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Coulombe launches SecuritySpecifiers.com

Coulombe launches SecuritySpecifiers.com Consultants have a place to call home; integrators and manufacturers have ready, up-to-date access

SOUTHBURY, Conn.—Security industry entrepreneur Ray Coulombe is launching a new service for integrators, manufacturers, and end-users called SecuritySpecifiers.com on Dec. 1.

Coulombe has been involved in the early stages of several security-related companies including Intentional Fiber Systems, Fiber Options, Core Tec Communications, and SyPixx Networks, which was acquired by Cisco in 2006.

Coulombe said his idea for SecuritySpecifiers.com has been brewing for some time. Specifiers play an important role within the security systems installation ecosystem, but the ties among specifiers, integrators and manufacturers tend to be tenuous, he said.

“Several manufacturers in the marketplace do a great job working with specifiers: They keep their A&E [architects & engineers] specifications up to date, they hold annual consultant meetings, but they are in the minority of suppliers in this industry. That's my perception, anyway,” Coulombe said.

Plus, a lot of specifiers are not readily identifiable, Coulombe said. “Even the manufacturers who do a good job [working with consultants] have lists that are incomplete, and in many cases, a manufacturer's list of specifiers is nonexistent.”

Coulombe wants to provide a central organization for specifiers. “Manufacturers have organizations like SIA, integrators have organizations like PSA, and end users have ASIS, but security specifiers as a group don't have an organization that allows them to be readily visible,” Coulombe argued.

Furthermore, Coulombe sees a need for an entity to identify and classify security specifiers so manufacturers and integrators can interact more effectively with them.

One of the goals of SecuritySpecifiers.com is to allow integrators and manufacturers to better target their efforts to work with consultants, and end users to locate consultants, “to allow them to search by geography and by market sector. To my knowledge, no one else does that,” he said.

A regional integrator, for example, can use the service to “identify consultants in a region and what they do. It gives [the integrator] the opportunity to make himself known to that consultant, [what kinds of products the integrator typically uses and the kinds of jobs they install],” he said.

These interactions can be productive for the integrator, specifier and manufacturer alike, he said.

Coulombe described the service as a “living, breathing database. We can add consultants to it, add features and enable information sharing.” Consultants will be able to go into the site to polish up their qualifications and load white papers, etc.

The site will also give manufacturers the ability to host or link their A&E specs. This will be done in a manner where only consultants registered in the database will have access to the specs. “They won't be there for the taking by a manufacturer's competitor,” he said.  In turn, specifiers will have one convenient source for product specifications.

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