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Kiana.io: Augmenting Safety, Security, Awareness and Engagement

In an interview with Insights Success, Nader Fathi, CEO of Kiana, shares insights on how the company empowers businesses worldwide with accurate location and real-time footfall analysis to improve physical safety and security as well as proximity services. Also, he broadly discusses on the company’s core competencies and the services it offers.
Below are the highlights of the interview conducted between Nader and Insights Success.
Give a brief overview of the company and its vision. 
Kiana enables enterprises to be more effective by providing the required process and effective tools to create a safe and secure environment. To date, Kiana has processed more than 490 million unique wireless device IDs across 50 countries worldwide, driven by adoption of the company’s IoP (Internet of Persons) technologies, used for greater security and visitor engagement across an array of industry use cases. The platform’s universal device detection recognizes all mobile devices and wearables – connected, detected, Android, and iOS – enabling companies to determine recognizable, as well as potentially undesirable, visitors. In 2018, Kiana was awarded two important patents by the United States Patent and Trademark office. The patents cover technologies powering KianaSecure and KianaEngage, which detect and analyze tens-of-thousands of visitors per day, making the cloud-based software ideal for corporate campuses, convention centers, airports, malls, and other large venues. Next in Kiana’s roadmap is leveraging the power of 5G, the next-generation of mobile networks beyond the 4G LTE mobile networks of today.
What inspired Kiana Analytics to enter into its respective segment? 
What we saw on the rise was; internal or external physical threats in corporate campuses, hospitals, schools, arenas and other public areas; corporate compliance regulations and insurance premiums for workplace safety; data Integrations from disparate building management systems; stricter & rapidly changing security regulations; and mergers/acquisitions to enable full-stack security solutions for business process/building management. In the other hand there were various aspects that were declining including; cost of video surveillance equipment; desire for stand-alone building management use-cases; and non-IP cameras. These were the trends that inspired us to enter the physical security and safety segment. What are the cutting-edge products/services offered by Kiana Analytics? Kiana offers two cloud-based solutions, Kiana Engage and Kiana Secure. These solutions use patented technology to assist clients with the management of threats. Kiana Engage collects and evaluates data on the people in a specified location by leveraging real-time location services. This can help organizations direct individuals to their nearest exit based on their position, resulting in the efficient evacuation of the building in case of emergencies. Kiana Secure makes the current infrastructure of a building smarter without replacing any of the existing hardware. By leveraging forensic analytics, the solution combines video streams with location analytics to provide vital information for crime scene investigations.
What strategies has Kiana Analytics undertaken to stay ahead of the competition?
Kiana is the only commercial solution that detects both logged and unlogged mobile devices and has fused camera images with WIFI signals. Plus, it makes our customers successful with our solution and continues to develop breakthrough technology and protect those innovations by filling US Patents. Moreover, it expands Kiana’s customer base in North America and worldwide. Kiana also forges a worldwide partnership with leaders with the sensor, WiFi, Bluetooth and camera manufacturers, system integrators and telcos.
Describe the experiences, achievements or lessons learnt that has shaped the journey of the company. 
According to Gartner Report, Kiana was included as a representative vendor in Gartner’s Market Guide for Indoor Location Application Platforms in Oct 11, 2018. As per the DHS Award, as part of the Silicon Valley Innovation Program (SVIP), the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) awarded Kiana two projects to develop technology to enhance the U.S. Customs and Border Protection counting and measuring capabilities at ports of entry.
The information provided by the Telco Innovation Award states that Kiana has received the “Rocket to Success” Award at the Telecom Council’s 2018 Innovation Showcase between other 150 companies who applied. The company was recently selected by Verizon’s 5G First Responder Lab to develop next-generation technology for the first responders.
Where does Kiana Analytics see itself in the long run and what are its future goals? 
We see new companies driving the multi-billion dollar service economies. For example, Airbnb is the world’s largest accommodation provider, and owns no real estate. Uber is the world’s largest taxi company and owns no vehicles. Facebook is the world’s most popular media owner, and creates no content. Kiana will be the world’s first IoPsec (Internet of People Security) framework, owns no security infrastructure.
About the Leader 
Nader Fathi is a serial entrepreneur and veteran of the Big Data and IoT industry. He was CEO of SigmaQuest, a Big Data for Supply Chain solution, which he co-founded in 2002. Nader mentors and advises startups as the Executivein- Residence (EIR) at the University of Southern California Stevens Institute for Innovations and the Plug and Play Tech Center in Silicon Valley. He is currently on the advisory board of Glassbeam, Machine-to-Machine analytics.
Nader has coached Big Data companies in various vertical markets including sports, retail, finance, health/fitness, and environmental analytics. Previously, Nader held executive positions at IntraStage, IKOS, Cadence, and Daisy systems. He started his career as a software and chip designer at Xerox Microelectronics. Nader holds a bachelor and masters in electrical engineering from the University of Southern California and completed his coursework toward a Ph.D.
Clientele Assessments 
What we like is Kiana’s software-only solution that uses existing infrastructure to capture data from disparate systems, and brings it to a central location to identify desirables and undesirables. In the case of an Active shooter in workplace, it can send a mass notification to the device to tell staff what to do or what is going on. This can save lives” – Head of worldwide security for a global corporation “We have only scratched the surface of what we can do with our visitor analytics the Kiana system allows us to capture. We are achieving a very fast ROI from it.” – CIO of Large Amusement Park