Welcome to Iron Krten Consulting. Allow me to introduce myself; I'm the founder, Robert Krten. The name is a play on the old Soviet-era "Iron Curtain" (the English pronunciation of my Czech surname).

I started my own consulting company (PARSE Software Devices) early in my career (1991). I had the good fortune of consulting to a lot of companies (diverse across size, culture, and industry) for 18 years, while also managing the business (promoting 3 successful QNX books and creating training courses).

In 2008, I chose full time employment. I worked for Semiconductor Insights (doing reverse engineering in support of patent litigation), then Cloakware (inventing novel binary protection technologies that defeat reverse engineering, tampering, and other SW attacks), and finally Cisco Systems (maintaining the QNX kernel on the world's largest routers, like the ASR9k, GSR, and CRS-X, and solving complex scalablity and "large code" issues).

Looking back on my last three jobs, I realized that the fundamental reason I was highly valued at each of them was exactly because of my consulting background, wherein I had developed an unusually wide breadth of knowledge. With that realization came the desire to keep expanding that width of knowledge, and the only way to do it was as a consultant / entrepreneur.

So, in August of 2013, I formed Iron Krten Consulting in order to continue my never-ending learning adventure.

You hire consultants for their concentrated knowledge. When you hire me, you're hiring a consultant with an incredible breadth and depth of experience. You're hiring a leader, inventor, communicator, innovator, a wanna-be renaissance man — someone who can think outside of the ... (wait — there's a box ??) and who can easily and effectively communicate with the multiple levels and functions in an organization (from President to Engineer, from Security Assurance to Legal, from Sales and Marketing to Training and Courseware Development) — because I've been there, done that.

My breadth allows me to hit the ground running — my depth allows me to make an impact.


3 QNX books
Analysis
Anti-reverse engineering
ARM assembly, reverse engineering, decompiler
Articles
Attack trees
Automated stock trading
Avanza software validation
Bitbus
Bloom filters
Business management
C++
C
Call processing
Caller ID software modem
Code conversion
COFF file format
Communication skills
Configuration management
Courseware development
CSS3
Czech language
Data acquisition
Debugging
Detailed design docs
Device drivers
Digital signage
Digital signal processing
Disk data recovery
DMS-100 call processing
DX-7 synthesizer emulation
ELF file format
Embedded software
Encryption
Ethical hacking
Fault tolerance
Financial trading software
Finite state machines
Functional specifications
Gammacell 40/1000/3000 medical device software
Genesis frame grabber driver
Graphics
GSR 12000 gigabit switching fabric driver
Hardware literate
Hashes
High availability infrastructure
HTML5
I2C/SPI/SSP
IDA Pro plugin creation
Industrial automation
Instrumentation
Integration
Integrity verification tools
IOS/XR
Kozel
Lab equipment savvy
Large software experience (Cisco ASR9k, GSR, CRS,)
Leadership
Linux
Load sharing
m4
Marketing
Medical devices
Memory mapped databases
Mentoring
Message digests
Microcontrollers / microprocessors
MIDI
Multithreaded design and debug
Networked shared memory
Object oriented programming in C
OMNX industrial control system
Optimization
Options trading software
Paravirtualized driver for QNX (virtio blockio QEMU/KVM,)
Parsing
Patent analysis
Patenting
Penetration testing
Porting and portability
POSIX
Presentations
Primary / standby arbitration
Problem solving
Project leadership / management
Public speaking
QNet native network manager
QNX 4
QNX Neutrino
Realtime call monitoring / recording
Realtime design
Relay logic
Requirements analysis
Resource managers
Reverse engineering
RGB LED PWM UDP-based light controller
Routers
RTOS
Scalability analysis / design
Security tools
SGML
Shared memory database server
Shell programming
Simulation
SMP ("multi-core",)
Software / system architecture
Subcontractor management
System integration
System monitoring
System utilities
Telecoms
Test plans
Text processing
Theratron software
Traceability matrices
Training
TTL logic
UNIX philosophy
Virtual filesystem drivers
Virtualization
Whitepapers
x86 assembly, disassembler, simulator
YACC