Protection 1 acquires IT-centric Integration Logistics

PHILADELPHIA—Protection 1 has added “deep IT and integrated systems knowledge” with the acquisition of Integration Logistics, a systems integrator based in Newark, Del., Jamie Haenggi, Protection 1 CMO, told Security Systems News.

Pro 1 will launch a new Integrated Systems Division as a result of the purchase, which was announced Sept. 10, the first day of the ASIS show here. Former Integration Logistics owners Ken Schafenberg and John Smolinski will lead the new division. All 40 of Integration Logistics' employees will join Protection 1.

The acquisition will greatly expand the offerings for Protection 1's commercial and national accounts customers, Haenggi said.

Protection 1 will now be able to take on “highly complex sophisticated network-based systems, especially those that involve designing, installing and managing the actual network,” Haenggi said. These are the kinds of projects that Protection 1 would have walked away from in the past, she said.

The Integration Logistics employees have deep IT knowledge and a variety of certifications, such as Microsoft and Cisco. The team also has specific expertise in the financial and banking vertical. Before launching their company, Schafenberg and Smolinski ran security for MBNA, Haenggi said.

This deal comes less than a month after the acquisition of two commercially focused businesses, and follows the March acquisition of Camtronic.  

Commercial and national accounts customers want to be able to leverage their transport in a variety of ways and have services such as audit capabilities for all of their systems and devices, Haenggi said. As the result of Protection 1's growing suite of offerings and capabilities, and its focus on customer satisfaction, the company's national accounts business has grown “by triple digits” in the past two years, she said. And while Haenggi emphasized that the focus internally is on metrics of customer satisfaction rather than financial goals, she said the national accounts business is well the other divisions of the company are growing at a good clip as well.

With the changing landscape among the top players in security—such as the planned split-up Oct. 1 of Tyco—Haenggi said Protection 1 stands alone as a full-service security provider of residential, commercial, national accounts, integrated systems and monitoring.