Tyco Fire & Security acquires Retail Expert

BOCA RATON, Fla.--Tyco Fire & Security announced Jan. 9 the purchase of privately held Retail Expert, a software manufacturer based in Boston, for $14 million. Garrett Knight, Retail Expert's co-founder and chief executive officer, has assumed the role of vice president, research and development for retail business intelligence operations at Tyco Fire & Security. He and his staff will continue to operate out of their Boston offices. "ADT has always specialized in loss prevention," said Lee Pernice, retail marketing manager for ADT Security Services, with which Retail Expert will work closely. "What Retail Expert brings is the business intelligence portion of it. It's not only loss prevention, but information that can help people run their businesses better." "We're in the middle of executing a structured global integration of the product," said Tony D'Onofrio, vice president of emerging technologies for Tyco Retail Solutions Group. "We're prioritizing by region ... North America will be the key focus first, then Europe, then Latin America." He said the integrator's sales force would receive training on the new product line. "It will be a joint effort between the development side and the sales side and making sure they have the right resources. That's a model we're familiar with." He said Retail Expert's NaviStor product would be integrated with Tyco's SmartEAS product, along with ADT's intrusion and life-safety solutions. "We deal with larger customers," said Knight, who noted Retail Expert just celebrated its 10th anniversary, "like the CVSes, the GAPs, Kohl's, Linens 'n Things, and across all verticals." The company customizes its software to suit each vertical and type of retailer. "We see a tremendous fit in ADT's ability to market our product," Knight said, "and provide enterprise data to the retailers."