Milestones in my Life (continued)
In December 1989, the communist regime fell and in April 1990, after 18 successful years with the Plant Protection Research Institute I left to start my own company. Thus Lixco became an official registered private company (Lixco SRL). The aim of the company was to design and manufacture data communication systems, electronic equipment and software.Also in April 1990, I visited Austria for the first time; I realised then the big gap between the existing technology in Romania and the Western technology. I went home and tried to go ahead with Lixco, but because of the limited technical possibilities offered, I finally decided to move to Austria. In June 1990 I came to Salzburg with my family and in August 1990 I was granted a working permit. My first employer in Austria was a software development company, “Computer and Software Engineering GmbH” (CSE) in Salzburg.
I worked for CSE between August 1990 and August 1992, specialising in networking (TCP/IP) and database software (client/server architecture) running under the Unix operating system. I took part in important projects undertaken by CSE: the "Maut" (Toll), "Messe" (Fair) and Parking Systems which were installed throughout Austria, as well as in Germany.
In August 1992 I left CSE, moved to Vienna and co-founded Adcon Telemetry GmbH, a company specialising in telemetry systems. The company acquired also most of the former Lixco SRL in Bucharest, which changed its name to Adcon Telemetry SRL.
Although a young company, Adcon has succeeded in a short time to become a known name in Austria and throughout the world due to its disease forecasting system for agriculture called AgroExpert, which brings significant contributions to the reduction of chemicals and pollution. In fact, I had the possibility to continue my former work in Romania in a new context by having full access to the latest technologies and electronic components available in the developed world. At Adcon I was responsible with the design and implementation of several families of telemetry equipment: the A730, A720 and A840 series, as well as the software development of the AgroExpert and later addVANTAGE SCADA software. About 30'000 telemetry points have been sold all around the world between 1993 and 2003 to such far places as Australia, USA and South America.
In 1995 I and my family were granted the Austrian citizenship.
Between 1992 and 1999 Adcon expanded dramatically with new offices in Germany, France and USA. In 1994 I was named Chief Technical Officer for the Austrian office. In 1999 Adcon was transformed to a public company (Aktiengesellschaft) and listed on the Frankfurter Neuer Markt (today TechDAX). I was named CTO for the Applications Division, responsible for telemetry equipment and software. Two acquisitions followed (in France and Netherlands) that contributed to the further growth of the company.
Unfortunately due to what I believe was a lack of focus, as well as a series of management changes in short intervals led to a gradual worsening of the company's financial situation. The company reacted too slow to the economic downturn starting in 2000. The instability in strategy became frustrating and as I recognised that a gap developed between me and the ever-changing management, in June 2003 Adcon and I decided to part ways. In September 2003 Adcon Telemetry AG filled for bankruptcy; it was shortly afterwards reborn under a new management as a much smaller, but apparently more successful Adcon Telemetry GmbH.
After several months of doing really nothing—which I greatly enjoyed after so many years of almost permanent work and negligible holidays, I started working on a new project involving M2M (Machine to Machine communications). Meanwhile I acquired the assets of the Romanian Adcon and together with two Romanian colleagues started Adcon Telemetry Group SRL in Bucharest.
End of 2004 together with two ex-Adcon Telemetry AG colleagues I co-founded Metrilog Data Services GmbH, where I acted as its CTO. I was responsible for the design and implementation of the GPRS based RTUs’ hardware and software, as well as the design, implementation and operation of the M2M Gateway, which provides the highly reliable M2M services offered by Metrilog. Meanwhile, by the end of 2005 Adcon Telemetry Group SRL has been acquired by Metrilog Data Services becoming Metrilog Systems SRL.
In June 2011 I left Metrilog as a permanent employee taking only a limited time freelance consulting position with the company. In December 2011 I joined the company ing. E. Steiner GmbH and was assigned as senior software developer at ARRI Cine & Video GmbH to develop state of the art LED-based lighting systems. In February 2013 I moved from ing E. Steiner to ARRI Cine & Video with permanent employee status. I was involved in several projects encompassing embedded software development for LED lighting systems, motor controllers, GUI development as well as RF hardware and software development for IEEE 802.15.4 radio modules operating in the 2,4 GHz band.
In 2017 I was contracted by Metrilog to develop a new LTE based RTU to replace the existing devices. Between November 2017 and May 2019 I was employed by both ARRI and Metrilog, on a time-sharing schedule (3 days/week ARRI and 2 days/week Metrilog). In May 2019 I left ARRI to concentrate on the Metrilog project. However, I will remember the 7+ years spent at ARRI as the most professionally rewarding. It is the best company I ever worked for.
Since 1st of February 2021 I am officially retired, however I am still part-time employed by Metrilog where I design IoT devices.
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