Honeywell's plans for ActivEye

LAS VEGAS--Here on the show floor at ISC West, Honeywell for the first time showed off its new abilities following the acquisition of analytics maker ActivEye in late February. "Customers are looking for improvements and efficiencies," said Mike Scirica, global marketing leader for Honeywell Video Systems. "Everyone's trying to lower costs. We're exposing [ActivEye] to new customers they haven't had exposure to. There are a whole bunch of applications they've been training on." Carolyn Ramsey, formerly president and chief executive officer at ActivEye and now director of program management for Honeywell Systems Group, agreed: "Honeywell gives [AvtivEye] access to a very rich global infrastructure, with a natural inclination toward value-added products ... There are very few customers who need analytics who don't also need access control and intrusion." Ramsey sees analytics being a boon to solutions that Honeywell Building Solutions can offer large corporate clients. "Honeywell really knows building management solutions," Ramsey said. "ActiveEye really knows analytics. So it's a pretty quick set of meetings that gets you to what features solve the problems for these types of customers. Similarly, Honeywell is big in retail and casinos. We can sit down and figure out very quickly what the casinos care about, and say, 'Here are the analytics for them.'" But she also said Honeywell is looking to apply ActivEye's abilities to a "broad set of product types" and envisions Honeywell bringing analytics to even the smallest dealer. "Even doing a convenience store, I might go with Rapid Eye [Honeywell's DVR line] with analytics inside, and only do four or six of the 10 cameras with analytics." ActivEye has always certified every dealer on its products, Ramsey said, so Honeywell dealers will get the training they've come to expect for new products. "Dealers quickly become completely independent," she said, "and they can all walk into a customer's office and demonstrate it on existing equipment. There's no analytics manufacturer who can match that ... [Our analytics] are very easy to use, and don't require a Ph.D to come out and install the system. It's a matter of five or 10 minutes." Dealers are "an extension of our sales force," emphasized Scirica. "So that's what makes it important for them to reach out and touch the customers. There are a lot of doubters out there. It's one thing to demo the analytics and another to show them on site: Hey, this actually does work."