An established leader in software technology, Tridium works closely with international manufacturers and other software companies. For more than 15 years, our open framework has enabled and grown the Internet of Things.

Leadership Team

Tridium’s associates and leaders are drawn from a range of backgrounds. We share a passion for collaboration, innovation and continuous improvement.

Jim Bland

Jim Bland is the president and general manager of Tridium, a division of Honeywell Home and Building Technologies based in Richmond, Virginia. In this capacity, he is responsible for leading Tridium’s day-to-day operations and directing its growth strategies across the organization.

A 25-year technology veteran with broad leadership and entrepreneurial experience, Jim was the founder and CEO of SNAPDATA.IO, a Washington, D.C.-based designer and developer of sensors, data communications hardware and software and other products designed for the Internet of Things market. Over the previous 20 years, he served as the CEO of four different technology companies: CODi, Inc., a Harrisburg, Pa., developer of mobile accessories; CRIX International Association, an organization that leveraged technology to streamline new drug development and approval; Datalux Corporation, a Winchester, Va., producer of wireless computing products for mobile data markets; and Ergonomixx, Inc., a Chevy Chase, Md., developer of software and hardware for the Microsoft Natural Keyboard.

Jim also served as the vice president – strategic business development and marketing for Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), a $4 billion technology integration corporation based in Reston, Va., as well as the managing director of Corstone Capital, a technology and government services management consulting firm headquartered in McLean, Va.

Fluent in English, French, German and Arabic, Jim worked early in his career in an international capacity, first as a commercial attaché at a U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia and later as a consultant with William Kent International where he managed all aspects of multi-country strategy development for major U.S. and European consumer products companies.

Jim is a graduate of Wake Forest University, receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree in Politics and French. He was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship, studying in Vienna, Austria, as well as a scholarship to the Université d’Orléans, France. He received his Masters of Business Administration from Harvard Business School with a concentration in Finance and Competitive Analysis.

An avid tennis player and runner, Jim serves on numerous business boards and councils, including as a member of the Indian CEO High Tech Council, co-chairman of the Commonwealth Virginia Electronics Industry Steering Committee, director on Wells Fargo Bank’s Commercial Advisory Board, advisory board member of the Loudoun County Economic Development Commission, member of the Baltimore-Washington Venture Group and member of the Northern Virginia Technology Council. He is a member of the Harvard Club of Washington, D.C. and volunteers with KidzOnLine, a nonprofit educational organization working on digital divide issues with Washington, D.C. youth.

Uday Kelkar

Uday Kelkar is VP of product engineering, responsible for Internet of Things (IoT) software and hardware products. Uday joined Tridium from Videojet, Danaher, where most recently he was the Director of Cross Platform Software development for Industrial Printers and Product Identification Systems. An experienced engineering leader, Uday has held executive and senior management positions within the high-tech industry in Nokia Maps (Nokia Here), Motorola Mobile Device, Johnson Controls and Videojet-Danaher.

Uday brings to Tridium an extensive background in data/voice networking, wireless, cellular telecommunication, control systems, big data technology and platform software development, as well as lean agile global engineering leadership experience. He is extremely driven and focused to make open IoT platform a reality.

Simon Liu
Working Experience

June-2011 to Present: Managing Director, Tridium Asia Pacific
June-2009 to June-2011: Business (LoB) Director, Homes AP, Honeywell
May-2002 to May-2009: Engineering Director, ECC Global Design Centre, Honeywell
Aug-2000 to May-2002: Customer Technical Service Manager, Applied Materials (China)
April-1997 to July-2000: Production Manager, Proctor & Gamble (China)

Education

Aug-2006 to Sep-2008: CEIBS (China Europe International Business School), EMBA
Aug-2000 to Feb-2001: Applied Materials Global Training School, (CA, USA)
Oct-1997 to May-1998: Engineering College of Proctor & Gamble (China)
Sep-1994 to April-1997: Tianjin University, Master in Mechanical Engineering
Sep-1987 to July-1991: Shengyang Polytechnic University, Bachelor in Mechanical Engineering

Mike Luscombe

Mike Luscombe joined Tridium in 2010 and currently leads global market development activities, including partnerships and acquisitions as well as leadership of the services business. With over 20 years of IT, telecom and software experience his strengths lie in delivering new technologies to market and opening new geographic and vertical markets. Prior to Tridium, Mike served for seven years the GM of an early stage cloud services company that delivered hosted virtual desktops. He has worked in several early stage technology companies as well as fortune 100 companies such as GE where during his ten year tenure he held progressively responsible positions in market development, business development and product management. Mike holds Bachelor of Science degrees from Western Michigan University and Metropolitan State University in Denver.

Kevin Smith

Kevin Smith is Tridium’s CTO and Chief Architect. He provides technology strategy and direction for all of Tridium’s products to the architecture and engineering teams. For more than 25 years, Kevin has led technology organizations and endeavored to develop highly secure, data-focused software solutions for a wide variety of customers. He's the author of seven technology books on topics such as cybersecurity, big data analytics, semantics, software engineering and enterprise architecture. He's a frequent speaker at industry conferences on the subjects of building automation, the IoT and cybersecurity. Kevin received a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the College of William and Mary. He received a Master’s degree in Computer Science, along with post-graduate certificate degrees in Software Systems Engineering and Information Systems Security from George Mason University.

Tridium’s History


The Early Days

In the 1990s, the Internet and the World Wide Web were becoming mainstream commercial technologies. Smart devices and systems began to appear in buildings, machines, homes, cars and virtually everywhere else, but few standards existed for interoperability among new and already-installed devices.

Initiatives to form standard communication protocols created a few open system environments (such as LonWorks® and BACnet®). But these protocols, focused at the embedded device level, provided interoperability only when all the devices were based on the same protocol.

Working out of a spare room in the west end of Richmond, Virginia, a small group of building industry experts and freshly minted graduates in electrical engineering and computer science gathered to solve the problem. The industry experts had the experience to know what businesses needed, and the new graduates were freethinking enough to take an unconventional approach.

That unconventional approach was to design an open, Internet-based infrastructure that would allow software developers to develop applications that could be used across a wide variety of systems, including existing legacy systems and competing systems from different manufacturers.

Tridium was founded by entrepreneurs who partnered with entrepreneurs. Our early success was based on a novel technology and a forward-thinking set of early adopters who took a chance and challenged the status quo of closed, proprietary systems.

In 1997, the company produced a functional system prototype. Two years later, Tridium launched its revolutionary Niagara Framework®.

Launch and Alliances

1999—Tridium launches the Niagara Framework® and begins working with a network of independent early adopters to make the Niagara infrastructure a true industry standard. Building on Niagara, Tridium also creates the first Web-enabled application specifically designed for the building automation and energy services industries and names the brand Vykon® the following year.

2000—Honeywell and Tridium announces a multiyear alliance, allowing Honeywell to use Tridium’s breakthrough technology for its building automation customers. That same year, Vageri Electrical & Instrumentation, B.V., in the Netherlands becomes the first Tridium System Integrator to provide the Niagara Framework to the European market. Tridium raises $20 million in venture capital financing.

2001—Tridium announces a series of strategic alliances with major industrial figures such as Emerson, Schneider Electric, Invensys and Carrier Corporation.

2002—John Petze is appointed president and chief executive officer. Tridium announces an additional $5 million round of capital funding.

2004—Tridium hosts the inaugural Niagara Summit. This open conference brings together end users, integrators and developers for comprehensive learning and networking opportunities.

2005—Honeywell announces the acquisition of Tridium, which becomes an independent business entity of Honeywell International.

Rapid Growth

2006—Tridium introduces Niagara Central, an interactive portal for the Niagara community. Wawa Food Markets begins working with Tridium as it integrates diverse systems across all 550 of its stores.

2007—Tridium introduces the JACE®-6 controller. A record number of integrators, consultants, manufacturers, end users and developers attend the European Niagara Forum.

2008—The Niagara Framework surpasses 100,000 instances.

2009—Tridium releases Enterprise Security, a modular, highly scalable security management and access control solution.

2010—The Niagara Framework surpasses 200,000 instances.

Advancing the Internet of Things

2011—Tridium continues its commitment to QNX Software Systems with the release of Niagara AX 3.6.

2012—The Niagara Framework exceeds 300,000 instances, becoming one of the most utilized platforms for the Internet of Things.

2013—Nino A. DiCosmo is appointed president and general manager of the company. Tridium announces the formation of its Professional Services Group to meet the increasing demand for consulting and education services.

2014—Tridium acquires DataEye, an energy analytics application, from Controlco, a California-based controls products and solutions provider.

2015—Tridium launches the next-generation IoT framework, Niagara 4, and all-new hardware platform, the JACE® 8000.

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