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Actcom expands into Florida market

Actcom expands into Florida market

WASHINGTON--Fast growing systems integrator Actcom Security Solutions expanded its portfolio of government customers into Florida with the acquisition of Asset Security Systems in June. The deal expands Actcom's footprint and will allow it to better address key clients in the region. "Southern Florida has some key government customers and prospective customers," said Jon Paradis, Actcom's vice president of sales and marketing at the company, which is based here. "Asset Security was a natural because of their current strong customer base, which will help us fund the day-to-day business, allowing us to expand." Actcom's customer base includes local military installations, local airports, the U.S. Departments of Interior, State and Defense; the Federal Protective Service and the city of Virginia Beach, said Julia Bower, marketing and sales support manager. Asset Security is a similar company serving a different region. Its customers included Florida Power and Light, South Florida Water Management, NASA and the city of Miami. "Combining these companies combined their strengths, creating a single, very stable corporate structure to continue to build on," Bower said. "Our approach is to leverage our core management and professional competencies to bring these smaller companies to a profitable and acceptable performance level." The acquisition of Asset Security draws its headcount of 14 into the Actcom family of 56, said Brian Lamb, who is currently overseeing the integration of the new company for Actcom. Ray Lorenzo started Actcom with five employees in 1998, and he leads the company's management team in the dual roles of president and chief executive officer. His first acquisition occurred in 2003, when the company purchased Conseps FMS of Virginia Beach, Va.. Actcom has experienced solid growth since its early days. Last year, the company's revenue was $8.4 million, up from $800,000 in 2001. And by adding Asset Security revenue to its bottom line, which was $2.6 million in 2004, Actcom projects to hit revenues of $15 million in 2005. "We see a lot of potential in the Florida area," Lamb said. Some of the company's largely military customers in the Virginia and Washington area have operations in Florida, so expanding southward was a logical step, he noted. Lamb came aboard Actcom in the Conseps acquisition and is the company's vice president of business development. He is in charge of the day-to-day operations of the Florida division. Initially, the Florida operation will continue its current product mix, Paradis said. "The most immediate impact we will see in Florida is the ability to expand the market reach because of increased capital investment into the business," he said. "It is more difficult than ever to be a small local security provider," Paradis said. Because of the depth of knowledge required in the convergence of security and IT, proper support of customers requires a higher overhead in the form of specialized employees. "Because of this trend, we see key strategic opportunities in the Southeast that will help us expand our reach and better support our customers."

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