HUNT VALLEY, Md.--KCI Technologies, one of the 100 largest engineering firms in the United States, announced this week the acquisition of Risk Management Consultants, which has been folded into the company as a new subsidiary, KCI Protection Technologies. RMC's former president, John Fannin, will head KCI-PT, which now provides specialized engineering services for security, fire protection, risk analysis, life-safety and emergency management.

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Edit, Dec. 28, 11 a.m.: Please note that this Risk Management Conultants is not the same Risk Management Consultants that does business out of Cockeysville, Maryland, and is run by Jim Emerick.

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Fannin said KCI-PT will continue the work that RMC has been doing since 1985, roughly 50 percent of which focused on security technology design, but will broaden its approach to the market and serve a wider commercial base. "RMC had a significant amount of work in the chemical industry," he said. "With KCI, it's expanded into more traditional commercial markets, while maintaining an emphasis on industry and manufacturing ... There will be a lot of work in CCTV, and we have a unit devoted to helping end users comply with [the Chemical Security Act]."

KCI-PT will not do any installation, nor will it sub-contract for installation, Fannin said, but the company will design electronic security systems as part of larger plans that provide counter-measures to identified risk. "We would provide engineering oversight for equipment selection and acquisition," he said, "and we do a lot of that."

KCI Technologies expects security and risk assessment to become a significant portion of its business, which included roughly $123 million in revenues in 2006. The company employs 1100 professionals in total, and roughly 120 of those are dedicated to KCI-PT currently, including some partners with specialized expertise not employed full-time by KCI.

"We're approaching the market from a technical perspective," Fannin emphasized. "Between RMC and KCI, we have a long, long history of working with the major manufacturers, and creating holistic approach to solving problems."