Company Background

We are aiding US companies to connect to the Japanese market. IP Devices, Inc. (IPD) was founded in 1998 by two former NEC executives to provide Internet security solutions by embedding firewall and VPN in routers and switches in the heart of Silicon Valley. With technical knowledge in Internet security and networking, in addition to experiences in business dealings, IPD also provided professional services in the Internet security area.

In 2000, IPD turned its focus to consulting, and since then, it has provided technical marketing, market research, and business development, as well as supported fund raising efforts for start-ups. Highly complex technologies pose great challenges for the companies that developed and market them. Clear and precise understanding of technologies is critical to facilitate communicating their value proposition to the market, differentiate them from the competition, and identify alliances to leverage their positions in the market segment they serve. This is where IPD contributes to the success of clients.

With its unique combination of strong technical and business expertise in a wide range of areas, such as networking, Internet security, distributed object technology, Java security, and open-source, IPD is uniquely positioned to provide a connection between cutting-edge technologies and the business built on them. The customer list includes large U.S. and Japanese corporations, Japanese government agencies, and early- stage start-ups both in the U.S. and Japan.

Zen Kishimoto, Principal

Hisroshi Segawa, Executive Consultant

Tsukasa Takehara, Advisor

Zen Kishimoto, Principal

Zen Kishimoto, who is based in Silicon Valley and who has a long history of managing business relationships between US and Japan, is in charge of the Japanese market. Zen is a skilled professional with over 25 years of business, marketing and technology experiences in the computer industry. His expertise encompasses networking, Internet security, distributed object technology, user interface, Java security, open-source, and software design and validation.

He has played a broad range of roles from engineering to marketing, from research to business at both start-ups, such as IP Devices, Internet Appliances and Intellimotion Systems, and major corporations, such as GTE, Hewlett Packard, and NEC. His capacity has broadened as he assumed more responsibilities as senior researcher, senior engineer, technical manager, functional GM and director, founder and CEO, CTO/COO, and consultant.

His understanding and experience both in engineering and business allow him to bridge technologies and market, and his business and technical leadership at major corporations and hands-on experiences in start-ups enable him to work effectively without boundary.

In addition, he has brought valuable expertise to his services as a liaison between two cultures, U.S. and Japan. He was born and raised in Japan, studied both in Japan and in the the U.S., and worked for U.S. companies and a U.S. subsidiary of NEC. With working knowledge of business practices and approaches as well as a web of business contacts in both countries, he is uniquely situated to connect business and technology of the U.S. and Japan.

Zen holds a BE in Electrical Engineering from Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan, a M.S.E.C.E. in Computer Engineering from University of Massachusetts, and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Northwestern University.

Also, look him up at Linkedin..

Hiroshi Segawa, Executive Consultant

Hiroshi Segawa is based in Tokyo, Japan and has more than 25 year experiences in the IT industry. During 80's and 90's, he dedicated himself to hands-on development, system engineering, marketing, sales assignments, and later he held senior management positions at ranging from computer vendors and system integrators to computer hardware/software sales companies in Japan. Those companies include NEC, NTT groups, 3Com, and Assist (who is an expert in distribution of software products for vendors.)

Since 2000, he has been involved in helping US based IT companies to enter the Japanese market and start up their operations in Japan. Those companies include ArrowPoint Communications, Cisco Systems, Bytemobile, and IPTV/Mobile TV middleware company. He was in charge of Content Networking Division at Cisco Japan and President/GM at Byetemobile.

His expertise lies in wired and wireless networking fields. More specifically, they are wireless space, including network infrastructure, contents distribution, optimization of multi-media communication and contents service, and broadband network, including infrastructure and system operations.

Tsukasa Takehara, Advisor

Tsukasa is based in Tokyo and is an established businessman with a vision and a strong technical background. He founded two successful companies to date and served as President of an IT industry consortium and has a web of contacts in many fields in addition to the IT industry.

Tsukasa started his professional career with Toshiba as an SE for its management system for dams and information system for rivers. In 1983, he founded and created Design Automation, Inc. (currenty Design Creation, Inc.), PC based CAD software provider, and served as President and CEO. Within 3 years, with its CADPAC product-line, Design Automation became the top provider in the field of CAD software in Japan.

Furthermore, in 1993, he was appointed as vice president of Japan Personal Computer Software Association (currently Computer Software Association of Japan), which is a consortium of all the software and hardware IT companies, including NEC, Fujitsu and Hitachi, and one of the three major IT organizations in Japan. Later in 1996, he was appointed as President of the Association and served two terms, four years. During his tenure at the association, one of his accomplishments was that he created a certification examination for CAD. This examination has grown to be the biggest examination in the area of CAD, attracting over 50,000 people. Later in 2000, he founded Knowledge Automation K.K.(KA), which provides a set of systems to allow information sharing over the Internet and became President and CEO. KA received funding from major IT companies and VCs, developed contents management software, and is marketing it. Currently, KA has over 300 major companies as its customers.

Additionally, Tsukasa runs 5 group companies, including Chinese SE outsourcing company. In total, he has 6 offices in Japan ad 5 overseas offices. To date, the maximum revenue hit $30M and the number of all the employees exceeds 240.

He has BE and MS in Electrical Engineering from Kyoto University.