G4S buys integrator Touchcom

LONDON--Security services provider G4S announced in June the acquisition of the Bedford, Mass.-based systems integrator Touchcom for an initial cash consideration of up to $23 million and a further cash consideration of up to $33 million subject to the achievement of specified growth targets over a three-year period. Patrick de Cavaignac, Patrick Barry, Lester Halbik and a number of other individual shareholders previously owned the company. Touchcom specializes in the development, installation and maintenance of large-scale, web-based electronic security systems and facility management software and provides security consultancy and design services to the commercial and government sectors. The acquisition is in line with G4S's strategy of adding and augmenting new capabilities in the group's risk consultancy and security solutions offering while further expanding the offering outside of manned guarding, according to G4S spokesman Kevin Smith. "G4S has worked with Touchcom for a number of years," Smith told Security Systems News Europe. "Their technology is already proven and can be rolled out across the G4S client base to build on Touchcom's existing client base." Touchcom's OneFacility product is a Web-based database that pulls together all the various security systems data, such as CCTV and access control, into a single reporting system to produce a consolidated database covering a single site or multiple locations, explained Smith. OneFacility gives customers "significant benefits in terms of remote management and data consolidation," he said. Touchcom will be re-branded and fully integrated into the G4S Group, a process that is usually completed within three to six months of the completion of an acquisition, according to Smith. Touchcom has completed projects across the United States, in New York, Boston, Chicago and San Francisco, among others.