2GIG news abounds

I've had lots of news about 2GIG Technologies coming across my desk in the past week or so. In case you don't know 2GIG, they're a newish (about three years old now) manufacturer of residential and home management solutions, notably its GO!Control panel.

Just yesterday I spoke to Mary Miller at the Z-Wave Alliance, which is an open consortium of companies that wants to establish Z-Wave as the standard in wireless home control. Miller announced that 2GIG is its newest principal member.

2GIG president Todd Santiago told me the company is pleased to join the board, which includes Cooper Wiring Devices, Danfoss, Fakro, Ingersoll Rand, Leviton, Sigma Designs and Universal Electronics.

Santiago also shared some other news. The company is moving to a bigger office in Lehi, Utah and has opened another  “large office and warehouse in Carlsbad, California.” Company engineers will be housed in both locations, he said. 2GIG has hired three seven engineers lately and Santiago said he expects to hire 10 more  within a few weeks. Below is some biographical information about three senior engineers they hired:

--Bruce Ehlers: senior vice president, engineering. Ehlers recently joined 2GIG and has responsibility over all engineering activities. Prior to joining 2GIG, Ehlers was VP of engineering at Linear Corporation where he oversaw all product development including the development of the GoControl panel.  Prior to Linear, Ehlers held leadership positions at numerous companies including Iomega, Copper Mountain Networks, and General Instrument.  He holds a BSEE with honors and MSEE from Purdue University.

--Chris Harris: VP, hardware engineering. Harris has more thna 15 years of product development and manufacturing experience with wireless, networking, and consumer electronic products.  Prior to 2Gig, Harris managed the hardware product development at Control4 Corporation, a home automation and energy management company. Before that, he held engineering and operations management positions at several venture funded technology companies including Redline Networks (acquired by Juniper Networks), Softbook Press (acquired by Gemstar), CellNet Data Systems (acquired by Schlumberger), and Advanced Energy Industries (NASDAQ: AEIS).  Harris has aBS in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an MS in Systems Engineering from Stanford University.

--Karl Hisamoto:  VP, Software Engineering. Hisamoto brings more than 30 years of embedded software development and management experience with simulation systems, cellular systems, and home technology products. Hisamoto managed the software development of 2gig's Go!Control security and home management system.Prior to 2gig, he has held software engineering management positions at Linear LLC and Skyworks Solutions. Hisamoto received his BS in Electrical Engineering from California State University, Long Beach.

Santiago also said that they company now has 10 distributors, has a nationwide sales organization having signed on “numerous independent rep firms"  and a couple of direct sale employees.