Last month, Bosch Security Systems announced that its partnership with Sony, which was initially made public in November, had received the blessing of antitrust authorities and had officially become effective Feb. 1. Under the partnership, which the companies insist is not a merger of their respective video surveillance businesses, a new dedicated team within Bosch has taken over the sales and marketing of Sony-branded products in every market with the exception of Japan. The companies also plan to combine their technologies to bring new jointly developed products to the market in the coming months.
At ISC West in Las Vegas last week, the companies exhibited together for the first time inside Bosch’s expansive booth at the show. As has been in the case in the past, Sony had a number of new products on display, including eight new cameras that leverage the company’s Exmor R CMOS sensors, which provide improved performance in low-light environments.
According to Kelly Priest, vice president, Americas, Sony Video Security Products, while the partnership was announced last fall, discussions between the two companies actually started about a year ago with all the various intricacies of the deal being thoroughly thought through months in advance.
“Both companies were looking for a way to leverage their respective strengths to have a larger presence in the market,” Priest says. “Sony already supplies Bosch with (camera) sensors, so leveraging their enhanced imaging technology with our backend compression and analytics presented the opportunity for a merged product.”
Priest says both Bosch and Sony align well in terms of the vertical markets they want to target with their video products and described the partnership as a “win-win” for both companies. Although he couldn’t divulge any specific details related to how revenue from the sale of Sony products is being shared with Bosch, Priest says the way the partnership works is that Bosch is more of a customer of Sony in the collaboration.
“We’re both in it to run it as a business. Sony maintained the manufacturing rights, we are sharing the R&D part of it, as well as the sales and marketing and backend functions – logistics, finance and things like that,” Priest explains.
According to Priest, the decision not to go it alone in the market was about having a streamlined approach to the industry. “We’re still competing, technically, but we do have a dedicated team and resources inside of Bosch. For the moment, we’re still competitors – kind of a coopetition,” he adds.
One of the biggest misconceptions that people in the industry have had about the deal, according to Priest, is that Bosch would be doing away with the brand which he says couldn’t be further from the truth. “The Sony brand is an extremely strong brand. The customer base is very loyal, dedicated and almost fanatical about the brand,” he says.
With regards to a future roadmap of combined products, Priest says the companies are only two months into the partnership officially and that they will be formulating their product development plans as they move forward together. “We expect the first merged products to appear sometime in 2018,” Priest says.
About the Author:
Joel Griffin is the Editor of SecurityInfoWatch.com and a veteran security journalist. You can reach him at [email protected].
