Imageonix brings overseas security brands to the North American market
The North American security industry is certainly no stranger to new competition regularly entering the market. Each year, different firms claim a stake in various product segments offering their own unique solutions that they believe could revolutionize and/or improve the everyday lives of security installers and end-users. For example, the growth in adoption of IP video surveillance and connected home products in recent years has seen the introduction of a plethora of new hardware and software solutions, many of which were developed by companies that previously didn’t specialize in physical security.
While some of these products were the result of homegrown entrepreneurship, many others were brought to the market after proving their mettle in overseas market. Enter Imageonix, a new Virginia-based security products distributor that was founded with the goal of bringing some of the industry’s lesser known, but also incredibly innovative, overseas brands to users in the U.S. and Canada.
According to Imageonix CEO Mike Broggie, the company was essentially borne out of a small group of investors in Hungary who wanted to bring Budapest-based Logipix, which specializes in high-megapixel cameras used for wide-area surveillance applications, to North America. Unable to find a suitable acquisition target that could help facilitate bringing Logipix to the market, they decided that establishing a new company to setup distribution would be the best route to go and thus Imageonix was born.
“At that time, I put forward a plan and they invited me to be the CEO and I agreed,” Broggie explains. “I don’t think there was a spark, in particular, that made the group think that, ‘this was great company, let’s take it to the U.S.,’ but I think it was something that evolved over time.”
By establishing their own distribution arm in Imageonix, Broggie says they will have greater control over the delivery of Logipix products as well as other manufacturers they decide to work with in the future.
“Logipix and the other companies that we’re working with and talking to, they understand that the U.S. market is very competitive and that coming in early on if there missteps that it can cause a lot of problems,” he adds. “Our approach is to have very close control over the integrator and end-user relationship so we can make sure everything goes well and establish and extend the brand identity and brand equity that Logipix has in the EMEA market and bring that over here without screwing it up. Secondary to that, we wanted to be able to control and provide attractive terms to the integrators – payment terms, pricing, what have you – so that we could present to the market an overall attractive offering.”
Broggie says they plan to work closely with integrators who are specifying video surveillance projects to educate them about the benefits offered by using Logipix solutions, which have already been widely deployed in stadiums, airports and other critical infrastructure projects across Central Europe, the Middle East and in different parts of Asia as well.
“Their focus is really on selling a complete solution for particular applications. For example, airport surveillance, stadiums – I believe at last count they were in about 75 stadiums throughout Europe – and anywhere you need a reliable solution for wide-area public surveillance,” Broggie explains. “The other area they are having success in is automated traffic ticketing and (moving) violation systems. We see that as a potential growth area for North America.”
Broggie says Imageonix really has a boutique-type of focus as opposed to other suppliers that look to meet the needs of the entire market. “There are plenty of players and manufacturers churning out mid- to high-megapixel cameras but our focus is to identify complex problems and bring a solution to that problem,” he says.
In addition to Logipix, Imageonix will also look to introduce Ayonix Corporation, a Tokyo-based provider of facial recognition technology, to the market later in the year.
Imageonix will be attending various industry tradeshows in the coming months to raise awareness about the company and the brands it is bringing to the marketplace, as well as take part in good, old-fashioned face-to-face business development.
“I come out of a media technology background and have established channel and strategic relationships with technology companies over many years,” he says. “We’ve been having some early success in our initial conversations. There is a lot of curiosity about what Logipix has and there is interest in getting access to demo systems, which we’re putting together right now.”
The company will be providing a three-year, no questions asked warranty on all Logipix-manufactured products, according to Broggie. “That’s a year longer than Logipix warranties in other countries but we want to stand behind our product and at least be on parity with some of the other solutions out there,” he adds.
Imageonix is also looking to create additional visibility by identifying various pilot projects that can be used as a proof of concept for the Logipix solutions
“Whether we are up against competitors or not, we have to be able to perform as advertised, if you will, in order to gain any opportunity for larger projects. So, that’s our approach, we will put our money where our mouth is and let the market respond like we think they will – positively.
“We’re not looking to unseat any of the top competitors or go head-to-head on price,” Broggie continues. “We’re really focused in the U.S. on an end-to-end solution. The reason for that is the Logipix architecture, from the camera to the server to the client is designed to be a fully integrated solution. That doesn’t mean we can’t play nice with other equipment on the market – we’re ONVIF-compliant and we can integrate when we need to into and around legacy systems – but that’s not the core focus. The core focus is to deliver end-to-end because then we can do more with the image analytics, have more core functionality between the operator interface and the cameras themselves and it just makes for a more reliable installation.”
For more information about Imageonix, click here. You can learn more about Logipix and the products they offer by visiting their website here.
About the Author:
Joel Griffin is the Editor-in-Chief of SecurityInfoWatch.com and a veteran security journalist. You can reach him at [email protected].
