Universal acquires THRIVE Intelligence

SANTA ANA, Calif.—When a crime has occurred, scanning through video afterwards can help document the incident and identify a suspect. But analyzing live video can prevent a crime from taking place or stop one while it's happening.

With its recent purchase of THRIVE Intelligence, Universal Protection Security Systems has now added such a crime prevention tool to its capabilities, said Steve Jones, CEO of parent company Universal Services of America. This purchase, announced Nov. 27, falls in line with the company's commitment to expand its electronic security offerings. Terms of the deal were not made public.

Universal was initially a potential customer of THRIVE, Jones said. His company was so impressed by what it found, it decided to purchase THRIVE instead. “THRIVE Intelligence had built what we felt was truly a state-of-the-art technology in regards to managing remote video and using analytics to manage that video,” Jones said. “Its capabilities are far superior to what was available in the industry.”

Universal plans to roll out THRIVE technology in all 50 states, Jones said.

At the THRIVE center, analytical software keeps tabs on video feed coming in from many cameras and alerts analysts to potential problems—people entering the wrong door, packages left alone, leaks, fires and more—so the analysts can hone right in on the issue and contact security or law enforcement as needed, Jones said.

A guard company with 35,000 guards in 47 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, Universal Protection already offers electronic security systems in a dozen Western and Southeastern states, Jones said.

“The future of security is really a total security solution, and that means the security provider has to provide [human] guards as well as technology to solve customers' problems,” Jones said.

In the past, people looked to video after a crime to determine how many criminals to seek, while hoping for a clear enough picture to produce a description, Jones said.

With analytics, video becomes more cost effective and is used as a crime prevention tool as well as a crime documentation tool. “Ideally, now we're able to prevent things from happening,” he said.

Video analysts are based in THRIVE Intelligence's Dallas/Ft. Worth remote monitoring center, which Universal acquired in the deal. The company has also brought on THRIVE's 50 staff members, Jones said.

“THRIVE technology truly provides the consumer with remote video capabilities they've never had before, with a live person being able to focus and pay attention to issues as they arise versus one person trying to watch 100 cameras, which is just impossible,” Jones said.