WESTMINSTER, CO — Mergers, acquisitions, cyber security and more were major themes as part of a lively opening day at PSA-TEC that included several panel discussions and the integrator group’s vendor awards ceremony.
Both of the event’s signature panels — the State of the Industry and the State of the Integrator — included a strong focus on the recent increase of M&A activity in the integrator space. “We’ve seen more significant M&A in the last few months than in the 30 years I’ve been in this business,” said state of the industry panelist John Mack, executive vice president with Imperial Capital. He cited recent transactions including Securitas-Deibold, ADT-Protection 1, JCI-Tyco and Universal-AlliedBarton. “Fortunately there’s a wonderful opportunity for new entrants,” Mack continued. “While there may be consolidation, the industry has solid net growth which will attract new entrants. I can give you lots of examples of companies coming into this industry and taking advantage of this growth.”
At the State of the Integrator panel, industry consolidation was seen as a business opportunity for integrators more than anything else.
“The big integrators are buying the medium sized ones, and the small integrators are stepping into that space and are the most nimble,” panelist Brent Franklin of Unlimited Technologies explained. “With all the acquisitions, it is going to make a big difference for the smaller integrators who can jump into that space while the big ones are trying to turn around the battleship in the dock.”
“We thrive on acquisitions – it leaves a vacuum,” said Jeffrey Nunberg, president of Integrated Security Systems.
“Customers are going to fall thru the cracks,” added Michael Meredith, president of Security Equipment Inc. (SEI). “It is a reason to call on some of the customers you might have lost.”
“When big companies merge and are consolidated, they tend to focus their strategies internally,” said Carey Boethel of Securadyne. “Small companies tend to focus better on the customers. Larger companies focus on terms like ‘synergies.’”
Cyber Security
The other major topic of discussion — on the panels, at educational sessions and even in the hallways at the Westin Westminster Hotel — is cyber security.
“Cyber is going to impact everything you do down the line as more and more things are connected,” warned State of the Industry panelist Michael Kaiser, executive director of the National Cyber Security Alliance. “Wherever you are collecting data, that’s where the cyber criminals will be looking.”
“We are seeing huge opportunities for physical security integrators to cross over into components of cyber security and IT,” Mack said. “It is just a huge opportunity for (integrators). SMBs still have a lot to do when it comes to getting better at protecting data, and a significant portion of that actually deals with physical security. The state of preparedness for SMBs is way below what it needs to be. (Integrators) should be talking to them about how they should be updating their information security infrastructure. If I was to get back into the operating side of the business, that’s where I’d be.”
“The more I tie things into people’s networks, the more I’m worried that I can be the breach,” Meredith said. “We need to be making sure we are connecting things properly and protecting our company.”
Vendor Awards
An annual PSA-TEC tradition is its vendor awards, in which PSA member companies vote on their top vendors and suppliers. Altronix won PSA’s Superstar Award — PSA’s top honor — for the second year in a row, and Windy City Wire was also honored with a Superstar Award.
Here’s a list of the other companies and individuals honored on Tuesday:
- Customer Service Individual Excellence Awards: Paul Ngimat, Exacq Technologies; Tasha Boyden, CSC; Tim Knab, Bosch; Christie Bloechl, Clinton Electronics; Alison Smith, Windy City Wire.
- Customer Service Team Awards: Altronix, HID Global, OpenEye, Synnex Corp., Aiphone.
- Outstanding Vendor Awards: Hid Global, CSC, LifeSafety Power, OpenEye.
- Rising Star Vendor: Salient Systems.
- Star Vendor: Allegion, AMAG Technology, Arecont Vision, Bosch, Exacq Technologies, March Networks, Milestone Systems, Hanwha Techwin, Seneca.
Paul Rothman is Editor in Chief of Security Dealer & Integrator (SD&I) magazine. Access the most recent issue and all the archived issues of SD&I at www.secdealer.com.
