SecurityWatch

May 28, 2010
Industry leaders thoughts on the reseller community, open solutions, Secured Cities 2010

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New leaders share thoughts on the reseller community

Change is a constant in the security industry. We've had some major changes recently-ADT buying Broadview; UTC grabbing GE; DVTel snaring ioimage and on. The heads of many organizations have changed. We went to three biggies UTC; Tyco; and Samsung, to ask how their management has changed and the effect on the reseller community.

Q. What changes have you made to the organization in the last year or two, or are planned?

Mark Barry, President, Global Security Products, UTC-"The combination of GE Security and UTC Fire & Security expands our channel network and product offerings and fully supports independent channel partners, large integrators and distributors under all of our well-established brand names. The Global Security Products (GSP) group, one of UTC Fire & Security's three operating entities, includes access control, intrusion, video, key and lock products and solutions. This includes brands such as Lenel, Supra, Onity, Picture Perfect, FCWnX, Guardall and TruVision. Our intention is to preserve equity and build upon customers' familiarity with these widely accepted brands."
Frank DeFina, Senior Vice President, Sales & Marketing North America, Samsung Techwin America-"We unveiled our 2010 Vision at the ISC West show. This new business initiative will establish and position Samsung as a comprehensive supplier of security system solutions -not just video surveillance systems but also, ultimately, the access control, intrusion detection and alarm systems we are now developing for integration with our imaging technologies. This will be a unique technology offering built around our enhanced line of video surveillance solutions specifically in the IP video/networking arena."
Mark VanDover, President, Tyco Security Products, a business unit of Tyco International-"We have made numerous changes and strategic investments in our organization and people as well as in technology. About one year ago I was named to consolidate and combine business segments within the intrusion business, DSC as well as Software House and American Dynamics. We knew combining these businesses would allow us to leverage technology and resources and also provide a more integrated solution to our customers. We see demand in the market for integrated systems and have a full portfolio to fill their needs. We are a process-focused business and we set outto pull together a leadership team from the top leaders from our brands and also brought in some new businesses and refocused our organization. The second part of this was to focus on our customers and provide better support, and finally, the third was to make sure people understand our products and services. These are the three pillars to our business."

Q. How will or does this create benefits and or impact the industry and the reseller community?

Mark Barry-"Our intention is to strengthen the channel relationships and build upon customers' familiarity with our brands and we have taken steps to ensure that the existing product brands continue to be available. We will manage the integration of the acquired business into UTCFS seamlessly to minimize any disruption to channel partners and end users."

Frank DeFina-"We plan on expanding our solutions offering by enhancing our reseller and partner programs, in addition to re-establishing our relationships with end users. To accomplish these goals, we intend to deliver the best performance and value proposition in the industry. Our strength in video surveillance technology is a given and we share the vision as to where integrated system technologies are headed. We are developing core innovations that will drive the security industry moving forward without leaving our existing customers behind as evidenced by our most recent analog video introductions. We are also integrating numerous technologies into broad-based seamless solutions. Now it's simply a matter of making more people aware of the innovation and resources available to them. To put it simply-it's time for Samsung."

Mark VanDover-"We continue to be a customer-focused organization. We have a tremendous installed base and we want to make sure we are in tune with new technologies, and a good example would be IP video. We're making sure we have a good investment in the IP video space as well as making sure our existing customers have a good migration path. In addition, we also see a big push on emerging technologies and one of those is the area of managed access for information. We are putting more and more effort and research into that to find out from the end user where they want to put their investment and whether they may want to have it partially managed. A lot of times people are more comfortable with that. Other people want to outsource the entire service because they feel they can't afford to have one IT person on staff to manage it. We see it as a great growth area on the service side and have the products and services that allow our customers and integrators to offer it.

Another big benefit to the reseller community is that we continue to bring our businesses together so we can offer an integration platform, including access control, integrated video, building controls, also tying in intrusion. The changes that we are making or have made in the Tyco organization allow us to bring that all together....emerging technology that resellers can use to optimize their business."

Q. Have you changed the management structure, the organization and/or focus...and there is a reason/vision attached to this?

Mark Barry-"The Global Security Products (GSP) group is one of UTC Fire & Security's three operating entities. It includes access control, intrusion, video, key and lock products and solutions. This includes brands you are familiar with, including Lenel, Supra, Onity, Picture Perfect, FCWnX, Guardall and TruVision. Our intention is to preserve equity and build upon customers' familiarity with these widely accepted brands.

GSP will be organized into Enterprise Systems, headed by Luis Orbegoso. This organization includes the GE Integrated Systems products and the Lenel product line. Luis' will field separate but dedicated sales teams each aligned to our brands and channel partnerships. Bob Haskins will become Vice President & General Manager, Security Systems, including the Guardall and International Fiber Systems businesses. Mark Gordon is General Manager of Onity. Ron Virden is General Manager of Supra. Supra provides locks and lock boxes and is particularly strong in the real estate business. We have a global focus and to support this, Bart Otten, my colleague from GE Security's EMEA business, will retain that responsibility as President, EMEA, Electronic Security Products. Mike Regelski, our Chief Technology Officer, will head Engineering for GSP. Additionally Ken Francis will lead Sales and Marketing for GSP."

Frank DeFina-"Resulting from the consolidation of the Samsung Electronics and Samsung Techwin product lines, we are now officially known as Samsung Techwin America, headed by a new management team of professionals with proven reputations in the professional security industry. In addition to the new company name and management team, we will look to capitalize on all the resources Samsung has to offer as a global force in the electronics industry to deliver comprehensive video surveillance and security solutions with the best performance and value proposition.

You will see us building more and more partnerships and alliances with system integrators, distributors and service companies in the next year as we promote our presence and strengthen the brand power of Samsung. The economic recovery is a great time to develop the Samsung Strategic Integrator and Strategic Partner Programs, including a program geared toward architects and engineers (A&Es). We are also expanding our business portfolio beyond video surveillance to include total security solutions that incorporate access control, intrusion detection, and fire alarms. We will be launching an access system and IP-based network controller, compatible with our video offerings during the course of 2010. The market is bouncing back and Samsung wants to be top-of-mind as the business climate improves. All this fits into our Vision 2010 initiative."

Q. How does your strategy impact/enhance the reseller's growth opportunities?

Mark Barry-"Within GSP, UTCFS intends to maintain separate sales forces and channel programs to ensure that existing relationships continue to receive the same level of attention. Product development and sales teams have been aligned to our brands, including, but not limited to, Picture Perfect, Facility Commander Wnx and OnGuard. Our goal is to maintain and grow the broad portfolio of product solutions our customers have invested in and that continue to meet their requirements."

Frank DeFina-"Samsung plans to launch over 170 new products this year. We have also made plans to expand our video surveillance offerings to more easily bridge existing analog system devices with new IP video network-based systems that talk to each other and offer interoperability.

We pride ourselves on being on the cutting edge of IP-based system products and technologies-a philosophy we find appeals to a majority of resellers. They can now offer megapixel imaging with H.264 compression, or our new 1.3 megapixel IP cameras. This strategy, combined with a passion for performance and cost efficiency unlike any other major player in the professional security space truly sets us apart in the minds of today's leading resellers. For over 70 years Samsung has looked to the future to anticipate market needs and demands so we can best help our customers implement new technologies and future-proof their investment in electronic systems."

Mark VanDover-"Our businesses have some of the best and most loyal integrators as customers. We expect our partners to be able to grow with our products and enable them to become more profitable. We continue to make sure we are a customer-focused business and align our strategies with the marketplace and the customer. We conduct integrator advisory councils and customer advisory councils all over the world. We make sure we know what's important to customers and what they really want, rather than just focus on new technologies. We feel delighted to have great people to work with, great customers and a great network of products and services."

Open Solutions Lead the Way

If you're not already investing in open solutions, there's no time like the present to start. Open platform IP video management specialist Milestone Systems, partnered with Arecont Vision and Pivot3, took their Complete IP Solution Show on the road, most recently making a pit stop at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Ill. Attendees got a first-hand look at how Milestone's Video Management System (VMS), Pivot3's storage solutions and Arecont Vision's megapixel cameras are integrated on one platform to provide a solution that covers all three aspects on a video surveillance system.

"Our idea behind this was to take three companies that had leading technology in the IP field and really show how you can build a solution together along with answering some commonly asked questions about IP," explained Fredrik Wallberg, marketing manager, Milestone Systems, Beaverton, Ore. Slated for six major cities across the country, Milestone started their roadshow after the Milestone Integration Platform Symposium (MIPS) earlier this year. "Thus far, the events have been a success according to attendees and headcount," continued Wallberg.

It is evident that integrated open platform solutions are going to continue to develop for the future of security and these three providers are exemplary of that. Surveillance is a challenging environment, thus being able to discuss and be aware of such issues as HD versus megapixel, industry standards, virtualization and what video management systems are available and how they work with other providers, is a necessity when it comes down to choosing the right video surveillance solution.

"We're trying to encourage a rich ecosystem of products," explained Tim Palmquist, director of Sales for Milestone Systems. "What we're trying to do is deploy a solution that starts small and can grow and accommodate the end-users requirements over time." As far as what the state of video management systems available on the market today is, Palmquist stated that "there is that request for tighter integration with third party products and interfaces are becoming tighter together. It's not just about the ability to get to evidence quickly anymore but also about the review of investigation."

Surveillance is also a very challenging environment for storage, particularly for disc drives, as Lee Caswell, founder and chief marketing officer, Pivot3, Palo Alto, Calif., stated in his presentation, "because they are always writing, 100 percent of the time. The reality is that drives will fail and users have to be prepared for that. Our focus on video surveillance is because of the amount of storage being used. The market for storage is exploding right now and this is why you want to pay attention to storage," he continued.

Virtualization is extremely beneficial because it offers an immediate impact of elimination and consolidation hardware on a smaller basis, which is so impactful, according to Caswell. "The whole idea of virtualization is about running multiple applications on the same server," he explained. "Now, we're getting rid of the hardware. We're providing application hardware for server apps which is running inside server environments." As companies want to keep data for longer periods, it's essential to make sure that the system stays up and running even if another component of the system fails.

And with companies adding more high resolution cameras to one unified video surveillance solution, knowing your options and the differentiations between megapixel and High Definition (HD) is also key.

"We are constantly revamping our product offering to decrease size, increase performance and reduce cost," explained Wayne Ridinger, midwest region sales manager, Arecont Vision, Glendale, Calif. "Now, what the user wants is something of forensic value after an event has occurred and that is something we've never been able to do before. One of the hurdles manufacturers have been challenged with is that HD does not scale beyond 1080p. We're seeing more camera manufacturers providing megapixel cameras not in HD format and there are still challenges for H.264 beyond HD. As we move more into the megapixel world, we have cameras that have more functionality. Thus, the integration of open platforms becomes very important," he continued.

The 'integration' message is clear and as manufacturers move to adopting ONVIF, PSIA and other standards, video surveillance and other security solutions is only going to go deeper into the integration of products, according to Palmquist.

In today's market, every single manufacturer does H.264 implementation differently," he explained. "As security products adapt more to standards, there will be more of a balance in the industry."

The Complete IP Solution Roadshow continues with its next stop on May 19th in Atlanta, Ga. and final stop on June 9th in New York, N.Y. For more information, visit www.milestonesys.com.

Secured Cities 2010: Announcing a New Event

Cygnus Security Media is pleased to announce the creation of a new conference designed entirely around municipal surveillance projects. Secured Cities 2010 will be held in Dallas from September 29 through 30, in collaboration with the Enforcement Expo and the Firehouse Expo. It will present top training on operations and development of municipal surveillance systems. Registration information will be available soon. For more information, visit www.securedcities.com.