NAV expands in Asia-Pacific

Dec. 18, 2007
Company opens new facility, places managing director in Macau

Security integrator North American Video (NAV), which has specialized heavily in providing security solutions to the gaming industry, announced today that it has opened a new demonstration facility and office in Macau, China.

The company has also appointed Michael Katris to head that office and serve as managing director for that region. Katris comes directly from the security systems industry, and brings a background in complex and large-scale security system specifying, design and installation.

This isn't the first time that NAV has been active in Macau, a small region on the South China Sea which has seen a recent explosion in gaming with new casinos, as well as overall growth in tourism and hotel construction. North American Video worked recently in Macau to develop the security/surveillance system for the Wynn Macau, a massive Steve Wynn casino-hotel project in the area.

Cynthia Freschi, president of NAV, said that the boom in Macau represents a great deal of potential growth for the security integration firm. She added that the company's work in the region has continued to grow since the Wynn Macau project.

"This new demonstration and training facility provides us with the ability to let new and existing customers actually operate the latest systems technologies in simulated configurations that most closely model their needs," explained Freschi. "It also provides us with a location to train our customers' security personnel while their actual systems are still being installed, which makes the training process even more efficient."

NAV also has facilities in Las Vegas, New Jersey, Washington, Mississippi and Venezuela. In addition to a heavy emphasis in the gaming market, the firm also works in retail, transit/transportation, education and other vertical markets.

Why go to market in Macau:
• International airport
• 22 million tourists in 2006
• 91.3% literacy rate
• 5.4% population growth rate
• GDP growth rate: 16.6%
• Gambling is greater than 50% of Macau GDP
• Tourism driven largely by visits from Mainland China, Hong Kong
Source: U.S. Department of State