Archive: April 2016

WESTFORD, Mass.—Tyco Security Products announced that Anita Santos, Tyco Security Products VP of marketing, on May 2 will speak at an event developed by Mentor Factor, a professional development program for high-potential women in the financial services industry. The event will take place in New York.The event is supported by women on American Banker's "Most Powerful Women in Banking" list and will be attended by executives from prominent financial institutions, including Capital One, the FDIC,...

Affiliated Monitoring's new PERS conference, Catalyst, sold out three-and-a-half weeks prior to the inaugural event on May 17. Affiliated's VP Daniel Oppenheim told SSN that Catalyst booked so quickly due to its “focus on sales and marketing, and Affiliated's reputation as a PERS specialist.” “We have 160 attendees, and including staff and vendors, we're going to be at about 200 total,” Oppenheim said. Oppenheim believes it will be the largest PERS conference ever held. Oppenheim...

FRAMINGHAM, Mass.—S2 Security, a provider of IP-based access control and video management and mobile security management systems, has put the monitor on the network with its Magic Monitor, a move that S2 CEO John Moss says “fundamentally changes the value proposition of a security management system.”“It really means a much more expanded presence for the security function in an organization,” Moss told Security Systems News. The security group, often an “unseen...

LONDON—Smiths Group, a global technology company based here, announced April 21 it has an agreement to acquire Morpho Detection from Paris-based Safran for $710 million.Based in Newark, Calif., Morpho Detection had $320 million in revenues in 2015, and an operating margin of 18 percent, with aftermarket services including software representing more than half of total revenues, according to Smiths Group. It has 860 employees and Morpho Detection had gross assets of $699 million.Morpho Detection...

BOCA RATON, Fla.—After several months of beta testing and several weeks of training, national systems integrator TycoIS' 800-person sales force is now selling TycoIS' first cloud video offering, Cloud Video.“This offering is viable for every segment from small business to enterprise accounts,” Steve Leitz, TycoIS director of commercial sales, told Security Systems News.Cloud Video, an Eagle Eye Networks  product, works with many analog and IP cameras. Customers can use existing...

PROVO, Utah—Vivint Smart Home on April 27 announced a $100 million strategic investment from Peter Thiel and Solamere Capital, an investment firm founded by Tagg Romney, Eric Scheuermann and Spencer Zwick, and chaired by Mitt Romney.In an internal memo shared with Security Systems News, Todd Pedersen, founder and CEO of Vivint Smart Home, told employees that this strategic investment will help accelerate growth and innovation. “As a venture capitalist and an entrepreneur, Peter Thiel...

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.—ICU Security Group, an integration firm based here, is spinning-off its proactive video monitoring division, SARC Monitoring, into a separate company.“We're also in the process of procuring a new building, [and] once the building procurement is done the [spin-off] should be complete at that time as well,” San Kim, director of operations with SARC Monitoring, told Security Systems News.SARC stands for Surveillance Acquisition Response Center, Kim said. The company...

VIENNA, Va.—Software provider Vidsys on April 26 announced it closed an $11 million funding round, which Vidsys CEO James Chong told Security Systems News will be used for “global expansion and to provide the right level of customer support and engagement [for the Vidsys web-based platform.]”Vidsys, based here, originally known as a provider of PSIM (physical security information management) software, now refers to its software as CSIM, converged security information management...

TULSA, Okla.—Monitoring America Alarm Co-op president Ron Wies said construction of the third-party central station's redundant facility in nearby Owasso, Okla., may start next month.“We purchased a piece of property [in Owasso] maybe six or seven years ago, with the idea that that's where we were going to put our back-up site.” Wies told Security Systems News. “The co-op finally made the decision last year that we were going to move forward and build our site and hopefully...

FORT WORTH, Texas—The 25 Innovation Award winners (see full list below) were announced by ESX today, and 10 finalists will be chosen from that list to battle it out in the second annual ESX TechVision Challenge, an interactive competition held live at ESX 2016 in the Fort Worth Convention Center, Texas, on Tuesday, June 7.The ESX Innovation Award recognizes achievements for companies that bring a new and exceptional product or service to the customer, or for those delivering innovative ways...