Global Caché

Enabling Connectivity in
Venues Large and Small.

JACKSONVILLE, OR — A mainstay of this small Southern Oregon community for more than a decade, Global Caché enjoys a worldwide reputation for innovative products that provide easy automation solutions. Transplants from Silicon Valley of California, co-founders Walt Keller and Robin Ford, and their daughter, Marketing Director Rusty Keller, prefer to work in a less urban, more natural environment.

“This area is like California used to be,” said Ford. “My husband (Keller) grew up in Santa Clara, which is now the heart of Silicon Valley. He grew up in orchards, and creeks, and that sort of thing … Moving here was really easy for us and that’s what drove us. It was a lifestyle issue.”

Global Caché manufactures devices that connect anything electronic to a WiFi or TCP/IP network for the purpose of control and automation with network-based software. From the EMP in Seattle to the Dolphins stadium in Miami, Global Caché is enabling connectivity in venues large and small.

“Fifty percent of our sales is outside the U.S. Then fifty percent is here in the U.S.,” said Ford. “Fifty percent of our U.S. business is residential and the other half is considered commercial, offering connectivity to casinos, sports bars, all those conference rooms, etc.”

“We’re also in several of community colleges in California,” added Keller. Their connectivity products are intentionally simple, cost-effective and scalable. The devices also work with just about any operating system and electronic device, integrating easily into any control system.

In September 2014, Global Caché released Control Tower, the first IR (infrared) database stored in the cloud. Control Tower is a resource that installers, users and partners can access from any connected device. The firm updates the database continually, so users can always get the latest codes for their infrared controllers. Control Tower stores more than 200,000 codes.

“You hear a lot about cloud-based software. This is something we are offering the community colleges. We, as a small company, have been able to sign all these distributors all over the world,” said Ford. “For us, it’s been easy because we don’t do the control. We help controllers be more successful. In return, they have introduced us to distributors all over the world.”

With so many partners promoting their products worldwide, Ford and Keller have been able to keep Global Caché small enough to accommodate their priorities in life. “We’ve designed this company in a way that allows me to raise my children and have a life. We want other people to have the same work life balance. We want them to feel loyal to the company, to want to be here,” Keller said.

“Over the years, we’ve learned the value of balance. It’s not just lip service. We don’t think employees are valuable if all they do is work. They have to be part of their family. It’s super important,” said Ford.

As part of the Jacksonville community, Global Caché does most of its purchasing and hiring close to home. “We make a serious effort to use local people and companies in manufacturing,” Ford said. “We really spent a lot of time and effort finding people who could be part of our manufacturing process, including the enclosures and the end caps and that kind of thing … it’s really important to us to do that. The whole ‘Made in the USA’ thing is a priority for us.”

“Everything from our data sheets to our actual hardware enclosures, we try to get as much done locally as possible. We use local printers, machinists, everything we can,” added Keller.

While this may be a bit more difficult and somewhat more expensive to do in their relatively remote location, the two find it to be ultimately worthwhile. “Challenging? Yes. But we’ve been able to overcome it so far. It took a little more work,” said Ford.

“We have to make it work because this is where we want to live,” Keller said.

Global Caché
160 East California Street
Jacksonville, OR 97530
www.globalcache.com
(541) 899-4800

Print Version: Global Caché | Enabling Connectivity in Venues Large and Small.