S2 lands patent, expands

FRAMINGHAM, Mass.--IP-based access control and video management manufacturer S2 Security has been busy this winter, expanding its facility in December to open a new support center and receiving a U.S. patent for the architecture used in its physical security network appliances in January.

After roughly five years of shipping IP-based systems, said Michael Wells, the company's chief operating officer, is finding success and currently supports more than 7,000 installations worldwide. “We started the company on a plan,” he said, “we're on the plan, and fortunately it appears to be a good plan. Despite the economy, it would seem this is a good place to be.”

The new support center has eight full-time employees, and “we tend to hire a little more senior guys,” said Wells. “Some of them actually have field experience, so they can relate to the guys in the field doing installations.”

Further, with the support center connected to the company headquarters, he said, “one of the beauties is that we're right next door to the development team, so we can grab them if need be to solve a problem.”

As for the patent, the company feels it will be just the first of several, though this one applies to the S2 NetBox and S2 Enterprise products, along with several OEM products the company manufactures.

Wells attributes the company's growth to the fact that the product is scalable, meaning you “can put the same product anywhere from small to large installations, which means you're not having to carry multiple numbers of manufacturer's equipment.” Further, S2 paid attention, he said, not only to the end user interface, but also the installer interface.

“Installers will say, 'I really like working on this product,'” Wells said. “We save their time, which is real money.”