Corporate Dossier: Rajiv Uppal, Chief executive officer, Nextlinx

Dutt, Ela
India Abroad
09-15-2000
Corporate Dossier: Rajiv Uppal, chief executive officer, Nextlinx

NextLinx Corporation, an innovative Internet company that focuses on
international trade logistics, has sealed a deal with Honeywell, a global
leader in home and building appliances.

Rajiv Uppal, the dynamic chief executive officer (CEO), president and
chairman of the NextLinx board, was instrumental in clinching the deal.

"We evaluated a variety of options and discovered that NextLinx was the
company that could offer Honeywell H&BC (home and building control
division) a comprehensive solution for conforming with NAFTA (North
American Free Trade Agreement) 2001 requirements," said Betty Hillstrom of
Honeywell.

"NextLinx's reputation, combined with the active involvement of their CEO,
Rajiv Uppal, sealed the deal for us. We are confident we will have the
tools we need to beat the deadline for the new NAFTA regulations,"
Hillstrom added.

The Silver Spring, Maryland-based NextLinx's global trade logistics is the
industry's first fully integrated application suite for managing the
process of importing and exporting, and managing trade agreements and
logistics. Its latest "trade agreement management" (TAM) product manages
the critical regulatory changes resulting from the NAFTA 2001 requirements.
Honeywell H&BC is the first to purchase NextLinx's TAM product that is
fully integrated into its global trade logistics suite of applications.

Such applications allow companies to manage the logistics involved in
import and export processes, and dynamically split, consolidate and divert
shipments based on changing customer needs. It also automatically creates
corresponding Customs entries.

While all this may sound as verging on the esoteric, for Uppal it is a
niche which few have covered so thoroughly. He founded NextLinx (formerly
ExpoSoft) in 1994, and is credited with having a complete understanding of
global trade regulations and technology, and envisions delivering trade
compliance software.

While studying for a master's degree in science at the University of
Maryland's School of Engineering, Uppal led the development of 12 trade
automation products, including the electronic license and information
network (ELAIN), which is used for the submission of export license
requests to the Department of Commerce.

More than 300 companies use these systems worldwide, with more than 120
being Fortune 500 organizations. He also holds a bachelor's degree in
mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology.

"NextLinx's dedication to keeping on top of the latest import, export and
trade agreement changes continues with the new NAFTA regulations," said
Mary Lou Fox, chief operating officer of NextLinx.

"Come November - when everyone will be talking about the new NAFTA rules -
our customers will be implementing them."

In an interview with Forbes earlier this month, Uppal revealed that he had
envisioned this business back in 1994, but software designer OCR, where he
worked as a programmer then, was not ready to invest in it.

"There was a screaming need for all-encompassing export management
systems," he is quoted as saying.

He put his own money and got friends to cough up some $100,000 to set up
the company. But his competitors, Vastera, ClearCross and Capstan, soon
came into the forefront, forcing Uppal to raise more money and give up a
part of his ownership. Though profiting for the most part, Uppal lost some
money last year, but hopes to break even this year at $10 million revenues,
he told Forbes.

Uppal has 320 full- and part-time employees around the world to update the
minutiae of trade regulations. He has an office in Bangalore where the
programming and data entry is carried out at lesser costs, helping Uppal
maintain his edge.

Article copyright India Abroad Publications, Inc.

Article copyright India Abroad Publications, Inc.
V.XXX