PSA-TEC Opens Doors to Non-Members
PSA Security Network(r), the largest electronic security cooperative, has for the first time in 30 years opened its PSA-TEC 2010 educational event to all security professionals, not just member companies and suppliers.
PSA Security Network currently includes more than 200 electronic security systems integrators and over 200 manufacturing vendor partners. Together, its members are responsible for over $2 billion in annual security systems design, installation, integration and maintenance of access control, video surveillance, intrusion detection, fire and life safety systems-and those numbers continue to grow.
PSA-TEC, slated for May 24 through 28, moved from its long-time St. Charles, Ill., venue to the accessible and more visible Donald E. Stevens Convention Center in Rosemont, minutes from Chicago's O'Hare Airport.
According to Bill Bozeman, CPP CHS and president and chief executive officer of PSA, the group beta-tested opening the educational event last year and did a low-key invitation to non members, with positive results. "We are always looking for the top minds in video and surveillance and controlled access and opening up the program to the security community allows us to attract the very best and not limit ourselves with a finite gene pool," he said. "Our members are integrators and are IP savvy." Bozeman added, PSA-TEC provides unrivaled education and unbiased training on some of the hottest industry topics and best practices, including generating RMR; hosted access control and managed services; wireless; networking; sound and communications; transmission/infrastructure; business intelligence; video verification and analytics; and project management.
PSA-TEC includes three umbrella tracks: business optimization, information technology and physical security. Physical security represents the core education offered at PSA-TEC and is designed for purchasing agents, sales professionals, systems designers, technicians and project managers. Other events scheduled for the show include a vendor appreciation luncheon, keynote speaker and reception, as well as a Jam Session at nearby Gibson's Steakhouse. Register online at www.psatec.com.
Save the Dates: June 8-9-SIA Summit
SIA's Government Summit 2010, June 8 through 9 in Washington, D.C., will include the latest information on the federal government market for security devices, with speakers including Martha Johnson, administrator of the General Services Administration; Carol Linden, a biosecurity expert at the Department of Health and Human Services; Teresa Schwarzhoff, a specialist in identity management at the National Institute of Standards and Technology; and several other notable federal officials.
In addition, the Summit will include discussions of other public policy topics related to the security industry, including one of the defining issues in the government market today-the implementation of identity, credential and access management (ICAM) guidance. The federal government will rely heavily on the security community during this process, and it is crucial for companies who are involved in identity management in any way to understand what the program means to them.
Whether helping to implement ICAM, design integrated security systems or meet the many other physical protection needs of the U.S. government, electronic security companies will continue to play a crucial role in securing the nation's federal facilities, as DHS Deputy Assistant Secretary for Infrastructure Protection James Snyder noted at last year's Government Summit.
"Your businesses," Snyder said, "really are how we get after doing these things." For more information about SIA's government relations efforts or the June 2010 Government Summit, visit www.siaonline.org/government.
Investors' Seal of Approval Brings Big Bucks for Pivot3
Lee Caswell is the founder of Pivot3.
Megapixel cameras continue to put demand on storage, but not in a virtual world. So you really have to hand it to Pivot3(r) Inc., Palo Alto, Calif. Here's a company that swooped in from the IT side of the business to focus solely on the security marketplace-back in 2003 when storage was not as much of an issue as it is today-although there were definitely rumblings that storage would be the next big challenge.
According to the Information Week Analytics 2010 State of Enterprise Storage Survey, when asked about their top storage concerns, nearly half of the respondents said they have insufficient resources for critical applications. Contrast that with last year, when data loss was the top concern of the technology professionals the magazine surveyed. Times have changed and so has the market for surveillance storage and suffice to say, it will continue to evolve.
Pivot3 is poised to grow exponentially. They have a formula-it's all about educating the integrators, resellers and end-users-and a strong go-to-market strategy with new investment money targeted at additional staffing and marketing here and abroad.
If you're not familiar with the company you should be. Efficient and effective storage of video will become paramount as the industry continues to move to a high-resolution, video-centric world. Lee Caswell, founder and chief marketing officer, saw it coming and didn't try to shove the company's products or philosophies down the throats of the reseller marketplace. Instead, he continues working tirelessly with other Pivot3 folks to educate the marketplace and by way of recent events, it seems his work has not been in vain.
The company has won numerous awards for its virtual servers and scalable storage, and recently announced it raised some $25 million in a new funding round, and that's quite a substantial amount even for the surveillance industry. This investment is slated to help expand the company's national and global footprint-so watch this company grow. This new funding round was led by Focus Ventures, the investor firm behind storage companies EqualLogic (acquired by Dell) and Isilon.
"We're ready to scale our solution up and out to the marketplace," Caswell said. "To date, the company has been funded with some $73 million from investors and venture capital firms-and this round of funding is going for growth here in the U.S and in Asia, Latin America, Europe and the Middle East." Plans are to double the size of sales staff and hire other engineers and also to latch onto suitable partner programs as well. Vertical markets are extremely important, according to Caswell, but moving forward traffic and transportation and even retail venues will see increased attention for the company's products.
"During the last three years, storage sales for the industry as a whole have tracked down some 14 percent," commented Caswell. "We tripled our sales last year alone." Pivot3 products rely on RAIGE or RAID across Gigabit Ethernet architecture. In 2008 Pivot3 launched the Serverless Computing product line, the first and only storage solution to consolidate server applications into an IP SAN platform.
"Today, there is the expectation that high quality video is going to be there as part of the solution," he said.
Now There is One-Tri-Northern Security Distribution
A high-profile acquisition took place in the security industry in mid-March, the purchase of Tri-Ed Distribution and Northern Video Systems. Brazos Private Equity Partners LLC, a Dallas-based private investment firm, acquired the two companies, but financial terms were not disclosed.
The companies will operate as Tri-Northern Security Distribution Inc., under the leadership of Steve Roth, who served as president and chief executive officer of Tri-Ed since 2005.
The combined company will be one of the two largest distributors of electronic security systems and products in North America. The acquisitions were made from Brazos Equity Fund III, which closed in September 2008 with capital commitments totaling more than $700 million.
The combination of Northern, Rocklin, Calif., and Tri-Ed, Woodbury, N.Y., bring together two of the largest entities in security distribution with a combined 41 sales offices and a comprehensive offering of products.
"This new entity will provide a more significant distribution solution for the security industry," Steve Roth said.
