The Whitney Jute Imports Inc., was founded by Eli Whitney in 1810, as a side business to his armaments factory. Whitney had found that he was unable to get sufficient Indian jute to make the sacking needed to store and ship his muskets properly. While Whitney's armament business was at various times owned by Colt and Winchester arms, the Jute business maintained a low-profile separate existence.
However, in 1883 Phineas Whitney began to transform his great-grandfather's sideline into an advanced techincal firm, in direct competition with Fulton Horizons. In the 1950s, the newly renamed WJI corporation took off and began to have several noticeable successes. Later, when Fulton Horizons began its financial decline in the 1980s and 1990's WJI picked up much of the slack.
The current president of WJI, Derek Whitney McGruder, is well respected by the Defense Department and the CIA. He would like to see Fulton Horizons go out of business entirely, but so far seems to be willing to let Fulton take care of that problem all by itself.
The WJI corportation is noted for its extreme regimentation of its scientific staff, incredible success rate and low tolerance for failure, interference and mistakes.