Avi Rosenthal opens consulting firm

SAN DIEGO—Avi Rosenthal, who has worked in the IoT realm for 20 years, has opened a full-service consulting firm, IoT Consulting, to help companies get their products manufactured and marketed.

“You've got a lot of people that have phenomenal ideas, that are looking at the problem from a different angle, but may not understand how to get their product to market, how to get their idea generated, manufactured,” Rosenthal, president of IoT Consulting, told Security Systems News.

Rosenthal most recently worked with Nortek, as its VP of security and control, which was recently acquired by Melrose Industries on Aug. 31.

Rosenthal said that his position with IoT Consulting is very similar to his role with Nortek. “I was recruited by Nortek to drive product and market development for them in the residential space. But, a lot of the things I did for Nortek are the things that I'm now able to do for others.”

Rosenthal left Nortek in early August and IoT Consulting was officially launched on Sept. 1.

Rosenthal said that the relatively quick launch of the company was, in part, the result of numerous requests for his advice. “I got a lot of phone calls from people within the marketplace, or were just getting into the marketplace, and were really looking for help in developing their market plan, developing products, and entering the market in such a way that they could hit not only the dealer channel but retail and other things,” he said.

More people are now able to come up with a prototype for their ideas, Rosenthal said, as a result of increased prevalence of 3D printing and programming languages. “The question then becomes: What do you do with that prototype? How do you market it? How do you produce it?”

He continued, “What IoT consulting is going to do is we're going to connect people and companies with the marketplace, with manufacturing expertise, with branding and marketing expertise, to help them get their idea from the idea stage � to the marketplace,” Rosenthal said.

IoT Consulting's first client is oneEvent Technologies, based in Mount Horeb, Wis. “They have a whole new way of looking at fire safety and indoor air quality in both homes and multi-dwelling units,” he said. The company looks to combine analytics and fire detection to provide fire departments with more information about who is in the home and where during an emergency.

IoT consulting currently has four clients; Rosenthal projected that the firm could have between 20 and 25 clients in 12 months, and hit $500,000 in revenue. Rosenthal is the firm's sole employee, but he said the company is planning on adding more employees.