Hartford Business Journal

8 Hartford Business Journal • March 5, 2018 • www.HartfordBusiness.com Reporter's Notebook Matt Pilon | mpilon@HartfordBusiness.com Health Care/Bioscience, Startups & Entrepreneurs, Government/Law and Energy STARTUPS & ENTREPRENEURS W. Hartford app maker gains ground in utility market W hen a vehicle strikes a utility pole, police, firefighters and an ambulance could be dispatched to the scene. The process leading to the eventual pole repair can be a game of telephone, according to Michael Haeflich and Deepak Swamy, chief commercial officer and CEO, respectively, of West Hartford-based iRestore. One of those first responders will radio the police dispatcher to notify the utility company about what they're seeing on the ground, and the utility dispatcher will, in many cases, send out a spotter truck to assess the damage. Spotters might decide that more equipment and workers are needed, such as a digger derrick truck to lift and set a new pole. Depending on the scenario, the pro- cess can be inefficient. "It's this whole game of missed information," said Haeflich, who is iRestore's top man in the Northeast, where the company's suite of first responder and utility worker mobile apps has been gaining ground over the past two years, amassing over 4,000 total authorized users, it said. The company's flagship app is called First Responder. It's sold to utilities, which distribute free user licenses to local police and fire departments, allowing first responders to provide details about the damage and snap a photo that is then sent to the appro- priate mix of local utility personnel, complete with GPS coordinates. "The utility now has eyes on the scene way ahead of the troubleshooter getting there," said Haeflich, who previously worked as an emergency coordination director at Eversource. The company's executive and advi- sory team blends utility and tech back- grounds. Swamy previously worked for Infosys, where he helped launch an app platform. IRestore's pitch to utilities is that its apps can make the repair process more efficient, saving time and money. So far, it has licensing deals with Unitil and Liberty Utilities in New Hampshire, and it booked a big win in 2016 when it signed up National Grid, which has deployed iRestore's First Responder app in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New York. Swamy and Haeflich hope that deal will cause others to take notice. The duo, who met through a mu- tual work acquaintance, said they have approached Eversource and Avangrid about their apps, but haven't yet landed any Connecticut business. Regardless, they hope to add several sales and marketing jobs here this year. While the Northeast has been their focus, calls have started coming in from other states and even Canada, Swamy added. Swamy and Haeflich declined to provide financial information, but they said the contracts they've signed so far are worth millions of dollars. The company, which is technically domi- ciled in San Jose, Calif., where Swamy founded it six years ago, has about 15 employees, including a handful that work out of a LaSalle Road office. IRestore's backing thus far has come from angel investors. "Certainly, Connecticut and New England are going to be important to our growth strategy," Swamy said. ENERGY & MANUFACTURING Former energy exec Friedland lands in aerospace sector Robert Friedland, who departed Wallingford-based Proton OnSite in Septem- ber following the energy technology manufacturer's merger with a Norwegian company, has landed an aerospace management gig in Tolland County. Friedland began his new job in January as chief op- erating officer of Columbia Manufacturing. It's a newly created position at the company, which has just over 100 workers. Named after its small hometown of Columbia (population of 5,500), the company is one of the town's largest employers. It does speciality CNC machining, fabrication, and overhaul and repair for aircraft and ground-based engines. "It's an interesting blend of three stops in my career," Friedland, 52, of Farmington, said of his new role. "It's been a really good fit." Before helping to found Proton OnSite in the mid- 1990s, where he eventually served as CEO for nearly a decade, Friedland worked for Carrier Corp. and United Technologies Corp. Columbia Manufactur- ing CEO Kathryn Conlon said Friedland is taking on a big job, with manufactur- ing, marketing and quality segments all reporting to him. The company, which said it does $20 million in annual revenues, has also charged Friedland with diversifying and growing its customer base. Big clients include Pratt & Whitney and General Electric. "We need a kind of rainmaker, a change agent," Conlon said. "[Friedland] has the ability to wear many hats, and we're a small company, so all of us have to be able to wear hats." ECONOMY OPM's CT economic outlook What does Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's budget office think Connecticut's unem- ployment rate will look like over the next five years? Malloy's recent budget proposal for fiscal year 2019 was accompanied by a detailed report prepared by the Office of Policy and Management that predicts unemployment in the state will be higher than the U.S. average through 2022. The state and country both averaged 4.7 percent unemployment in fiscal year 2017. Year U.S. unemployment rate CT unemployment rate 2017 4.7% 4.7% 2018 4.1% 4.6% 2019 3.8% 4.2% 2020 3.7% 4.2% 2021 4.0% 4.3% 2022 4.3% 4.4% Source: OPM Leadman Steve Bernier rolling titanium bands at Columbia Manufacturing. IRestore's COO Michael Haeflich (left) and CEO Deepak Swamy (right) at the app maker's West Hartford office. (Far right) A home screen view of iRestore's app. HBJ PHOTO | MATT PILON PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED

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