Technology partners reaffirm their collaborative history at ASIS event

Last night at the Marconi Automotive Museum in Tustin, there was a reaffirmation of sorts between two of the most trusted partners in the security industry. A technology and business marriage that began in 1995 – that of a software innovator and a hardware pioneer –was celebrated as Lenel and Mercury entertained some top customers in this unique museum that showcases luxury, rare and historic cars. Lenel, a leading provider in advanced security systems, and Mercury Security, a global leader in the supply of OEM access control hardware have advanced the evolution of collaborative vendor relations which is now a hallmark of the industry.

And as Ron Virden, managing director, electronic access solutions at UTC sees it; the two companies have provided essential checks and balances to each other’s success.

“With this event I think it show we have recommitted ourselves to this marriage, so we are expecting another 10 years before we have additional dialogue on things. Bottom line is Lenel and Mercury are solid partners dedicated to the development of quality solutions and delivering the best service to our customers. It’s a perfect marriage. We get to provide all the sexy stuff on the software side and Mercury provides the hardware that makes it all work,” said Virden, who took over the reins of the Lenel group in 2014.

“We needed to get back to the roots that made Lenel great, which is delivering the best software in the industry. We got a little off track by trying to deliver all things to all people,” Virden continued. “With the partnership we have with Mercury and their expertise with hardware and embedded firmware, we can focus on the software piece and deliver the service our customers are asking for.”

Lenel’s expertise in software and integration with its industry-leading OnGuard platform along with Mercury’s expertise in hardware and firmware offer customers a comprehensive and p integrated system solution.

Frank Gasztonyi, CTO and co-founder of Mercury stated, “The company’s mission has been to become an extension of its partners’ engineering staff to deliver innovative solutions for total building security, beyond access control.

“Over the last 20 years, we’ve established a deep level of collaboration with Lenel. Combining Lenel’s talent and expertise with our technical leadership has resulted in recognition of both organizations as leading providers of world-class solutions that are built to last decades,” said Gasztonyi. “We offer the expertise to support the system development process and help reduce hardware engineering and development time to meet today’s toughest security demands.”

Steve Wagner, President of Mercury, attributed the successful partnership to a competitive drive each company exhibits in its technology development and a desire to stay ahead of the curve.

“This successful collaboration can be directly linked to the people who founded Mercury. Their whole ethos was about providing all their software partners everything they needed to move forward. Lenel challenged Mercury’s capabilities because they had customers who demanded things and Mercury kept up with the pace of R&D to meet those demands,” said Wagner. “ It’s almost like a tennis match between very high level competitors who are close friends off the court -- the volley goes back and forth, with each side presenting challenges and in the end you meet those and enjoy a collaborative success.”

Both Virden and Gasztonyi believe that the early adoption of an open architecture concept that was the credo of early Lenel executives created the roadmap the two partners follow today.

 “Support for open architecture is built into the culture at Lenel and Mercury,” Virden said. “This allows end users to seamlessly integrate a full suite of security management technologies tailored to their specific needs, while eliminating the need to rip and replace hardware for system upgrades or enhancements.”

“Open standards are about letting end users choose security solutions based on features and functionality,” said Gasztonyi. “We don’t lock them into proprietary equipment that may not fully meet their needs today or into the future.”