Growth Solutions: Sonita Lontoh '06

8/5/2015 - Editor's note: In this series, the Kellogg School spotlights members of the Kellogg community who have stimulated growth in their teams, organizations and markets.

The Internet of Things — that notion that embedded electronics, sensors and software will allow objects to connect and communicate with one another and create new applications and business models — is coming. And that’s great news for Sonita Lontoh '06, global head of marketing for Trilliant.

The Redwood City, California-based Trilliant is pioneering this heightened level of “smart” connectivity through its Trilliant Smart Communications Platform, a multi-purpose communications platform that links energy providers and cities with their customer and citizen base, essentially creating a fully-monitored “smart network.”

With projects in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America — and more on the way — Trilliant is poised to reap even heftier returns as more utilities and cities look to upgrade their infrastructures to meet the modern challenges of the 21st century.

“Our electric grid is about 100 years old and it hasn’t been modernized,” says Lontoh. “Neil Armstrong once said that it was one of the greatest engineering achievements of the 20th century. But getting into the 21st century, there are a lot of challenges that we, as a society, face.”

A well-recognized expert in the Internet of Things (IoT) space, Lontoh sat down with Kellogg during a recent visit to Facebook’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California. There, she talked about the growing development of smart grids, smart cities and IoT, and the challenges of modernizing the current infrastructure and being one of the first to set standards in a new technology space.

Growth in the smart-grid market: Sonita Lontoh '06

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The Internet of Things is coming: Sonita Lontoh '06

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The growing pains of a new market: Sonita Lontoh '06

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Growing your business: Sonita Lontoh '06

Read more in the Growth Solutions series:

• Minerva Capital Founder and CEO Jocelyn Cortez-Young '07 on growing businesses in Latin America
• Intersect ENT President and CEO Lisa Earnhardt '96 on growing med tech companies
• Madison Industries' CEO Larry Gies '92 on growing organizations