How is Woolpert’s organic and inorganic growth strategy today and over the coming five years looking to meet the next wave of opportunities in the U.S.?
Our recent acquisition strategy has focused on strengthening areas where we lack presence or expertise, such as new solution offerings or geographies. For example, our recent acquisition of Murphy Geospatial expanded our geographic reach in Europe. Additionally, acquiring firms like Sheehan Nagle Hartray Architects (SNHA) has enhanced our expertise in specific markets, such as data center design. Over the coming three to five years, key growth areas include energy transition, AI, climate and coastal resilience, and aging infrastructure. Our role is to partner with clients to tackle these problems and help improve the economy. For example, data centers highlight the intersection of AI, driving the need for more data, and energy transition, stressing an already insufficient power grid. By investing in our grid and technology infrastructure, we can support economic growth.
Coastal and climate resilience is another critical area. Our firm helps clients with lidar data collection in coastal environments, providing topographic and bathymetric data. This data is crucial for planning and responding to changing coastal conditions. Regarding aging infrastructure, much of our highway system dates back to the Eisenhower administration and requires significant updates. Addressing these issues is both a challenge and an opportunity to bring commerce and manufacturing back to the U.S.
I would love for you to take us on a journey of a customer looking to build a data center in the U.S. How would you help them?
It starts with understanding the customer's needs and objectives. Are they a co-locator or a hyper-scaler, and what is their anticipated power consumption? We assess the scale, objectives, and anticipated power needs of the facility. The primary considerations are water and power availability, reliability, and location due to latency concerns. Additionally, resilience against floods, fires, and earthquakes is crucial. We help clients with site selection by narrowing down potential locations based on these factors. Once the site is selected, our focus shifts to the design aspects. Our teams work on optimizing the facility for its specific environment, whether it is a high-heat desert or a snowy region. The goal is to create a resilient building that protects all critical infrastructure and equipment inside. We consider cooling, power, and geographic consistency with the client's objectives. Our holistic approach uses solid geospatial information to make informed decisions that meet the client's needs.
Have you seen any interesting trends around geographic hotspots or potential legislation that is allowing certain states to attract more companies or data centers?
Data centers tend to build in clusters within select geographic areas, driven by reliability of power, resilience to natural disasters, and latency considerations.
Being close to other data centers minimizes latency for compute processing between different servers, which is crucial for efficiency. I believe the trend will continue to see clusters of data centers rather than dispersed ones, at least in the near term. This clustering allows for optimized power and resource usage, creating environments that are favorable for both co-locators and hyperscalers. The proximity also supports better integration and efficiency in data processing.
How much does being based in Pittsburgh, PA and having access to Carnegie Mellon University contribute to Woolpert's success and staying ahead of the competition?
Carnegie Mellon has been a great asset for us. We have a team of robotics PhDs and computer scientists from the university who work on cutting-edge projects. Carnegie Mellon's expertise in AI, machine learning, and lidar technology directly supports our work in geospatial solutions. The university's strong talent pipeline has allowed us to enhance our capabilities significantly. One key area is the use of lidar for mapping and autonomous vehicle navigation. This technology, pioneered at Carnegie Mellon, is integral to our operations and one we’ve been able to adapt for large-scale mapping and geospatial applications. Our team focuses on building models and increasing data quality, which improves our services. Collaborating with Carnegie Mellon has helped us stay ahead in technology and innovation, ensuring we provide the best solutions to our clients.
How are you planning for the future considering advancements in lidar technology and the changing world in terms of climate and AI?
We focus on the recency, quality, and usability of geospatial data. Providing up-to-date and dense data is crucial for making informed decisions. For example, coastal mapping data needs to be current to be effective, as these environments change rapidly. Increasing the density of data points per square meter enhances the precision and usability of the information we provide to clients. Additionally, we are involved in advanced air mobility, which includes drone delivery and autonomous flight. This technology relies on accurate mapping to avoid obstacles and ensure safe navigation. We are working with the FAA on codes and standards for autonomous delivery, which will revolutionize logistics and transportation. Our goal is to integrate various solutions to solve client problems with the most accurate and useful information.
Given your growing role in advanced technologies like autonomous flight, do you foresee any key inflection points in the market where the demand for your technologies will lead to exponential growth?
Our focus is on consistent day-to-day improvements rather than big bets. Over the past five years, we have tripled the size of our business, supported by our private investment partners at BDT & MSD Partners. We aim to continue this growth trajectory. Our investors have confidence in our strategy, and our goal is to maintain this path of success. We believe we can triple our size again in the next five years by making smart investments and continuously improving our operations. Our focus is on creating value through incremental growth and solidifying our position as a leader in our industry.
