Raj Saksena, Founder, President & CEO of Omnitrol Networks

Last Updated on Monday, 17 October 2011 14:54 Written by Louis Sirico

In this edition of The RFID Network CEO series: Louis Sirico interviews Mr. Raj Saksena Founder, President & CEO of Omnitrol Networks regarding the announcement about CHEP selecting Omnitrol Networks’ Platform for global track and trace, recent funding, and the future of the RFID industry.

Raj has over 20 years of high-tech experience as both a successful entrepreneur and senior executive in Business Development, Operations and Engineering. Prior to founding Omnitrol Networks, Raj was a pioneer in the evolution of the Next-Generation Network, VoIP and Broadband Networks as CTO & VP Business Development at EmpowerTel Networks and Lara Networks. Raj held Senior Management positions at Nortel Networks, Bell Northern Research, McCaw Cellular, Bell Atlantic and AT&T Bell Labs. Raj holds a B.S./B.E. Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the City College of New York and NYU.

RFID.net: For at least the past ten years, I’ve known that CHEP has been evaluating different technologies for global track & trace of 300 million pallets. Their announcement that Omnitrol has been selected as their development partner is a huge endorsement. What can you tell us about Omnitrol Networks’ role in what is most likely, the largest RFID deployment in the world?

RS: The Omnitrol solution has become the technology leader in the deployment of real-time operational intelligence integrating sensor and wireless technologies. Our approach to the delivery of an intelligent factory floor was very unique. We addressed the key requirements by building a telco-grade production ready software platform that has perhaps the industry’s most powerful service creation engine to rapidly customize process-centric intelligence for shop-floor operations, such as, manufacturing operations in aerospace, pharma, food & beverage & apparel; logistics/3PL and warehouse asset tracking and retail store inventory tracking. Our distributed peer-to-peer architecture is the only industry solution that allows our customers to incrementally deploy our solutions for business performance improvements in their facilities while also enabling an end-to-end global track and trace infrastructure for their products and suppliers.

RFID.net: Most people don’t know that you founded Omnitrol. What was your inspiration?

RS: We predicted that the proliferation of smart mobile devices, RFID and sensors would become a massive “internet of things” smart infrastructure. However, there was a gap to be filled. We realized that the adoption of this new smart infrastructure would explode only if the business software value was also an intrinsic part of the smart infrastructure. We called this business intelligent smart infrastructure the OMNITROL Network.

An integrated software appliance would truly revolutionize real-time intelligence by filling the huge gap in seamlessly delivering and automating business insight into real-world operations. Similar to how the hybrid car created a paradigm shift in improving fuel efficiency in cars, which could not have been achieved by tinkering with existing engines. The Omnitrol smart infrastructure network delivers a paradigm shift by integrating real-time visibility and business intelligence into existing operational systems and processes. Our solutions have allowed our customers to evolve their operations into a new paradigm of automated real-time operational collaboration bringing the “factory of the future” to reality.

RFID.net: Omnitrol Networks announced some recent strategic investment. How do you intend to use this funding?

RS: We have successfully deployed our platform into multiple production environments delivering real-time operational intelligence applications. In the process, we established key strategic partnerships with system integrators and channel partners and are beginning to scale our global footprint and customer deployments. Our funding is targeting our growth plans for these opportunities across the globe.

RFID.net: What do you think the next major focus for the RFID Industry is going to be?

RS: We find that the integration of RFID in operations to improve business performance and efficiencies will be the key driver to adoption. Moreover, the automated data collection inherent with RFID deployments provides high-integrity location and status of assets within manufacturing, retail and logistics operations which is becoming critical in supply-chain collaboration and product traceability. Interestingly, by the nature of our smart Infrastructure software we are addressing needs across multiple operational verticals through our partners.

RFID.net: How is Omnitrol Networks looking to fit into that focus?

RS: Our platform substantially simplifies development and deployment by enabling an end-to-end operational business intelligent network. Our customers can immediately achieve invaluable business insight within their plant operations, inventory or human resources without complex backend integration. As an integrated software appliance, customers can rapidly and incrementally scale by deploying Omnitrol systems across multiple sites or at partner sites to achieve end-to-end visibility directly from operations. The Omnitrol smart infrastructure network is the industry’s first solution that automates physical world shop-floor operational visibility with SaaS cloud-based business intelligence applications.

RFID.net: What is your 2011/2012 focus for Omnitrol Networks in general?

RS: We are primarily focused on supporting and enabling our partners to develop powerful process-centric intelligence applications for their customers operations. The industry has begun to recognize that the operations floor has become critical to improving both customer satisfaction and overall financial performance. The Omnitrol smart infrastructure represents a whole new business paradigm and opportunity for optimizing business performance directly in shop-floor processes. The shop-floor can be a retail store-front, manufacturing facility, logistics/3PL warehouse, hospital or wherever asset visibility into operational processes is important.

About Omnitrol Networks

Omnitrol Networks is a leading provider of distributed software solutions that automate business insight into physical operations. Partners and customers have successfully deployed process-centric intelligence solutions based on the OMNITROL platform to achieve substantial improvements in operational efficiencies, employee productivity, and sales growth. Examples of real-time solutions include manufacturing visibility, supplier production collaboration, global asset tracking and product traceability. OMNITROL-based solutions automate real-time visibility in operations by capturing and analyzing events from digital and analog sensors, RFID and wireless location-based sensors, and existing production control systems. Omnitrol Networks is a privately held company with its corporate headquarters in Santa Clara, California, USA. Additional information about Omnitrol Networks' products and services is available at http://www.omnitrol.com.