Diebold acquires Actcom to augment government presence

NORTH CANTON, Ohio--Integrator and manufacturer Diebold added to its Global Security division's government capabilities with the purchase of integrator Actcom, which brings 54 employees, offices in Virginia and Florida, and extensive experience working with federal, state and municipal governments. Terms of the deal, announced July 11, were not disclosed. V. John Stroia, vice president of government monitoring solutions for Diebold Global Security, said the acquisition was important to accomplish two goals for its nascent push to generate more government work, heralded with the opening of its Sterling, Va., office in April. "First," he said, "we felt we needed to have a bigger physical presence in the DC marketplaces. And second, as we learned more and more about the government space, we felt we needed a pretty good HSPD-12 solution. [Actcom has] been very involved in helping to set standards, has a lot of industry contacts with key decision makers, and they make for a very good fit with the direction we see the market moving." To capitalize on that history, Actcom will retain its brand and will be known going forward as Actcom, a division of Diebold. Actcom also diversifies Diebold's GSA schedule, as the company is a dealer for a few enterprise security systems that Stroia was unable to name until permissions and agreements have been finalized. Actcom, itself, has been a fast-growing company. In June of last year, the company gained its Florida office by acquiring Asset Security, which brought with it clients such as NASA and the City of Miami. In 2003, Actcom acquired Conseps FMS. This growth is reflected in the company's revenues, which have gone from $800,000 in 2001 to $8.2 million in 2004 to roughly $15 million in 2005. This all came under the leadership of founder Ray Lorenzo, who will remain with Diebold. His role will be "business development and working in the HSPD-12 space," said Stroia. "He's been in this space for 15-plus years ... Ray absolutely will be an integral part of the Diebold government business going forward."