Kastle’s 2nd CEO

WASHINGTON--After 35 years heading integration firm Kastle Systems International, chief executive officer Gene Samburg is handing over the reins to Piyush Sodha, a long-time associate of investor Mark Ein, who purchased Kastle last year. Sodha was most recently head of Cibernet, a provider of solutions for the wireless industry, and previously led Matrics, an RFID manufacturer where Ein was a major investor and board member. He will now take over as chief executive officer and co-chairman at Kastle, with Ein and Samburg also serving as co-chairmen. “As excited as I was a year ago,” said an enthused Ein, “I’m even more excited today, both in terms of the industry’s prospects and Kastle’s prospects within the industry ... We think we can create substantial growth and the most important decision we could make was to find the right leader for the long-term future of the company.” “There’s almost a sense of déjà vu” coming to the security industry with an RFID background, Sodha said. “People had closed solutions and they were looking for a uniform playing field where many people could play, and Matrics was a pioneer in bringing that vision to reality.” Kastle has recently adopted an IP-based platform for its customers, which are primarily commercial office buildings. “It’s a platform for working with partners,” Sodha said. “No company can build the best everything. Ein said to look for Kastle to grow, expanding its geographic reach and into similar verticals, like government offices.