Broadtail, Co. Ltd.

Since Takuo Kihira found his software development business, Swift Inc., during his college years, he lead a number of software research/development projects for Japanese client companies, including IBM Tokyo Research Laboratory and other large firms in IT industry. Takuo's technical skill is regarded as one of the top-notch engineers in Japan, especially for his expertise in script language programming and rich-client technologies as well as for his architect skill for designing large-scale server side applications. He directs Broadtail's core technology as a playing manager by leading the company's research & development team and by exercising his programming skills for constructing service systems.

After co-founding and participating in Swift as a programmer in his undergraduate years, Shinya Kasuga pursued and received M.S. in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) at University of Michigan - Ann Arbor in 2005. His professional and academic activities, including full-time research on service informatics at IBM Tokyo Research Laboratory, have been consistently focused on applying and exploiting innovative information technologies to create business/service values. In Broadtail, Shinya bridges the company's core technology and business strategy by directing marketing, technical sales and product planning from the viewpoint of HCI and Management of Technology (MOT).

Fumiya Chiba participated in Swift as a programmer in his undergraduate years, subsequently pursued and received M.S. degree in Earth and Planetary Science at University of Tokyo, utilizing scientific/high-performance computing in his research. After his graduation, he exercised his expertise at Nomura Research Institute as a leading developer and quality manager to develop large-scale software for financial institutions. In broadtail, he leads building software and system infrastructure that provides reliable and high-performing web services as well as designing team-development processes which allow the technology team to design and develop high quality software.

Being a student in University, Hokuto began studying programming for Web applications, and started fiduciary development as a freelancer. He worked not only as an engineer but also brushed his business skill. As a matter of the fact, he gained prize at Business Plan Contest in Kyoto during his student years. After graduated from University, in addition to the fiduciary development, Hokuto started to serve as a Consulting Project Management and Project Proposals for system development. In Broadtail, he takes charge on functional development of applications, system designs, and technical communication with clients.