|about us
Who We Are
Our Mission
Our mission is to work with the latest technologies in bringing quality medical products to market faster for our clients.
We are experts in advanced software technologies for the entire device software stack, engineering our client’s system for robustness, security, and safety. From low level firmware and the user applications, to connected mobile apps or cloud, we have the deep and thorough know-how and experience to provide complete, robust solutions for our clients’ unique technology needs.
Our Team
Allen Curtis
(Founder)
Allen Curtis is an innovative industry leader who brings to the medical device field more than 30 years of experience developing cutting-edge technology.He founded a successful product development engineering firm that he sold to a venture capital group. His clients included Samsung Electronics SoC, Sharp Electronics, Cirrus Logic, Celestron, Ceiva and others.
Allen is a member of the IEEE 11073 standards committee, which focuses on personal health device interoperability. These standards are used by such organizations as Continua Health Alliance, Bluetooth.org and government agencies.
He holds several patents and often serves as guest speaker at technical conferences. Allen is a Linux kernel maintainer. He has experience in In- Flight Entertainment and Traffic Control Systems.
He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Engineering from the Rochester Institute of Technology. He has been an adjunct professor at University California, Irvine, where he developed and taught the curriculum for the Embedded Systems Engineering Certificate Program.
To unwind, Allen heads to his pottery studio, where he creates ceramic ware that sells at shops and galleries nationwide.
William J. Bracken III
(Founder)
For more than 40 years, William J. Bracken III has been on the forefront of developing innovative technologies at both startups and established companies to advance the medical device and consumer product fields.
Before founding Critical Software Solutions, Bill was involved in firmware-related efforts for embedded medical devices at Source Scientific focusing on core embedded technologies, on and off board communications as well as low-level support for various interface technologies.
At Cameron Health, Bill was directly responsible for implementing the algorithm for monitoring heart rhythms for determining when a cardiac event requiring stimulation of the heart occurred and the NVRAM storage of the cardiac events requiring stimulation.
Bill was Director of Engineering for Tokos Medical Corporation, managing a team of 15 software/firmware developers designing an ambulatory uterine activity monitor to detect premature labor. He also oversaw development of clinical nursing workstations which were networked across the country.
He has a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science from San Diego State University.
In his free time, Bill coaches girls youth softball.
Chamli Tennakoon
(VP Cloud Services)
Chamli Tennakoon has been pushing the envelope of digital innovation and design for more
than 20 years. Now he is leading product strategy at Critical Software Solutions as vice
president of Cloud Infrastructure product development. Chamli’s is working with the CSS team to rapidly grow and expand the industry’s best human- centered experience software and business technologies.
He brings to the challenge vast experience with product design, UX, consumer neuroscience, digital transformation, and innovation. Chamli knows how to deliver innovative solutions to complex problems by using cutting-edge technologies and digital expertise to integrate consumer experiences.
Chamli is an inventor — he holds eight patents in the U.S., Europe, and Japan. He’s a MDes – Master in Design Studies Field Of Study- Design Technology, Social Media, Product Strategies & Branding from Harvard School of Design, along with BA in Art and Design from Laguna College of Art and Design. Before joining CSS in 2021, Chamli was a digital leader at ESSEL Group (ZEE Entertainment), ABS-CBN International, Beachbody, LLC, and Boy Scouts of America Orange County Council. When he’s not designing and innovating, Chamli spends his time in the clouds — literally. He is a licensed sport pilot who gets his inspiration while soaring in a light aircraft.
Brandon Kasa
Senior Software Engineer
Senior Software Engineer Brandon Kasa brings to Critical Software Solutions more than a
decade of experience in the embedded firmware industry, with a special focus on medical
devices and communications interfaces.
Brandon previously worked as a Senior Software Engineer at Fusion Biotec, where he reworked
the firmware architecture, allowing a more modular implementation for multiple projects.
In that position, he was also responsible for general bootloader development, and led
development of a cross-platform distributed test tool suite.
At FLIR Systems, Brandon developed real-time thermal image processing firmware for race vehicle performance profiling, and improved the video processing performance on low-powered
microarchitectures.
Brandon has led projects working with hardware interfaces for pump-control, optical and heater
subsystems, and the process schedulers for CLIA-waived immunoassay hardware at BIT
Group. He implemented algorithms for light signal peak-detection calculations and high-level
command sequences for robotic chemistry lab devices. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science, with minors in Physics and Mathematics, from California State University, San Marcos. When he’s not working, Brandon enjoys playing classical piano, running and hiking.