A legacy of industrial technology excellence: UTSI International turns 40

Cheers to 40 Years

Photo by Adi Goldstein on Unsplash

As UTSI International celebrates its 40th anniversary, president and CEO Shaun Six reflects on the company's history, achievements, and exciting future.

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In March 1985, Dan Nagala and a few friends took a risk, leaving their full-time jobs to pursue their passion and start their own company.

They founded UTSI International amidst groundbreaking advancements in Industrial Control Systems and SCADA technology, revolutionizing remote operations for critical infrastructure. From the start, UTSI has been at the forefront of OT innovation and integration — a legacy we proudly carry forward today.

The legacy of Dan Nagala

Dan Nagala’s 50-plus-year career is too vast to cover every accomplishment, but if you’ve ever heard the phrase “Houston, we have a problem” in a movie, those screens in the control room and the logic causing the “blinky lights” to alert the operators, you’ve seen some of his work. Dan and his team ultimately paved the way for field communications to detect and communicate leaks on pipelines and give operators in remote locations situational awareness, expanding their ability to safely monitor and control their operations.

This capability was requested early on in the first pipeline control rooms, leading to UTSI’s first check-in 1985 (which I proudly have framed on my bookshelf). The protocols to communicate and do advanced calculations — which many would be tempted to call AI today — for the purpose of monitoring and control, was created from this group of enthusiasts who open sourced it and allowed it to proliferate, leading to over 80 percent of all critical infrastructure in the world now utilizing a variant thereof.

Given the novelty of the technology and the experience of UTSI, having implemented control systems and automation for pipelines in over 22 countries, Dan was asked to collaborate with industry experts, creating the first API leak detection and control room management standards for the American Petroleum Institute. These would later become regulation under PHMSA, DoT, and TSA, placing UTSI as the go-to experts in compliance in addition to their traditional expertise.

UTSI has delivered for the world’s largest infrastructure owners in multiple critical infrastructure sectors, like mining, water/wastewater, oil and gas, green energy, transportation authorities, etc. We have also done AI and cybersecurity, in addition to SCADA and ICS work for the DoD and DoE.

Strength in partners

I joined UTSI in 2022 as vice president, working under Dan, with the goal of gradually stepping into leadership. In 2023, I became CEO, president, and majority shareholder. While no one can truly fill Dan’s shoes alone, we’ve focused on strengthening our team, partnerships, and capabilities to continue UTSI’s legacy of excellence.

One of our first strategic partnerships was with Tory Tech, a leading API-compliant Control Room Management tool. UTSI has worked as integrators with Tory Tech for years and Dan worked as a CRM compliance advisor for them in the U.S. while they were setting up their headquarters in Houston. In 2024 we made it an official partnership, becoming a preferred integrator and focusing our team on training and development in the MaCRoM (Master Control Room Management) tool.

We've also made significant investments in our OT cybersecurity capabilities, expanding our team and partnering with industry leaders like Dennis Parker, Derrik Oates, Nozomi Networks, Fortinet, and Schneider Electric. These strategic moves ensure we deliver top-tier expertise, products, and solutions to better serve our customers.

Our partnership with ThreatGEN and the utilization of their AI-driven “AutoTableTop” tool not only utilizes our experience with TSA guidelines, but adds an element of reality that the traditional methods are lacking, making these engagements more interactive and beneficial for operators who are required to participate annually.

In 2024, UTSI also invested heavily in AI and Data Science by acquiring Houston-based AI company Pandata Tech and leveraging their Data-Quality-Methodology (DQM), Leak Geek, and time-series data science expertise to solve industry specific problems.

Moving up – in and around Houston

Building on our recent successes, we strategically relocated our office to the Netrality building (1301 Fannin St.), bringing us closer to clients and partners, while getting access to a Tier 3 Data Center with an uninterrupted 40-year power record.

Netrality is a SOC2-compliant facility with seven points of detection from the street to our server, including biometric screening. Our very own Roberto deLeon has architected our upgraded servers using the Purdue model as a basis of design while leveraging our relationship with Fortinet to standardize our hardware and software to the highest standards. We practice what we preach — every architecture, framework, and hardware recommendation we make is not just advised but actively implemented within our own operations.

Our investment in this space includes increasing our “SCADA R&D Lab” to play with toys from vendors, testing them out in our environment before we recommend and advise them to our clients and partners. Currently we’re working on LLMs for OT, building our own “DANN2.0” for use in-house. DANN is an homage to Dan Nagala (and, for the nerds, stands for Dan Artificial Neural Network), which we started in 2022 when I realized that knowledge capture is an industry wide epidemic and we need to be ready to integrate for our clients in a safe and local way at scale, in the OT environment.

Additionally, having come from a startup before joining UTSI, I wanted to get us closer to the heart of innovation, so we’ve added additional office space at The Cannon downtown. While there are many tech hubs around Houston, and we are proud to work with and partner with companies from Greentown Labs and the Ion, to name a few, we’ve found that The Cannon community is incredibly active and innovative, with experience in industrial use-cases.

Houston is set to become the Energy Transition capital, leading in hydrogen, carbon capture, and repurposing. With a 5:1 ratio of engineers leaving the industry and an average age over 60, we must innovate. The solution lies in combining a secure, cloud-free "ChatGPT for OT" with digital twins. Bringing the field to engineers is essential. We've partnered with a satellite constellation for asset imaging and U.K.-based Mods Solutions to leverage their CFIHOS-driven platform for intelligent digital twins — more on that partnership soon!

And we will need to leverage enhanced automation tools and actively monitor control networks to ensure security and respond quickly to issues, which is why we’ve partnered with Nozomi Networks.

Shaping the future

Although Dan has semi-retired to his cabin in Montana, he continues to do “the fun stuff” that brings him joy, such as conducting research for PRCI and assisting long-time clients. He also has been a mentor and advisor to me since I started at UTSI three years ago. I’m grateful for him and the group of industry experts he gathered around him to make UTSI such a well-known systems integrator and OT advisor for the world’s largest asset owners.

Our group of experts are active in the industry and will be speaking at events throughout the year, with a presence at Entellec, Level Zero, and participating at this year's API Cybernetics and PSIGs biannual conferences. We proudly serve on the BCarbon advisory board and GHPs Energy Committee.

Lastly, we have one request: We see a critical need for H2 and supercritical CO2 studies to develop simulation models, response plans, and leak detection best practices. These gases differ from those covered in existing standards. If you know anyone interested in funding or contributing, we’re collaborating with industry partners to secure support.

The trial, known as ADO2, will utilize OmniScience's recently developed product, Vivo, which uses generative AI to centralize and analyze clinical trial data in real time. Photo omniscience.bio

Houston AI data firm partners on Alzheimer’s clinical trial

now testing

Houston data science firm OmniScience announced this month that it has partnered with Florida-based INmune Bio (NASDAQ: INMB) on a global Phase 2 Alzheimer’s disease clinical trial.

The trial, known as ADO2, will utilize OmniScience's recently developed product, Vivo, which uses generative AI to centralize and analyze clinical trial data in real time, according to a release. The two companies also partnered during Vivo’s development and recent roll-out.

"OmniScience and INmune Bio share a vision to transform how clinical trial teams engage with data – transforming data into knowledge in real time and informing decisions that increase the probability of success,” Angela Holmes, CEO of OmniScience, says in a statement. “As our partnership moves forward, we’re gaining further insights from the INmune team that we can integrate into Vivo’s roadmap. We look forward to our continued mutual success.”

The ADO2 trial will investigate INmune Bio's clinical-stage biotechnology XPro in patients with mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer’s disease with brain inflammation, according to its website. Its products are focused on "restoring function in the body's innate immune system to fight disease."

The trial is overenrolled with 208 patients diagnosed with mild Alzheimer’s disease or mild cognitive impairment. The top-line results are expected to be released in Q2 2025.

"A global trial of this size is vast, and Vivo will be critical in our ability to analyze cognitive results,” Tara Lehner, INmune Bio’s vice president of clinical operations, says in the statement. “With genAI provided by Vivo, we can amplify our clinical teams’ capabilities, turning complex data into actionable insights at unprecedented speed, which means we can get answers—and treatments—to patients faster.”

INmune will be able to use OmniScience's Vivo product to unify data from electronic data capture, clinical trial management systems, patient-reported outcomes, clinical outcome assessments, labs, wearables, safety databases and more, according to the statement. The product has been shown to improve data quality and visualizations and reduce the reliance on spreadsheet-based data analysis during clinical trials.

Omniscience was originally founded in 2017, then known as Mercury Data Science. It rebranded and changed its name earlier this year. Holmes was named CEO in 2022.

Omniscience's Vivo product recently won first place in the CNS Summit 2024 Innovation Showcase in Boston and the Blue Whale Ribbon at the inaugural Whale Tank pitch competition during the 2024 Innovation Network Gathering (ING) in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

MD Anderson’s goal with the new Institute for Data Science in Oncology is to advance collaborative projects that will bring the power of data science to every decision made at the hospital. Photo via mdanderson.org

Houston organization introduces inaugural cancer-fighting cohort of data sciences, experts

new to hou

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center is one step closer to ending cancer thanks to its new institute that's focused on data science.

MD Anderson’s goal with the new Institute for Data Science in Oncology (IDSO) is to advance collaborative projects that will bring the power of data science to every decision made at the hospital. And now, the IDSO has announced its inaugural cohort of 33 scientists, clinicians, and staff that will bring it to life, joining the already appointed leadership and focus area co-leads.

“By engaging diverse expertise across all of our mission areas, we will enhance the rich and productive data science ecosystem at MD Anderson to deliver transformational impact for patients,” David Jaffray, Ph.D., director of IDSO and chief technology and digital officer at MD Anderson, says in a press release.

The focus areas for the IDSO are quantitative pathology and medical imaging; single-cell analytics; computational modeling for precision medicine; decision analytics for health; and safety, quality, and access.

The IDSO Affiliates, as they are known, are a mix of existing contributors to the IDSO and team members who were recruited specifically for their expertise in data science. The affiliates were chosen to fulfill a two-year term, during which they will focus on IDSO projects related to the focus areas above. The diverse roster of professionals includes:

“Our affiliates bring expertise, perspectives and commitment from across the institution to foster impactful data science in order to tackle the most urgent needs of our patients and their families,” said Caroline Chung, M.D., director of Data Science Development and Implementation for IDSO and chief data officer at MD Anderson. “People and community are at the heart of our efforts, and establishing the IDSO Affiliates is an exciting step in growing the most impactful ecosystem for data science in the world.”

Aziz Gilani, managing director at Mercury, joins the Houston Innovators Podcast. Photo via LinkedIn

Houston investor on SaaS investing and cracking product-market fit

Houston innovators podcast episode 230

Aziz Gilani's career in tech dates back to when he'd ride his bike from Clear Lake High School to a local tech organization that was digitizing manuals from mission control. After years working on every side of the equation of software technology, he's in the driver's seat at a local venture capital firm deploying funding into innovative software businesses.

As managing director at Mercury, the firm he's been at since 2008, Gilani looks for promising startups within the software-as-a-service space — everything from cloud computing and data science and beyond.

"Once a year at Mercury, we sit down with our partners and talk about the next investment cycle and the focuses we have for what makes companies stand out," Gilani says on the Houston Innovators Podcast. "The current software investment cycle is very focused on companies that have truly achieved product-market fit and are showing large customer adoption."



An example of this type of company is Houston-based RepeatMD, which raised a $50 million series A round last November. Mercury's Fund V, which closed at an oversubscribed $160 million, contributed to RepeatMD's round.

"While looking at that investment, it really made me re-calibrate a lot of my thoughts in terms what product-market fit meant," Gilani says. "At RepeatMD, we had customers that were so eager for the service that they were literally buying into products while we were still making them."

Gilani says he's focused on finding more of these high-growth companies to add to Mercury's portfolio amidst what, admittedly, has been a tough time for venture capital. But 2024 has been looking better for those fundraising.

"We've some potential for improvement," Gilani says. "But overall, the environment is constrained, interest rates haven't budged, and we've seen some potential for IPO activity."

Gilani shares more insight into his investment thesis, what areas of tech he's been focused on recently, and how Houston has developed as an ecosystem on the podcast.

Blue People has named Luis Arregoces as the company’s first chief artificial intelligence officer. Photo courtesy of Blue People

Houston software shop bets on AI with new C-suite member

eyes on AI

A Houston-based software company has named its first chief artificial intelligence officer.

Blue People has named Luis Arregoces as the company’s CAIO. With 20 years of experience, Arregoces has led AI projects for global Fortune 100 companies in various industries.

He has a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of New Mexico and is an adjunct professor in Statistics and Data Science at the University of Houston. He previously led the Applied Intelligence and Data Science at Accenture's Innovation Hub.

“We are beyond excited to have Luis on board,” Alfredo Arvide, chief innovation officer of Blue People, says in a news release. “His leadership and vision will allow Blue People to help clients and C-level executives develop AI roadmaps and solutions for real-time analytics, secure data sharing, and technology-agnostic ecosystems that will shape the future of innovation across all industries in Houston and throughout the region.”

Blue People has offices in Houston, Austin, Texas, and Monterrey, México. Blue People was named People’s Choice: Startup of the Year at the 2023 Houston Innovation Awards. The company also recently participated in CodeLaunch Houston, where its startup partner won the judges' pick in the competition.

“I am honored to join Blue People and be a part of this historic moment,” Arregoces says in a news release. ”Together, we have the opportunity to shape the future of AI in Houston and beyond. AI’s versatility and transformative potential make it indispensable across all industries to drive innovations, efficiency, and competitiveness.”

A Rice University student decided to use his data science skills for good. Photo courtesy of Biokind Analytics

Houston student launches data science nonprofit to support the health care industry

analytics for good

For Alex Han, it all started with peanut butter.

Han was a high school student in Korea when he learned that the spread is a pure odorant that could be used to test smell in each hemisphere of the brain—issues on the left side was thought to be a predictor for Alzheimer’s disease. He later learned that the method wasn’t as airtight as previously thought, but Han was hooked. Alzheimer’s research became the teenager’s passion. While still in high school, Han began volunteering for Alzheimer’s Los Angeles, translating their brochures into Korean.

When it came time to choose a college, Han says Rice University appealed to him for many reasons.

“I loved the atmosphere. I loved the campus—it’s so beautiful. The diverse food, the people, I even liked the highway,” he says of Houston. “In Korea, everything is so close and compact. I loved the whole scenario of the city.”

A scholarship was also part of the appeal, as well as the pull of the world’s largest medical center. Han’s instincts were correct. Now, a junior at Rice, he has been working at renowned geneticist Huda Zoghbi’s Baylor College of Medicine lab for almost two years.

But dividing his obligations between full-time studies and his wet lab position wasn’t enough to keep Han’s active mind occupied. Last May, the statistics and biochemistry student began another endeavor that uses both his specialties. It was then that he founded Biokind Analytics. The nonprofit was designed to explore how data science can support health care nonprofits.

Han reached out to Alzheimer’s Los Angeles to offer his data analysis services on a volunteer basis and was shocked that the association had never considered it before.

“I was really surprised—even small stores and restaurants use statistics to boost their profits. [Alzheimer’s Los Angeles] receive a couple million dollars every year in donations. They have data stores but hadn’t really capitalized yet in the area of analytics.”

Han, along with a small team of Rice students, including vice president Zac Andrews and development director Masha Zaitsev, made Alzheimer’s Los Angeles a pet project, analyzing geospatial trends in its donorship and interpreting the past year’s donation trends. “We wanted to see if the demand was the same in Houston. We found that this pattern was consistent. A lot of nonprofits are willing to have us analyze the data sets they’ve already been tracking and provide data analysis for healthcare nonprofits.”

Less than a year after Han established Biokind Analytics, the 501(c)(3) already has seven chapters on college campuses around the country. From UC Davis and San Diego in the West to Brown University and the University of Virginia on the East Coast, the data science students have helped a diverse range of medical nonprofits, mostly based in the Houston area. They run the gamut from ALS Association of Texas to Nora’s Home, which serves organ failure and transplant patients.

Biokind Analytics has now completed seven projects and analyzed $100 million in funds. Each student group includes four to six members, mostly majors in the worlds of statistics, data science, and biochemistry, all working with the help of faculty advisors. At a total of about 35 students nationwide, Han says that he’s dedicated to growing at a steady pace to avoid potentially expanding too fast, too soon.

Another question for the future is what will happen to Biokind Analytics when Han completes his undergraduate studies in 2024. He plans to continue his medical studies with the goal of one day becoming a physician specializing in Alzheimer’s who uses data analytics to aid in patient care. But no matter how active Han continues to be in the nonprofit he started, his stated attachment to the cause and a growing group of both student leaders and healthcare associations eager for their services are sure to keep Biokind Analytics active long after graduation.

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Telsa targets Houston area for new $10 billion manufacturing plant

Project Sun City

Electric vehicle and clean energy company Tesla is considering building a new $10.1 billion solar cell manufacturing facility in Fort Bend County, according to documents filed with the Texas Comptroller’s Office.

If approved, the plant, called Project Sun City, would be located on a 3,050-acre site off FM 762 and FM 1994 in Richmond, Texas. Tesla aims to finish construction in 2028, with the plant being operational by early 2029.

The plant will manufacture photovoltaic (PV) solar cells and modules that can convert sunlight into electricity. PV Magazine reports that the facility is "the largest single manufacturing investment Tesla has proposed on paper."

Advisory and consulting firm Kroll submitted the documents to the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts and noted if an agreement regarding tax incentives isn't reached, the project will exit Texas.

Tesla has requested credits under the Jobs, Energy, Technology, and Innovation (JETI) Act. The incentive program aims to attract large, capital-intensive economic development projects by lowering the property taxes an entity must pay over 10 years if it meets requirements related to job creation and investment. For example, pharmaceutical giant Bristol Myers Squibb Co. recently announced that its forthcoming $2.3 billion Houston-area manufacturing site is a qualified project under the JETI program.

Kroll predicts that the facility would create 9,712 new full-time jobs, over 1,100 construction jobs and billions of dollars in future property tax revenue, the documents show. Additionally, it says the project will spur $1.1 billion in local business expenditures and that Texas would increase its GDP by approximately $107 billion as a result of the project activities.

Tesla opened its $200 million Megafactory in Brookshire, Texas, last year. The company is continuing its goal to deploy 100 gigawatts of solar manufacturing in the U.S before the end of 2028. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, 100 gigawatts is equal to about 8 percent of the country's power grid capacity.

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This article originally appeared on EnergyCapitalHTX.com.

Tech giant Apple opens Advanced Manufacturing Center at massive Houston facility

up and running

Cupertino, California-based Apple Inc. unveiled its Advanced Manufacturing Center in the Houston area last week, marking the completion of the second of three facilities the tech giant plans to launch in the city by the end of this year.

The 20,000-square-foot training center will welcome small- and medium-sized businesses for free training and educational sessions to "help accelerate smart manufacturing across America," according to a release from Apple. Apple opened a similar Apple Manufacturing Academy in Detroit last year.

The AMC is part of Apple's 500,000-square-foot site in northwest Harris County. It also features a massive manufacturing site for Apple’s advanced AI servers and Mac mini. The facility was originally slated to open in 2026, but Apple began producing its advanced AI servers ahead of schedule in 2025.

The company said it plans to begin manufacturing its Mac mini at the site this year. The move will bring production of the compact desktop computer to the U.S. for the first time.

“In less than nine months, we have invested hundreds of millions of dollars into this Houston facility. We stood up a factory, started production, and shipped the first advanced AI servers off the line. Today, we’re thrilled to open our new Advanced Manufacturing Center, a place where businesses, workers, and students can learn the same innovative processes that we use to make Apple’s most groundbreaking products. And we’re pleased to begin Mac mini production later this year,” Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, said in the news release. “We believe in American workers and American ingenuity, and we are moving at an incredible pace because we want to build more than great products. We want to build the future of American manufacturing.”

Apple's Advanced Manufacturing Center. Photos courtesy Apple

Apple's Houston expansion is part of a $600 billion commitment the company made to the U.S. in 2025.

The company originally announced plans in February 2025 to open a 250,000-square-foot Houston factory, but doubled the facility's planned size about a year later. Apple has reported that the factory will employ thousands of workers.

“Houston is grateful to Apple for this significant investment in our city. The Advanced Manufacturing Center will create local jobs and will continue improving the quality of life of Houston residents," Houston Mayor John Whitmire added in the release. "The AMC also recognizes our city as a growing technology hub and solidifies Houston’s leadership in the manufacturing sector of the United States.”

The opening comes on the heels of New Jersey-based pharmaceutical giant Bristol Myers Squibb Co. officially naming Houston home of its new $2.3 billion, state-of-the-art manufacturing site. Read more here.

Nominations for the 2026 Houston Innovation Awards are due by Aug. 27

Calling All Innovators

Calling all Houston innovators: The 2026 Houston Innovation Awards, presented by InnovationMap, return this fall to celebrate the best and brightest in the Houston innovation ecosystem right now.

We're asking you to nominate Houston's top innovators and startups for this year's awards. Nominations are open now through August 27 and can be made on behalf of yourself, your organization, and other influential leaders in the local innovation scene.

The annual awards program recognizes the most innovative individuals and companies in Houston across 10 prestigious categories.

This year's awards will honor the following categories:

  • Minority-founded Business, honoring an innovative startup founded or co-founded by BIPOC or LGBTQ+ representation.
  • Female-founded Business, honoring an innovative startup founded or co-founded by a woman.
  • Energy Transition Business, honoring an innovative startup providing a solution within renewables, climatetech, clean energy, alternative materials, circular economy, and beyond.
  • Health Tech Business, honoring an innovative startup within the health and medical technology sectors.
  • Deep Tech Business, honoring an innovative startup providing technology solutions based on substantial scientific or engineering challenges, including those in the AI, robotics, and space sectors.
  • Startup of the Year (People's Choice), honoring a startup celebrating a recent milestone or success. The winner will be selected by the community via an interactive voting experience.
  • Scaleup of the Year, honoring an innovative later-stage startup that's recently reached a significant milestone in company growth.
  • Incubator/Accelerator of the Year, honoring a local incubator or accelerator that is championing and fueling the growth of Houston startups.
  • Mentor of the Year, honoring an individual who dedicates their time and expertise to guide and support budding entrepreneurs.
  • Trailblazer, honoring an innovator who's made a lasting impact on the Houston innovation community.

You have three weeks to submit nominees, so don't delay — nominate today at this link or fill out the form below. Qualified nominees will receive a formal application to complete, which will be reviewed by our esteemed panel of judges to determine the finalists and winners.

More announcements about the 2026 Houston Innovation Awards are coming soon, including an introduction to this year's panel of judges. Interested in sponsoring the 2026 Houston Innovation Awards? Please contact sales@innovationmap.com.

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