IPVideo Corp. gets $12m investment

BAY SHORE, N.Y.—IPVideo Corp., a VMS and PSIM provider that is launching a new video surveillance “fusion center,” has received a $12 million investment from Westbury Partners, the company announced April 12.

Westbury Partners, a Long Island-based venture capital firm, made the investment in Advance Convergence Group, parent company of IPVideo and a separate systems integration company A+Technology and Security Solutions. The funds will be used primarily for IPVideo, according to David Antar, who serves as chief executive of both companies.   

In addition to its VMS product, IPVideo has a PSIM-style product called C3 Fusion Software Suite. It's more than a PSIM, Antar told Security Systems News.

It's used to manage disparate systems at large companies like Con Edison. “We tied 350 power substations together with fiber-optic perimeter protection, access control and video surveillance systems and burg systems,” Antar said.

The software can be used to monitor building management systems, and it can tie into critical-care monitoring systems, GPS systems and more.

The $12 million will be used to hire 30 people during the next year, to build a new video surveillance FusionCenter and launch a dealer program. It will also be used to build four Mobile Command Centers (MCCs), Antar said.

IPVideo is in the process of building the FusionCenter. Scheduled to be up and running by the middle of May, the center is not to be confused with a central station. “We do not do burg or fire-alarm monitoring. It's a video verification service that [utilizes C3 Fusion Software],” Antar said.

Target customers will be “school districts, larger corporations, [government offices], anyone who doesn't have a 24-hour command center but has a need for monitoring of [a variety of systems],” he said.

The center will monitor a customer's video system, doors, building management system, lighting and HVAC, Antar said. The FusionCenter will not dispatch police or fire personnel to the customer's location; rather it's for “visual verification,” he explained.

The FusionCenter does not replace standard burg and fire monitoring, it augments it, Antar said.

Visual verification provided by the FusionCenter may enable a school or company to eliminate a security guard. In a school, it may be used to remotely verify that a school boiler is malfunctioning, a cheaper alternative than sending a custodian in to check on the boiler, Antar said.

Funds will also be used to build four MCCs. Antar said the original MCC was designed purely as a mobile showroom to demonstrate IPVideo's technology. However, it's now in demand to be used as a temporary command center for special events, and IPVideo has customers who are interested in purchasing MCCs.

Most recently an MCC was used to secure the NFL draft that took place at Radio City Music Hall.

Antar said the MCC is a black Mercedes Sprinter panel truck. It does not have any exterior markings. Inside it has luxury limousine seating for nine and a full-sized video wall and command center.