Vigilant's Telco backing

FOXBORO, Mass.--IP video manufacturer Vigilant opened a new North American sales office here recently as part of its push into the marketplace, with backing by new owner BATM Advanced Communications, which does business in the U.S. as Telco Systems. Telco and BATM intend to leverage their channel partners in the telecommunications service provider space to quickly roll out its turnkey video management solutions.

“Our main capabilities and strengths will be with multiple sites and remote monitoring,” said Vigilant CEO Avi Cohen, speaking from Vigilant headquarters in Israel. “The biggest value will be the binding between the video management and the network.”

Currently, Vigilant does about 40 percent of its revenues in North America, with another 40 percent in Europe (from a London office) and 20 percent in Asia (from a Singapore office). However, Cohen said increased efforts in North America should increase the percentage here by the end of 2010. “We've put a lot of effort there, and the partnership with Telco will bear fruit by the end of 2010,” he said.

BATM bought the company at the end of last summer, Cohen said, because “we saw a growing interest from our service provider partners in offering more services ... There are a lot of issues around the business model obviously, but once they can provide the bandwidth, that's the enabler for the video service.”

He said Vigilant is in talks with companies like Time Warner, but also companies that own fiber infrastructures that are currently leasing that for data services: “Why not lease that for video services?” Cohen wondered.

In the more traditional security channel, Vigilant has signed up integrator partners like Southwest Systems, and Cohen said a deal with a large distributor is relatively imminent.