Tag: Advance Technology
Five Questions: Wayne Campbell
April 26, 2016Paul Ragusa
Wayne C. Campbell recently joined Advance Technology as director of operations. He brings knowledge of customer service, leadership and change management to his new role at the growing company based in Scarborough, Maine. Prior to his new position, he worked as the customer support group manager for the IDEXX Laboratories, where he managed a team of nearly 100 customer-facing professionals performing onsite software/hardware installation, onboarding, training and support. Security Systems News recently...
Integrators '20 under 40' 2015—Rob Simopoulos
October 13, 2015Martha Entwistle
Rob Simopoulos, 38
President, Advance Technology
Scarborough, Maine
Fresh out of high school in Toronto, a friend told Rob Simopoulos he could take a course to learn how to hook up spy cameras.
He took that course and many more to earn a degree in Security Systems Design and Implementation. Internships were required and Simopoulos had the opportunity to work for Frisco Bay Industries as an undergrad.
“I was at the Toronto International Airport doing high-level access and video...
Advance Technology management reorg propels growth
July 15, 2015Martha Entwistle
SCARBOROUGH, Maine—Advance Technology president Rob Simopoulos credits a management reorganization with helping propel the company's growth. Simopoulos is projecting revenues of $9 million this year, a 37 percent increase over 2014.“Last year, we took a look at the way we were built as an organization,” Simopoulos told Security Systems News.The company was getting too big for Simopoulos to manage every aspect of the business. He said he read an SSN story where PSA Security CEO Bill...
PSA-TEC State of the Industry: The 'brave and bold' who invest in IT will thrive
May 7, 2014Martha Entwistle
WESTMINSTER, Colo.—Invest big in IT smarts and do it now. That is what executives from some leading systems integration firms—Securadyne, Advance Technology and Safeguard Security—say they're working on at their own companies today.Securadyne Systems CEO Carey Boethel, Safeguard Security president Mike Bradley, and Advance Technology President Rob Simopoulos shared details of their IT investment strategies during PSA-TEC's May 6 “State of the Industry” panel discussion....
Making money on managed services
March 26, 2014Martha Entwistle
DELRAY BEACH, Fla.—Attend a few security conferences and you're bound to hear the term “managed services” tossed around. Most of the time you'll be advised that managed services is the way to go. But, how do you get there? How long will it take and can you really make money offering managed services?At TechSec 2014, held here in Jan. 26-28, three very different independent systems integrators—Sam Shalaby, GM of the Ottawa branch and managed services director, Convergint; Rob...
New markets for mesh: It's for far more than city surveillance
February 19, 2014Kenneth Z. Chutchian
YARMOUTH, Maine—Ten months ago an electrical substation near San Jose, Calif. came under attack from a group of snipers who remain anonymous and at large. Remarkably, the episode did not draw attention from the national media until Feb. 5, when the Wall Street Journal reported on the investigation.Among the myriad concerns that the attack generated: the U.S. government doesn't have an agency devoted primarily to protecting the nation's power grid.The nation's physical security industry has...
Making managed services work
May 21, 2013Martha Entwistle
WESTMINSTER, Colo.—Once you make the decision at the management level to sell managed services, how do you get your sales staff to follow through?
This was the topic covered in an educational session, moderated by Sharon Shaw, president of Integrators Support, at the PSA-TEC conference here May 5-10.
“Compensate them,” said Rob Simopoulos of Advance Technology. Simopoulos called his compensation plan “aggressive” and added that the commission is all...
Making the shift to managed services
January 29, 2013Kenneth Z. Chutchian
The security industry can be just like any other when it comes to transitions, adaptations, market trends or the next big thing. Especially when the next big thing looks a lot smaller.
Integrators accustomed to selling, installing and even servicing big-ticket monitoring systems face a nagging issue. Is recurring revenue through remote guarding or cloud-based surveillance systems the way to go even if the initial sales receipts don't seem to compare as well?
Some industry insiders say it's...