Sielox broadens abilities

LAS VEGAS--Though holding companies Dynabazaar and LQ have yet to indicate their early January merger agreement has received shareholder approval, Costar Video and Sielox, their respective market-facing brands, shared a booth here at ISC West and have already begun to capitalize on co-selling opportunities. "We put a brand-new price book on the first of March," said Sielox chief executive officer Karen Evans, "and that had all the Costar products throughout." She said the product offerings have been well received by her channel, particularly because Sielox can offer customers collective buying power. But Costar isn't the only company with which Sielox is integrating its product line. Through a partnership with KapLogic, Sielox's Pinnacle 6.0 access control software now works with CCTV matrix switcher drivers from American Dynamics, Bosch, Pelco and many others, along with DVR drivers from a number of companies and intercom drivers from the likes of Aiphone and Zenitel. Previously, "we were limited to GE," said Evans. Now, with the partnership with KapLogic, "a customer might have multiple DVRs in multiple locations and while the programming functionality is going to be different, the user interface won't change ... We've been asked about this for a long time, and we couldn't deliver it, and [integrators] would go with other choices in those applications." In another response to integrator request, the new AC-1500 32-bit controllers no longer need an external power supply. Paired with a few other improvements, this should result in "lower installation costs, so they can put those higher margins in their pockets or get tighter on their bidding." Finally, Sielox has also unveiled their first traveling training series, whereby they will train Pinnacle business partners, and, for the first time, integrator-sponsored end users in Detroit, Fort Lauderdale, Boston, Dallas, Phoenix and other cities throughout 2007.