Eric Juillerat was all set to begin an aggressive rollout of his company's technology to public-sector operators of water and sewage-treatment plants in 2008.
But the plans of Juillerat's Raven Technology Group LLC came to a halt as local governments hunkered down in the face of the recession.
Raven Technology Group took advantage of the downturn to widen its scope to new markets, including industrial users and defense applications. Now the Reno-based company is ready once again for an aggressive launch.
If it's successful, the company's staff of five could increase to 24 within 12 months, says Juillerat, its president and chief executive. Much of the staff growth would come as it muscles up its team of hardware and software engineers.
The company's technology is this: It's created a bolt-on device that allows data to be delivered from an industrial sensor through an Ethernet network.
And once data is on the network, it can be viewed on any device that's equipped with a browser a smart phone, for instance.
In practical terms, the Raven Technology adapter means that the manager of an industrial plant can monitor the operation of key pieces of equipment from his smart phone or iPad rather than visiting a control room filled with display monitors.
That sort of remote access is a no-brainer for newly purchased industrial controllers. Retrofits of existing sensors the niche that Raven Technology Group seeks to fill is a much more difficult market. Retrofits may require the shutdown of an entire industrial plant while a single controller is upgraded, and retrofits often are a slow and expensive process, Juillerat says.
The Reno company pitches its network adapter as a solution that can be bolted directly onto an existing sensor, installed in 15 minutes and requires no disruption of ongoing operations. The company prices its units at $1,200 each.
Raven Technology Group, which has been privately financed, assembles the units at a facility in Carson City.
Several of the founders, include Juillerat's father, Hector, got their start in the industry at Sparks-based Applied Industrial Controls. That company owned by Hector Juillerat merged with Southern California's George T. Hall Co. in 2006.
A significant piece of the startup cost of the new company, Juillerat says, is represented by a pending patent application that covers 36 claims for the Raven Technology adapter.
The company projects that it will be profitable within 13 months after it launches sales.
Raven also will target sales to industries such as agriculture and pipelines with far-flung operations that could benefit from improved remote monitoring. Juillerat says the company also is exploring possible defense-related uses for the technology.
