

ParaTools’ software attaches itself to a system and creates a profile that shows how and where time is being spent. The information can be used to rewrite code in trouble spot and make the system run more smoothly.

The company’s first cyber contract will focus on improving efficiency of drone aircraft that scans for suspicious vehicles. Previously, the drones collected data and brought it home to be analyzed. With ParaTools’ technology, the drones will be able to send data real-time, so they can more quickly address any problems identified.

ParaTools currently has four employees and reported almost a million in profit last year. The company’s two founders, professors at the University of Oregon, are based in Eugene. Linford and a UMBC professor work out of Baltimore.

The new industry focus will hopefully mean steady growth for the company over the next few years. ParaTools hopes to add five employees in Baltimore and grow revenue over the next several years.

“We’re not looking for huge growth or rapid growth, but we are looking for steady growth,” Linford said.

- Sarah Gantz, Reporter, Baltimore Business Journal