Opgal acquires Vumii

ATLANTA—In a deal that brings detection and assessment capabilities together, night vision camera manufacturer Vumii announced Oct. 26 that it had been acquired by Israel-based Opgal Optronics, a maker of thermal imaging systems and infrared cameras.

The two privately held companies declined to release terms of the agreement.

Randall Foster, Vumii CEO, told Security Systems News the two companies have worked together for close to four years and the deal is the “result of working together. It's a very complementary fit.”

“They make a detection tool and we make an assessment tool and they work hand-and-hand,” he explained.

“Geographically [Opgal] was looking to establish a U.S. presence, we have that; they were looking for a recognizable brand name, we have that—they're [mostly] OEM and we're a known camera system supplier,” Foster said.

Vumii is also eager to take advantage of Opgal's considerable R&D resources, he said.

Vumii and Opgal components have been used together many times in Vumii's key verticals, which tend to be “big infrastructure projects” such as nuclear power plants, ports, airports and high-end commercial jobs.

Vumii makes makes two different cameras (Discoverii and Claritii) and situation management software called Sensorii. Whereas the Vumii camera can zoom in “to half-a-degree on a boat in a harbor for example, you may want to have a wider, five- or 10-degree look at the harbor for context,” Foster explained. Opgal cameras are integrated with Vumii to enable both capabilities.

“Vumii is a natural fit for our business since it both enhances our long-term electro-optic product portfolio with unique technologies and it enables us to quickly increase our U.S. presence for expanding sales and customers,” said Dror Sharon, Opgal's president and CEO, in a prepared statement.

The merged companies will mean “a broader portfolio, deeper resources, deeper pockets, and we're going to be developing more products in the space,” Foster said.

The deal enhances Vumii's ability to support the integrator community and will allow for more “customization flexibility as well.”

The company wants to be known as offering “unique features and as a high-quality product provider ... we're not a commodity, high-volume manufacturer ... and we'd like to help integrators differentiate their offerings with unique products.”

In business for six years, Vumii has about a dozen employees. Opgal has been in business for 27 years and has roughly 130 employees. It is owned by the two largest defense contractors in Israel. Foster expects to double his staff within 12 months and is already on the lookout for sales and customer support employees.